Grundy wrote most of the novel in a dormitory at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, where he spent one year as an exchange student. He also spent a year as an exchange student in Bonn, Germany - virtually at the foot of the "Drachenberg" - spending some of his time on research for his novel (which also led him all across Scandinavia). "Rhinegold" — a retelling of the entire Sigurð cycle dedicated to, among others, Richard Wagner and J. R. R. Tolkien — came out in 1994, and quickly developed into an international best-seller. In 1995, Grundy received his PhD from the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge with a dissertation on Odin: "The Cult of Óðinn: God of Death?".