American Gods

Did You Know?

• In May 2010, American Gods was selected in an online poll to be the first 'One Book One Twitter' book.
• Gaiman announced on his journal on 28 February 2008 that the complete text would be available for one month on his publisher's website.
• The television series ended after season 3 without adapting the whole book; in 2024 actor Ricky Whittle stated he and Gaiman were seeking a streaming service to conclude the story.

Plot summary

Shadow Moon is released from prison early after learning his wife Laura died in a car accident alongside his best friend Robbie, with whom she was having an affair. With no job, he becomes a bodyguard for the mysterious Mr. Wednesday and travels across the United States. Shadow meets the leprechaun Mad Sweeney, who gives him a magical gold coin; Shadow tosses it into Laura's grave, bringing her back as a revenant. He also meets Czernobog and the three Zorya Sisters, one of whom gives him a protective silver coin from the Moon. Shadow learns Wednesday is an incarnation of Odin, recruiting Old Gods—whose powers have waned as believers decreased—for a battle against the New Gods, manifestations of modern worship like technology and media. Shadow meets allies including Mr. Nancy, Easter, Whiskey Jack, and John Chapman.

Characters

Shadow Moon is an ex-convict who becomes the reluctant bodyguard and errand boy of Mr. Wednesday (Odin). Laura Moon is Shadow's wife, who dies in a car crash early in the novel. Samantha Black Crow is a hitchhiking college student Shadow meets. Chad Mulligan is a kind-hearted police chief in Lakeside. The Black Hats—Mister Road, Mister Town, Mister Wood, and Mister Stone—represent the American obsession with conspiracy theories and work as spooks for the New Gods. Mr. Wednesday is an aspect of Odin, the Old Norse god of knowledge and wisdom. Low-Key Lyesmith is Loki, the Old Norse god of mischief, and was Shadow's acquaintance in prison. Czernobog is the Slavic god of darkness, twin to Belobog. The Zorya Sisters—representing Dawn, Dusk, and the Midnight Star—are relatives of Czernobog who guard the doomsday hound Simargl. Mr. Nancy is Anansi, a trickster spider god from Ghanaian folklore. Mr. Ibis is Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge, who runs a funeral parlor with Mr. Jacquel. Mr. Jacquel is Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead. Bast is Bastet, the Egyptian cat goddess. Horus is the Egyptian sky god. Easter is Ēostre, the Germanic goddess of dawn. Mad Sweeney is Suibhne, a king from Irish story who calls himself a leprechaun despite being nearly seven feet tall. Whiskey Jack is Wisakedjak, an Algonquian trickster figure.

Influences

Gaiman has said the novel's origin came from his experience as an immigrant in America in 1992, and from a 1998 layover in Reykjavik where he wondered if immigrants brought their gods with them. The dedication reads 'for absent friends – Kathy Acker and Roger Zelazny and all points in between.' Gaiman noted that the Discworld novel Small Gods explores a similar origin of deities as thoughtforms; though he had not read it, he felt he and Terry Pratchett shared a worldview from daily phone conversations, and Pratchett advised him on plot elements. Gaiman stated that American Gods is not based on Diana Wynne Jones's Eight Days of Luke, though they bear an odd relationship; he had abandoned a story linking gods to days of the week after realizing Jones had used the idea, but later used it for Wednesday and Shadow meeting on the god's namesake day. Of John James's novel Votan, Gaiman said he considered it the best book about the Norse but avoided reading it between conceiving and finishing American Gods. Gaiman acknowledged that Fritz Leiber's portrayal of Odin and Loki in The Knight and Knave of Swords had 'definitely smudged into' his own take on those characters.

Publishing history

American Gods first hit shelves in 2001, released by Headline in the UK and William Morrow in the US. A tenth anniversary edition came out in June 2011 from William Morrow, featuring the author's preferred text with an extra 12,000 words. That version matched the signed limited edition from Hill House Publishers in 2003 and the edition from Headline, which has been Gaiman's UK publisher since 2005; the 2011 release was the first time this preferred text was widely available outside the UK. Harper Audio produced two audiobooks: an unabridged reading of the original 2001 edition by George Guidall, and a full-cast recording of the tenth anniversary edition in 2011. That later version included over a dozen actors, among them Fred Berman, Dennis Boutsikaris, Anne Bobby, Tim Cain, Richard Ferrone, Adam Grupper, Sarah Jones, Pete Larkin, Nikhil Maindiratta, Kathleen McInerney, Ron McLarty, Prentice Onayemi, Daniel Oreskes, Paula Parker, Nicole Quinn, Maggi-Meg Reed, Yelena Scmulenson, Teddy Walsh, Alan Winter, and Oliver Wyman. A comic series, American Gods: Shadows, began with Dark Horse Comics in March 2017, and a collection of issues 1 through 9 was published as a book in February 2018.