Released today on Audible: The Tenth Anniversary Edition of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, with a new full cast production
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Released today on Audible: The Tenth Anniversary Edition of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, with a new full cast production
Posted on 2011-06-21 at 17:57 by Sam
This is one of my favorite books from one of my favorite authors, and while the existing audiobook is a very good one-narrator performance from George Guidall, for the 10th anniversary edition of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods there’s “updated and expanded” text and a 4-person cast production from Harper Audio.
Publisher’s Summary:
First published in 2001, American Gods became an instant classic, an intellectual and artistic benchmark from the multiple-award-winning master of innovative fiction, Neil Gaiman. Now, discover the mystery and magic of American Gods in this 10th anniversary edition. Newly updated and expanded with the author’s preferred text, this commemorative volume is a true celebration of a modern masterpiece by the one, the only, Neal Gaiman.
A storm is coming….
Locked behind bars for three years, Shadow did his time, quietly waiting for the magic day when he could return to Eagle Point, Indiana. A man no longer scared of what tomorrow might bring, all he wanted was to be with Laura, the wife he deeply loved, and start a new life. But just days before his release, Laura and Shadow’s best friend are killed in an accident. With his life in pieces and nothing to keep him tethered, Shadow accepts a job from a beguiling stranger he meets on the way home, an enigmatic man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A trickster and rogue, Wednesday seems to know more about Shadow than Shadow does himself.
Life as Wednesday’s bodyguard, driver, and errand boy is far more interesting and dangerous than Shadow ever imagined. It is a job that takes him on a dark and strange road trip and introduces him to a host of eccentric characters whose fates are mysteriously intertwined with his own.
Along the way, Shadow will learn that the past never dies; that everyone, including his beloved Laura, harbors secrets; and that dreams, totems, legends, and myths are more real than we know. Ultimately, he will discover that beneath the placid surface of everyday life, a storm is brewing - an epic war for the very soul of America - and that he is standing squarely in its path.
Relevant and prescient, American Gods has been lauded for its brilliant synthesis of “mystery, satire, sex, horror, and poetic prose” (Washington Post Book World) and as a modern phantasmagoria that “distills the essence of America” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). It is, quite simply, an outstanding work of literary imagination that will endure for generations.
I’m looking forward to checking this one out, and it’s exciting to see this book get such an audio facelift, reminiscent of the 20th anniversary production of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Rumors abound that, after signing a multiple-season TV deal with HBO, Gaiman is working on more books in the world of American Gods and Anansi Boys so there’s plenty to be excited about here.
UPDATE: HarperCollins Audio has a page full of extras including cast outtakes, an interview with Gaiman, the Bookperks contest winner (who got to record a bit part in studio in NYC), and more. And HarperCollins Audio is on Tumblr, too!