American Gods

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Title American Gods

Cover of first edition (hardcover)
Author Neil Gaiman
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Fantasy novel
Publisher William Morrow
Released June 19, 2001
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages 480 pp
ISBN ISBN 0-380-97365-0
Followed by Anansi Boys, "The Monarch of the Glen"

American Gods is a novel by Neil Gaiman. The novel is a blend of Americana, fantasy, and various strands of ancient and modern mythology, all centering on a mysterious and taciturn protagonist, Shadow. It was Gaiman's fourth prose novel, being preceded by Good Omens (a collaboration with Terry Pratchett), Neverwhere, and Stardust (a fairy tale illustrated by Charles Vess). Several of the themes touched upon in the book were previously glimpsed in The Sandman graphic novels, for which Gaiman may be best known.

The book was published in 2001 by Headline in the United Kingdom and by William Morrow in the United States.

Gaiman's subsequent novel Anansi Boys was actually conceived before American Gods, and shares a character, Mr Nancy. It is not a sequel but is a part of the same fictional world. The novella, "Monarch of the Glen" (from the Legends II anthology, later collected in Fragile Things), does continue Shadow's journeys, and is a lead-in to a new American Gods novel yet to be written[citation needed]. This latter story also features the characters of Mr Alice and Mr Smith, a pair of dubious men who also appeared in a Gaiman short story called "Keepsakes and Treasures", suggesting that this tale is a part of the American Gods universe as well; Gaiman, in his online journal, has stated that if he writes more of Shadow it will also involve Mr. Smith [1].

Contents

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The book follows the adventures of ex-convict Shadow upon his (few day) early release from prison due to the death of his wife, Laura, in a car accident. He is hired by the mysterious Mr. Wednesday to act as an escort and bodyguard, and travels across America visiting Wednesday's colleagues and acquaintances. Gradually, it is revealed that Wednesday is an incarnation of Odin the All-Father (the word Wednesday is derived from "Odin's (Woden's) day"). Wednesday is recruiting American manifestations of the Old Gods of ancient mythology, whose powers have waned as their believers have decreased in number, to participate in an epic battle against the New American Gods, manifestations of modern life and technology (e.g. the internet, media, modern means of transport).

Mythological characters prominently featured in the book include Odin, Loki, Czernobog, the Zorya, the Norns, Anansi, Eostre, Kali, Thoth, Anubis, Horus, and Bast. In addition to the numerous figures from real-world myths, a few characters from The Sandman and its spinoffs make brief cameos in the book. Other mythological characters featured in the novel are not divine, but are more legends or folk heroes, for instance, Johnny Appleseed. Shadow himself is implied to be Balder, which is confirmed in the follow-up novella, "Monarch of the Glen".

Various real-life towns and tourist attractions, including the House on the Rock and Rock City, are featured through the course of the book. Gaiman states in an introduction that he has obscured the precise location of some actual locales.

According to Gaiman, American Gods is not based on Diana Wynne Jones's Eight Days of Luke, "although they bear an odd relationship, like second cousins once removed or something." When working on the structure of a story linking gods and days of the week, he realised that this idea had already been used in Eight Days of Luke. He abandoned the story, but later used the character Wednesday and the day of meeting when writing American Gods. [2]

While Gaiman was writing American Gods, his publishers set up a promotional web site featuring a weblog in which Gaiman described the day-to-day process of writing, revising, publishing, and promoting the novel. After the novel was published, the web site evolved into a more general Official Neil Gaiman Web Site, and as of 2007 Gaiman still regularly adds to the weblog, describing the day-to-day process of being Neil Gaiman and writing, revising, publishing, or promoting his current project.

The book won the 2002 Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker awards, all for Best Novel. In 2002 it was nominated for the Best Novel BSFA Award.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Preceded by
The Quantum Rose
by Catherine Asaro		 Nebula Award for Best Novel
2002		 Succeeded by
The Speed of Dark
by Elizabeth Moon
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/m/e/American_Gods_c481.html"
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