Spike Magazine

Spike | 15 YEARS OF BOOKS, MUSIC, ART, IDEAS | www.spikemagazine.com
Introduction
How Spike Magazine Got Started
Chris Mitchell
I first had the idea for Spike while I was doing
my MA at the University Of Sussex in 1995. My
co-conspirator in helping me initially figure out
what Spike should be was Adam Baron, who has
subsequently gone on to write four bestselling
novels but perhaps still remains most lauded as
the author of The Man Whose Penis Made Him
Locally Famous.
I’m not sure why I called it Spike - the retrospective
explanation I came up with was because I was
fed up of getting my work spiked by magazines,
so I put it online. And it sounded sharp, as in razor
sharp criticism. But I think it had as much to do
with being a huge fan of Spike Milligan too.
Publishing online seemed a way to finally get my
writing actually out there, even though in 1995,
there weren’t that many people on the internet. I
had just discovered the web thanks to my friend
and mentor Dave Pearce, who had quickly latched
on to how revolutionary the web was going to be-
come and had invested in at-the-time outrageously
expensive ISDN lines so he could get something
approaching a speedy browsing connection. He
had created the still-burgeoning HedWeb.com
which proposed then-radical ideas about paradise
engineering. Heroically Dave allowed me to
come round his house and spend hours gazing at
his computer monitor in fascination at all these
webpages that were being created by people everywhere.
(Ok, mainly in the US. But it felt like
everywhere). He also taught me HTML (or at least
passed me a doorstop sized HTML manual with a
smile) and has hosted Spike on his own webserver
since its inception. Without Dave, Spike wouldn’t
have happened, and, given every job I’ve had since
1997 revolves around the internet, I think I owe
my career to him too. Thanks Dave.
I remember thinking there was very little about
books or literature on the web – it seemed like a
chance to get in at the beginning of something. I
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