- Neil Gaiman
- 18+
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.
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
—Richard Dorson, “A Theory for American Folklore,”
American Folklore and the Historian
(University of Chicago Press, 1971)
Part OneSHADOWS
CHAPTER ONE
—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.