NORSE MYTHOLOGY

A major new book by Neil Gaiman, the author of numerous award-winning novels and story collections.

Norse Mythology will present Gaiman’s dazzling retelling of the Norse myths for adult and young adult readers as well as for students. It is slated to be published in hardcover and as an e-book in February 2017. The elemental stories in Norse Mythology, from the cold northlands of Scandinavia and Iceland, mix love, murder, betrayal, and loyalty. Drawn from Gaiman’s deep readings of many existing versions of the tales, and infused with the unique power and beauty that only a peerless storyteller can impart, this volume is both authoritative and stunning. Gaiman notes, “I will never forget the first time I encountered the Norse myths. I was a small boy with a borrowed paperback in a friend’s bedroom, but I was also walking with Thor and Loki through a pine forest, on their way to be made fools of by crafty Ice Giants. Those Norse tales have accompanied me through pretty much everything I’ve done: they ran like a vein of silver through Sandman, they were the bedrock of American Gods. “To get the opportunity to retell the myths and poems we have inherited from the Norse was almost too good to be true. I was thrilled when Amy Cherry invited me to write this for W. W. Norton. I hope the scholarship is good, but much more than that, I hope that I have retold stories that read like the real thing: sometimes profound, sometimes funny, sometimes heroic, sometimes dark, and always inevitable.” Norton editor Amy Cherry remarks, “Neil Gaiman is a mythic writer in all senses of the word. In Norse Mythology, he performs the high-wire act of giving us the power, magic, and comic wit of these tales while creating an immensely satisfying narrative that reads almost like a novel.” Norse Mythology presents the gods of Asgard and the giants and elves of the world outside. Here is Odin, the highest god, wise, cunning, and vengeful; Thor, the lightning-wielding god; and the giant Loki, the manipulative trickster who bedevils the gods as much as he helps them. Gaiman evokes the tone of the myths—whether sly wit, unrestrained humor, or chilling fierceness. The entire book reanimates the Norse world of headstrong, fallible deities and the looming destruction of their world through their own actions. Norse Mythology will be published as part of Norton’s winter list and is available for pre-order immediately. Neil Gaiman is the author of the best-selling Trigger Warnings, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Graveyard Book, Coraline, The Sandman series, and many other works. His fiction has received Newbery, Carnegie, Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner Awards. His novel American Gods is being made into a TV miniseries to air in 2017.