Stephan Thiemonds (born April 5, 1971 in Lendersdorf/Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia), is a German author, who writes travelogues and short stories in the style of Gonzo Journalism and Magic realism, in which the boundaries between reality and fantasy become blurred. Due to his professional career, many of his stories can be categorised as Proletarian literature.
Life
Thiemonds trained as a coppersmith and a welder at GEA Cancler GmbH in Düren, and later qualified as a construction foreman and a European Welding Specialist (EWF). Between 2003 and 2022 he travelled as a service and commissioning technician across the world working for Buss SMS Canzler GmbH, based in Butzbach, Germany, a manufacturer of industrial machines, like Thin Film Evaporators, specialised in process engineering. Numerous professional and personal journeys to all continents inspired him to write his semi-autobiographical short stories. End of 2022 he changed full-time to DSI Laser Service Thailand Co., Ltd. for which he worked part-time since 2017.
In the summer of 2002 he began a bike journey that lasted many months, and took him all the way to Australia. He was sponsored on this endeavour, with people pledging €1 for every kilometer cycled. The monies collected were donated to the fund for the restoration of a fire-damaged spire that forms part of Merode Castle, the most famous landmark of his hometown of Merode, municipality of Langerwehe.
Since 2012 Thiemonds has lived with his partner and their daughter in Darmstadt. In 2015 he moved back to his origin home country Langerwehe. In 2017 he incorporated as a German Ambassador the not-for-profit organization Child's Dream. On 29 November 2018, the Saysa Morn Primary School, built under the auspices of Child's Dream and funded by Querweltein Unterwegs readers, friends and patrons, was inaugurated in the Cambodian province of Banteay Meanchey province.
359° - The Workaday Life Of An Industrial Gypsy
The main title of the German-language book series named Querweltein Unterwegs. In order to internationally easier legibility the author choosen the main title for the foreign-language book series Inscribed angle 359°. Its interpretation is ambiguous. On the one hand based on the occupational travel. On the other hand, with respect to the professional life. In addition, the inscribed angle should point to the nearly circular earth: an almost perfect 360° full angle. In contrast to this from the book title 1° is missing. Symbolic of this standing that neither travel nor professional life is circular perfect. How hard you try to matter, at least one piece is still missing. However, should the lack of a degree not be interpreted as a flaw, but indicate a belonging to the art of living area: on the left dealing with all requirements and entanglements that bring the travel and professional life with him. Thiemonds was inspired to foreign book series main title 359° during a professional stay in Shanghai. When visiting a shoppingmall, by the logo of the Chinese sportswear and sports equipment manufacturers 361˚.
A selection of his short stories from his German “Querweltein – Unterwegs“ series of books has been translated into English. It contains stories from China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Iran, Colombia, Antarctica, Denmark, Turkey, Sweden, Finland, Great Britain, Germany, from “Seventh Heaven“ and from “Above Clouds“.In 2016 a revised 359° edition was published in India.
Cover
The cover of the first English edition shows a hard hat held upside down. On its front, also wrong way up, the logo of the machinery and plant engineering company Buss SMS Canzler GmbH is depicted. As is usual in the international industry sector, the logo on the front serves to identify the wearer’s company affiliation. Within the helmet rests the earth, resembling an egg in an egg cup.
The angle measurement of 359° in the book title is meant to express that no man-made workmanship will ever achieve perfection (the geometric unit of a turn). The subheadingYou’ll Never Work Alone is borrowed in slightly altered form from the song title "You'll Never Walk Alone".