This is the book’s cover. The book itself, my retellings of Norse Myths from the beginning until Ragnarok, comes out on February the 7th. (Will the hammer on the real cover spin like that, you ask?*)
You can learn more at http://www.neilgaimannorsemythology.com/
You can do an Amazon preorder at http://bit.ly/NorseMythology
* No. No, it won’t. Sorry.
Mr. Gaiman’s forthcoming book “Norse Mythology,” which Norton will publish next February, is an almost novelistic retelling of famous myths about the gods of Asgard. The book will explore the nine Norse worlds, which are populated by elves, fire demons, the Vanir gods, humans, dwarves, giants and the dead. There are ice giants and elves, familiar deities like Thor, Odin (the wise and occasionally vengeful highest god) and Loki (the giant trickster), and a frightening doomsday scenario, Ragnarok, where the gods fight a fire giant with a flaming sword in an apocalyptic, world-ending battle.
Mr. Gaiman has often drawn on the Norse myths in his own fantasy writing. His hallucinatory fantasy novel “American Gods” features a character based on Odin. In his children’s book “Odd and the Frost Giants,” a young boy encounters a fox, an eagle and a bear who turn out to be Loki, Odin and Thor.
“Those Norse tales have accompanied me through pretty much everything I’ve done,” he said. “They ran like a vein of silver through Sandman, they were the bedrock of American Gods.
This is true. This is the next book.