Hidden stories of a Melbourne club boy

Greek Australian author Christian Clarke delves into another world in his first novel A Synthetic Illusion - a story about drugs, clubs and the sex industry


As we begin our conversation, pertaining to the release of his book and his Greek upbringing, the author doesn’t want to reveal his real name. His pen name is Christian Clarke. My first thought is journalist Clarke Kent; better known as Superman. But the inspiration for this writer’s name is much more original and meaningful than a simple superhero movie.
When people join the sex industry they change their name. They take on the name of their first pet they had as a child as their first name and their second name is the street name they grew up on. Well, that’s what I’ve been told by Greek Australian author Christian Clarke.
Clubbing, drugs, money, prostitutes and escort agencies are hidden stories that each city has. Most of the time, we are completely oblivious to this world that is happening right under our nose. What happens when a Melbourne club and party boy decides to reveal the hidden stories of this (under)world, after two years of being a part of it himself?
The novel A Synthetic Illusion is based on a true story; and not just anyone’s true story. It’s a writer’s first-hand experience of a world he knows best.
It’s the story of a middle-aged man, who spent his adult life in clubbing and hospitality. Once the opportunity knocked his door, he decided “to throw caution to the wind and embark on a journey that completely changed [his] life” – a surprise not only for his Greek family and friends, but for himself as well.
“The book is about hospitality professional Mick, a handsome Greek guy, searching for a simpler lifestyle other than running a restaurant,” the author explains.
“After he meets up with an old friend who tells him all about the easy money he could make being a driver for elite escort agency, Mick takes on this alternative lifestyle. His recreational drug use escalates to drug abuse. With a need to feed his new habit, he is lured into the seamier side of prostitution and is driven – against all his natural instincts – to cross boundaries hitherto unthought-of,” says Clarke.
His first full length novel is about the hidden industry, a world with no boundaries, where the promise of easy money finds any age vulnerable.
This Greek Aussie, or ‘Graussie’, as he likes to call himself, was born right in the Greek precinct of the city of Melbourne – Lonsdale Street. Being a first generation Greek Australian, there are boundaries and rules that are imposed, fitting into the structure upheld by your parents and community, he believes.
“We are conditioned to believe we shouldn’t do certain things. We create boundaries, follow rules and constantly strive not to cross certain lines,” he explains of his upbringing.
Clarke writes in his book: “A thirst for knowledge, wealth and power have seduced human beings since the beginning of time. Just when we think we know who we are, something changes; our boundaries are pushed; rules are broken; and lines are crossed. But how far are we willing to go?”
Clarke didn’t really fit into the uniform that his parents ‘sewed’ for him. At the age of 16, he became a club boy in Carlton, he was managing a handful of clubs, right in the middle of the gangland wars on King Street.
But how did this young man find himself in what is perceived as a seedy industry in quite possibly the most dangerous time in Melbourne’s history?
“I was given this opportunity through one of my ex-waitresses who was working as an escort for one of Melbourne’s elite escort agencies. My introduction to the industry was as a driver taking escorts from booking to booking. I wrote the entire book in the car, while waiting. The names and the places in the book are changed, to protect the innocent, and sometimes the guilty,” says Clarke characteristically, explaining this journey as a middle-age crisis, of a 40-year-old Greek party boy who feared his time was over.
When he first started the job, he had the same idea that the general public has about sex industry.
“At the end, I was actually amazed and that’s what threw me into writing a book. I found some of these girls to be extraordinary. They are not just young party girls that do it for the easy money, handbags and shoes; there are actually single mothers out there. I don’t condone, nor condemn. I went through that, I looked at them as people who were doing their job.”
So what is Christian Clarke aiming for his foray into literature?
“This book is to educate the general public to look into prostitution, so they don’t have that perception that it’s all dirty heroin junkies. The book is also for the girls in the industry, and there are a lot of them out there.”
In his written work and in conversation, Christian Clarke refers to the sex and prostitution industry as a “boulevard of broken dreams”.
“This business changes you. I’m a completely different person to what I was. Once you cross that line for enough time, you forget where the line was to begin with. The same thing happens with a lot of the girls involved… but after some time, nothing is too much.”
At the end of the last year, the author of the yet unpublished book has stepped out of the industry whose secrets he reveals in his novel. He is having a year off to publish the book he is hoping will reach the bookstores early next year. This is his new career.
“I spent over two years in Melbourne’s escort industry and had the opportunity to meet some amazing human beings. I realised it wasn’t for me and I left,” he explains.
“However, I met people that changed my life. As I say in the book, not all friendships are epic novels, some are just short stories; even short stories can change our life forever.”
The second part of Clarke’s story on prostitution, named Melbourne Pimp Wars is regularly uploaded on his Facebook profile and blog, waking up curiosity of the readers.
“This blog will not give away the pages of my book instead it will allow you to share my personal stories about prostitution and the people involved in it,” says the author.
As it stands there are over 12,000 likes on his Facebook profile, although the main base of his fans are not in Melbourne nor are they in Australia, but USA and London – a fact that he explains as a result of narrowness of the Melbourne entertainment industry.
“The pages of my book will send you on a roller-coaster ride of emotions”, Clarke writes.
“I wrote this because I wanted people to know the truth about what happens in prostitution. The only perception that people have about it is ‘dirty, disgusting industry’. However, you find people in prostitution that you would never expect. It could be your neighbour or your waitress. People end up in this industry for all different sorts of reasons. I hope that this book will teach people to keep an open mind.”
And in a last note, the author promises that the pages in his book will “make you laugh, and will make you cry, but [he hopes] they will make you think in the first place”.
www.facebook.com/christian.clarke.author