Frequently Asked Questions

F.A.Q.

We totally didn't just make these up.

Were you high when writing this?

You’d think so, but I was depressingly sober, at the time.

No, really, were you high?

I was high on boredom, if that counts.

Did you get the name Spindlegrin from World of Warcraft?

I don’t play WoW* but Google tells me that there’s an enemy called an “Elder Spindlegrin,” or something. I’d love to know where Blizzard got the name from because Spindlegrin predates WoW by at least four years. I’d send them a cease and desist letter but I suspect that Activision would mobilise a team of high priced lawyers to come point and laugh at me.

*I did play it a while back for a little bit, but got bored picking up sticks or magic rocks or whatever.

The main character is called Loki. Is this some sort of weird Marvel fan-fiction?

If you’re imagining Loki as looking like Tom Hiddleston in a bunny suit, you should know that I’m far better looking.

Spindlegrin was first released back in 1999 - 2000 and I’d been calling myself Loki for some time before that. This was a long time before the Marvel Cinematic Universe made Loki a household name. Sure, the comics predated Spindlegrin by several decades but I don’t think anybody read those over in this country. Truth be told, back then I thought the Thor comics only featured in the 1980s movie “Adventures In Babysitting” / “A Night On The Town.” Besides, there were these guys called The Vikings who have prior art. I phoned them up and they were cool with me using the name.

(Spindlegrin also features a one eyed cat called Odin that looks nothing like Anthony Hopkins)

Is this all happening inside Loki’s mind?

While Spindlegrin might allude to Loki’s fractured state of mind, I honestly hate the whole unreliable narrator thing where “It’s all in their mind.” It’s cheap and predictable. I’m looking at you, Shutter Island. “It’s got an amazing twist,” everyone said, “Is it that he’s actually one of the mental patients?” I’d reply. Don’t get me started on movies which feature a twist where it’s revealed that the antagonist has been the main protagonist’s alter ego all along. We’ve all seen Fight Club and it’s neither original nor clever at this point.

Ok, but what’s it a metaphor for? If Leaving Cert English told me anything, it’s that all great works have to be a metaphor for something else. That’s like a law or something.

Spindlegrin is a dense text, full of obvious symbolism about complex geopolitical matters. It also contains a series of cryptic clues that lead to the location of Shergar’s treasure.

Yea but it’s really about drugs though, right?

Are you Loki?

Yes, I used to work in a clean room and the story is about me. Look it’s a sort of author surrogate / author insertion* kind of deal. Some of the earliest stuff that Barry posted was these odd little descriptions of my workday as told in the third person and the format kinda stuck.

*Oo-er.

What’s the deal with Kroag?

Foombrood Kroag is the exiled ruler of an empire that spanned most of this arm of the galaxy. He is now forced to live in a Dublin council house with his chief strategist General Yatluf, Dr. Berndt Hintergeist and a mysterious cephalopod known only as Calgon. Originally there was going to be this bit where he kidnapped Loki and took over writing the episodes but it kinda spun off into his own thing without ever becoming a true crossover. When last seen he was still recovering from his time spent as Gwen Stefani.