European vocation  By Sacha Molitorisz June 18, 2005 The
outsider: Christos Tsiolkas explores the dark underbelly of
Europe's great cities  Photo: Ben Rushton  Christos Tsiolkas
started writing a non-fiction book about the Balkans, but it
grew into a novel.  Dead Europe By Christos Tsiolkas Vintage,
416pp, $22.95  This is all wrong. It's 10 o'clock on a Monday
morning and the atmosphere in the Hotel InterContinental's foyer
is sunny and subdued. With the high ceilings, soft music and
clinking of teaspoons, it's all so nice.  Which is unlike the
book Christos Tsiolkas is here to discuss. Called Dead Europe,
it's the third novel from the author of Loaded - adapted into
the film Head On - and The Jesus Man. And it's a sprawling,
hefty work about a gay photographer who, on a visit to Europe,
has sex with strangers, drugs with friends and unnerving
encounters with ghosts and vampires.  To chat about Dead Europe,
a late-night rendezvous at a seedy club would have been better,
preferably over a glass of whisky. Or b