Mine goes to eleven.

A letter to the editor of New York Times.

(More news on my new book Let’s get gorgeous.)

The story begins with one of the main characters is killed by a dead man. At the same time, his friend Mattias, and his older brother, Peter are sitting in Stockholm, finding themselves in ecstasy as they believe they have just come up with a brilliant idea. From that moment and onwards, the story about Camitz Vodka CO2, continues in leaps and bounds, between hope and despair.

The story is about two men and a ghost. The two men have the completely mad idea of challenging the world of vodka with their own brand, a pure sparkling vodka. Peter is a living cliché of an inventor. A hyper-intelligent, introvert mad man who would rather ponder over difficult problems and dream about thunder storms, hail and lightning. Jhoan, the ghost, is the renowned commercial film maker who’s life ended at the height of his career. (more…)

The content of my new book Let’s get gorgeous:

THE PLOT.
About isolation, cowardly monopolists and bothersome molecules.

1. What if…?
2. No!
3. Shit!
4. Damn!
5. Help!

(more…)

Here’s the first chapter of my new book ”Let’s get gorgeous”:

In a dark, draughty kitchen in the west wing of Rudboda manor house, a stone’s throw from Kyrkviken in Lidingö, inventor Peter Camitz sat on a chair starring at a birthday present he got from his mother over twenty years ago.

Neither the picture of the soaring gulls against the bright blue sky, the distant sound of the children’s excited screams as they jumped for joy through the ice-cold sprinklers, nor the chugging of the boats’ motors on their trip out to one of the thirty-two thousand islands, islets and rocks that form the unique Stockholm archipelago, could move a hair on his neck. None of these impressions had a glimmer of a chance of breaking into his wing alongside the huge 19th century house. Not even the tiniest fragment of this magnificent summer’s day could get his attention as he sat on his chair daydreaming about storms, hailstone and rumbling thunder.

Peter Camitz is one of a kind, to such an extent that society cannot decide whether to push him away or embrace him. The curriculum of his school years was far too narrow to cover the extent of his personality. The problem with Peter was his unusually high IQ; probably triggered by developing the ability to read att such an early age. A popular belief in the fifties was that children could be inattentive in later years if they learnt things too quickly and in the wrong order. And so the six-year old excentric had to sneak around and read the bible on the sly for fear of getting caught by his mother.

It was not too surprising then that the case of the young oddball, Camitz, was discussed keenly in the staff room during his schooling. Some found it hard to swallow that he showed fleeting glances of being a real genius, while at other times he reminded them of a retarded jerk. Rarely was he anything in between.

For the most part he felt like a fool. (more…)

Two guys, a ghost and a bottle of booze: The story about Camitz Vodka CO2.

By Per Robert Öhlin.

Powerful men and women in the international liquor establishments are cringing and cowering ahead of the inevitable humiliation of once more being put firmly in their place by a small Swedish company, a company that no one has even heard of.

The last time it happened was when Absolut redefined the world’s liquor map. Change is, of course, not at all to the liking of the liquor executives, especially when it comes from a little upstart like Sweden.

Let’s get gorgeous is on the surface a story about two guys, a ghost and a bottle of liquor, a battle to realize an idea that nobody believed in, a case study of modern marketing without dosh.

The subtext concerns the eternal conflict between common sense and emotions, money and innovations, profit and comradeship, security and the dream of doing something completely amazing.