'What use to gain the world but lose your soul?'

Good day you handsome person. Yes, I'm talking to you. No, not the person stood behind you (watch out, he has a gun!) but you. Yes, that's right. Well, now that's all settled.

I'm Tom, or LairdTom, or Tom Rippon, but you probably knew that because it says just above this little text in big bold letters. So forget I said that. Oh, and for the record, I'm not nearly as morose as I appear in the photo to your right. I just don't photograph well, if at all.

I like reading and writing, and joined this site about two years ago after seeing an ad on Facebook. It was probably the thing that spurred me into writing as a real hobby and the decision to take Creative Writing at University. So I kind of owe it my entire life. In a non-needy kind of way.

Like everybody else on the site (to the best of my knowledge) I love writing with loads of other people, and so I'm always looking for new, exciting and fun collaborative stories to get involved in.

Collaborative Stories:

• Utopius (with Xelotath)
• Netherworld
• Alcatraz 2.0

I'm also writing a large amount of solo work at the moment, and trying to redraft this piece of work to be worthy of a novel in the not-too-distant future; I may also post a first draft of the finished product online if the demand is good enough... So whilst I'm working on that, there won't be a lot of solo work from me up here.

However, I have started working on a small side-project, inspired by a collab I started some time ago that has since died. The new solo story explores one of the characters and how he found himself in the position we originally met him in.

• Bloodbox - the original collab
  
• House Games - the solo spinoff

In the meantime, if you're interested in any of my older solo work, here's some of the stuff I'm more proud of than the other stuff...

Solo Stories:

• The Advisors
• Twelve
• Monsters

So enjoy, and thanks for stopping by.