About the author
From disco architect to novelist
Spörri was born in Basel in 1955. After school, vocational training and military service, he ventured into self-employment in 1978. With his company Z-Productions, he realized ideas and visions: the design of themed interior architecture and spectacular technical equipment for clubs and discotheques. His impressive installations and special effects made him a pioneer of the Swiss disco scene in the 1980s and 90s. But Spörri wanted more. Between 1985 and 2008, he built and ran his own cult locations, which are still legendary and unforgotten among partygoers today.
The incredible journey of Gregor Spörri
In search of inspiration for a new club project, Spörri traveled to Egypt in 1988. His goal: to explore the magnificent world of the pharaohs and transform the grandeur of their buildings into a club design. But he had completely different plans: driven by his thirst for adventure, he ventured into experimental experiments in and on the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Further information: Mystery research / The relic of Bir Hooker / How it all began.
An encounter that changed everything
Spörri’s actions did not go unnoticed, whereupon a mysterious grave robber entered his life. In a village called Bir Hooker, a meeting took place that would change the Swiss man’s life forever. The old Arab showed the Swiss an artifact so uncanny and absurd that it shook his world view – a gigantic, mummified finger of a human-like giant.
The photos of the relic sparked discussions around the world. Science, myth and conspiracy collided.
Further information: Mystery research / The relic of Bir Hooker / The discovery.
From club operator to the world of the incomprehensible
For Spörri, it was the beginning of a decades-long search for answers. His path led him deep into the mysterious early history of mankind, to the ancient myths of the gods, the emergence of religions and the origin of the legendary pyramids.
His research led him to the biblical giants and ultimately to the daring hypothesis of paleo-SETI (pre-astronautics) and its most prominent representative, Erich von Däniken.
Together with him, he set off to Egypt, Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras in search of the ancient astronaut gods. In the end, his investigations even lead the Swiss to the remotest Chinese hinterland.
Further information: Mystery research
The encouragement of H.R. Giger
Gregor Spörri has both feet firmly on the ground and describes himself as a critical thinker. Nevertheless, what he experienced in Egypt has left him deeply unsettled. He receives hardly any support from academic circles – neither for a serious analysis of the photos of the relic nor for the results of his own research.
H.R. Giger – creator of the legendary monster from the ALIEN film series 1979-1997, is fascinated by Spörri’s surreal Egypt narrative. The Swiss artist – who has been haunted by oppressive fears since childhood, which he reveals in his dark paintings and sculptures – advises Spörri to process the material he has collected over the years as well as his daring hypotheses and fantasies in an SF novel. Because in this way, Giger tells him, he is completely free in his thoughts.
The work as an author
Spörri had no experience as a writer at the time, but he took up the challenge. What he now finds easy and fun to do is meticulous research.
To describe the space travel scenes (2012-2018 edition) as realistically as possible, for example, he travels to the Kennedy Space Center in the USA, where he witnesses the last launch of the space shuttle Endeavour at close quarters. He also consults specialists who have worked on previous space shuttle missions. For the space travel scenes in the revised edition from 2024, he naturally also pays a visit to SpaceX.
He even had Illobrand von Ludwiger (a graduate physicist and systems analyst for aerospace in the USA, France and England) carry out a gravity calculation to describe his mighty ship of the gods. He also visits many of the sites where the events took place, which, although fictitious, lends the story additional authenticity.
Further information about the author and his work can be found here: About the movie
Five editions of Gregor Spörri’s novel have been published to date
1995: THE IRON WORLD (short story in booklet form (partly illustrated from 1995 to 2006).
2012: THE LOST GOD: Day of Judgment (hardcover from 2012 to 2016).
2017: LOST GOD: Das Jüngste Gericht (paperback & e-book from 2017 to 2023).
2017: LOST GOD: Day of Judgment (English edition as paperback & e-book from 2017 to 2019).
2024: Lost God: Das Jüngste Gericht (paperback & illustrated e-book from 2024 to present).
