American Gods. by GAIMAN, Neil

[New York], William Morrow, 2001. . First edition, first printing, signed by the author; 8vo; publisher's boards, dust-jacket, a fine copy. The first edition of Gaiman's epic tale of the war between the old gods and the new, and the unwitting "demigod" Shadow Moon caught up in the middle of it all. With a divine cast-list including Odin, Loki, Czernobog, Anubis, Thoth and Anansi (who would feature again in Gaiman's 2005 novel Anansi Boys), offset against modern world representations of technology, television and more abstract personifications of modernity, the book uses America as its stage, with numerous historic references to the spread of religion into the Americas and a host of ancillary characters both mortal & immortal, and even one recently deceased, brought back to life by a leprechaun's magic coin... A television version starring Richard Whittle and Ian McShane was launched in April 2017, and proved so successful that a second season was commissioned.