Tom Laimer-Read is a writer who wants to make writing exciting. Tom went to various state schools in Norwich in various states of consciousness, where he enjoyed reading and not being at school. He was in a few bands that were fun, but didn't get much attention from the national press as they don't tend to report from local rugby clubs and village halls. In the late 1990s Tom headed to Manchester University to study English with a burgeoning love of The Smiths, Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, Inspiral Carpets, The Fall and Buzzcocks, certain that Manchester would be a hotbed of new musical mavericks and a place where more fantastic, original music would emerge. He was wrong. That year the Hacienda closed down, the pills, thrills and bellyaches dried up and the 24 hour party was over, never to be reignited during his ten years there, unlike the large I.R.A. bomb that did ignite and tore through the heart of the city causing widespread damage to it and the psyche of the people (who were already damaged enough) the summer before he arrived.
Tom studied comic books, Dada and the contents of his navel, and was also in a few more unsuccessful bands, but became disillusioned with the stagnant music scene, taking up the mic in comedy clubs instead. He encountered many strange creatures declaring themselves to be comedians, and participated in a murky arena where lurked some extremely unusual, unsavoury individuals, moreso than any punk rock set-up could contain.
After a while, this also got a bit samey, since the big clubs supported the more boring acts, so Tom went back to music, hooking up with fellow disaffected comedians Steve G., Tom 'Jim the Poet' Faucett and Adam Bowman. They formed The Chainsores and had some legendary performances, most of them seen by very few people. After the band's spectacular demise and a short-lived follow-up, The Casual Vandals, Tom moved back to his home town of Norwich and continued to perform solo comedy, edging in the political direction. Tom performed a show about the danger of I.D. cards at the Edinburgh Fringe called 'Freedom Come, Freedom Go', which not many people saw, and has run alternative comedy nights such as Normal Service Will Be Resumed Shortly and The Dysfunction Room, which were mostly ignored, as his books probably will be too.
Stephanie Laimer-Read grew up in Bremen, northern Germany. After living in Belgium and East Anglia, United Kingdom, she is now back in Bremen. She loves reading and writing (especially fantasy), travelling, music, horses and languages. Her favourite authors include Sir Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt, Bertolt Brecht, Martin Millar, Virginia Woolf, Kurt Tucholsky, Joachim Ringelnatz, Christian Morgenstern, Bill Bryson and many others.
Stephanie's first novel Berlintoxication is a gaslight romance about love, magic and violence, a sinister fantasy set in Berlin in the 1880s. She has also written an Agatha Christie parody, The Mystery of the Second Cucumber, and the urban fantasy story Change. Any comments, questions, reviews and Facebook shares or likes are more than welcome. Stephanie would love to connect with other authors and learn more about their styles, the subjects they like to write about and the things that inspire them.
