Saturday, April 16, 2011

Oh My American Gods!!!!

In case you've been under a rock the last decade, American Gods is a best selling novel that chronicles the picaresque journey of Shadow, a taciturn ex-con whose life changes once he sits down on a plane and gets offered a job. He enters a world where gods of the old world, such as Anansi and Chernobog, are gearing up for a war against new age gods of Media and Computers. They will fight to the death in the minds of men for that which gods need to survive: belief.

So, It's been ten years since Neil Gaiman's (famous author of many great books) American Gods came out. Wow. Do you feel old? I feel old. That means I've been recommending this book for over a decade. I have gifted it at least 5 times. I own the first edition hardback, a well loved paperback and the George Guidell Audiobook. It's a wonderful novel. If you haven't read it, head over to the library and get it.

Actually, screw the library. Go to Mysterious Galaxy, or your local indie book seller, and buy this book. Whenever I cannot think of what to read and am suffering from literary Ennui, this is my go-to book, followed by its sequel, Anansi Boys.

Which is why this week has been so bloody exciting! First, the rumors have been confirmed! HBO is partnering up with Playtone (Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's production company.) to make a series. I think this is the best news I've heard since I heard Ron Howard was producing the Dark Tower as a series. These novels are epic, and grand of scale in terms of where they take place and diversity of characters. They deserve to be just as fleshy as they need to be.

Gaiman implied there would be good news on his facebook about American gods, and said that he had finally sat down with someone whose work he thought was "brilliant," and who he trusted to do right by the book.

In other news, audiobook junkies are queing up to try to be a contributing voice in the Harper Collins 10th AnniversaryAmerican Gods Audiobook Contest. The top 20 contestants will be chosen by the interwebs, and from that pool, Neil and some people from Harper will pick the winner. Whoever wins gets a free trip to New York to record a brief part of the book. I think every audiophile with a microphone is gearing up to record their audition paragraph, just to be part of something so incredible.

PS. PICK ME!!! LOL.

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