And so, I began writing about sex and other unique experiences – from my past and my current life in Moscow. After three years, I discontinued the blog, but you can now find the articles here on my website.
During my time writing for stern.de, a major Berlin publisher approached me with an offer to write a book. However, they specified that while they would publish and distribute the book, they wouldn’t promote it. This didn’t sit well with me, and I lost interest. A year later, a literary agent reached out to me, and two years after that, I signed a contract with Randomhouse for Heyne Verlag. In 2013, my book Fucking Moskau was finally published.
I want to take a moment to reflect on the mistakes I made with my first book, Fucking Moskau, and my tendency to be overly compliant with the publisher. I trusted that the professionals at the publishing house had more experience and knew what they were doing. However, looking back, I’m dissatisfied with the edits, the restructuring, and even the cover. The publisher pushed for more explicit sex and detailed storytelling, while my vision was to create a collection of short stories about my party life in Moscow. Sex was meant to play a supporting role, with detailed depictions only when they were crucial to the narrative.
Originally, my book was like a well-marbled Kobe Wagyu steak—a balance of “meat” and “fat.” The “meat” represented the lifestyle stories, while the “fat” represented the sex tales. Of course, the fat adds flavor and gives the steak its unique character, but no one wants to consume only fat. Even as I wrote, I found the idea of overemphasizing sex off-putting. Nevertheless, the publisher decided to separate the meat from the fat: one-third lifestyle stories at the beginning, followed by two-thirds of sex. Predictably, this approach didn’t sit well with most readers. To make matters worse, some of the best stories—according to the publisher herself—were cut entirely.
As a newcomer, I was still grateful to have been published by a renowned house like Randomhouse. So, I kept quiet and accepted their decisions. Financially, the book was successful, which was some consolation.
In 2023, the rights to my book reverted to me as the contract expired. With the onset of the war in Ukraine, Moscow has lost its allure—not just for me but for many others. I left the city and have clearly distanced myself from Russia. However, I want to document my experiences: the backstories from New York, Paris, and Berlin that inspired the book, the unedited stories in their proper order, the outtakes that didn’t make it into the book, and new material that could have formed the basis for Fucking Moskau 2. My first book only covers my first seven years in Moscow, but the following twelve years were equally eventful, culminating in the bitter end of 2022.
One final note: I’ve often been asked if much of the content in my book was fabricated or exaggerated—even by other expats in Moscow who could have had similar experiences. Let me make this clear: everything in the book happened exactly as I described it. I only changed names and locations to protect privacy and adjusted the timeline for better readability.
If you shy away from adventure because of the potential consequences, you’ll never experience it. I often took the extra step—not for you or the book, but for myself and my life experience. And, of course, for the fun of it. I share these stories not to boast, but to entertain and connect with you.
Enjoy reading!
Yours,
Chris Helmbrecht
