American Gods

ALSO BY NEIL GAIMAN

Stardust

Smoke and Mirrors

Neverwhere

Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett)

Caveat, and Warning for Travelers

This is a work of fiction, not a guidebook. While the geography of the United States of America in this tale is not entirely imaginary—many of the landmarks in this book can be visited, paths can be followed, ways can be mapped—I have taken liberties. Fewer liberties than you might imagine, but liberties nonetheless.

Permission has neither been asked nor given for the use of real places in this story when they appear, I expect that the owners of Rock City or the House on the Rock, and the hunters who own the motel in the center of America, are as perplexed as anyone would be to find their properties in here.

I have obscured the location of several of the places in this book: the town of Lakeside, for example, and the farm with the ash tree an hour south of Blacksburg. You may look for them if you wish. You might even find them.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that all of the people, living, dead, and otherwise in this story are fictional or used in a fictional context. Only the gods are real.

For absent friends—Kathy Acker and Roger Zelazny,

and all points between

Contents

E-Book Special Feature

On the Road to American Gods: Selected Passages from Neil Gaiman’S Online Journal

AMERICAN GODS

Part One

Shadows

Caveat, and Warning for Travelers

Chapter 1

Shadow had done three years in prison.

Chapter 2

“I have taken the liberty,” said Mr. Wednesday, washing his hands…

Chapter 3

There was a thin young woman behind the counter…

Chapter 4

Shadow and Wednesday ate breakfast at a Country Kitchen…

Chapter 5

Only Zorya Utrennyaya was awake to say goodbye to them…

Chapter 6

One moment Shadow was riding the World’s Largest Carousel…

Chapter 7

Shadow had been walking south, or what he hoped was…

Chapter 8

The week before Christmas is often a quiet one in a funeral parlor…

Part Two

My Ainsel

Chapter 9

As they drove out of Illinois late that evening, Shadow asked…

Chapter 10

A whole life in darkness, surrounded by filth…

Chapter 11

Three cold days passed. The thermometer never made it up…

Chapter 12

Shadow drove west, across Wisconsin and Minnesota…

Chapter 13

It was Saturday morning. Shadow answered the door.

Part Three

The Moment of the Storm

Chapter 14

They changed cars at five in the morning, in Minneapolis…

Chapter 15

The first day that Shadow hung from the tree he experienced…

Chapter 16

The tree was gone, and the world was gone…

Chapter 17

The most important place in the southeastern United States…

Chapter 18

None of this can actually be happening. If it makes you…

Part Four

Something that the Dead are Keeping Back

Chapter 19

The two of them were in the VW bus…

Chapter 20

Shadow drove the rental out of the forest at about 8:30…

Postscript

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Other Books by Neil Gaiman

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

One question that has always intrigued me is what happens to demonic beings when immigrants move from their homelands. Irish-Americans remember the fairies, Norwegian-Americans the nisser, Greek-Americans the vrykólakas, but only in relation to events remembered in the Old Country. When I once asked why such demons are not seen in America, my informants giggled confusedly and said “They’re scared to pass the ocean, it’s too far,” pointing out that Christ and the apostles never came to America.

—Richard Dorson, “A Theory for American Folklore,”

American Folklore and the Historian

(University of Chicago Press, 1971)

Part OneSHADOWS

CHAPTER ONE

The boundaries of our country, sir? Why sir, on the north we are bounded by the Aurora Borealis, on the east we are bounded by the rising sun, on the south we are bounded by the procession of the Equinoxes, and on the west by the Day of Judgment.

—The American Joe Miller’s Jest Book

Shadow had done three years in prison. He was big enough and looked don’t-fuck-with-me enough that his biggest problem was killing time. So he kept himself in shape, and taught himself coin tricks, and thought a lot about how much he loved his wife.