Neil Gaiman’s New Book Will Be a Novelistic Retelling of the Norse Myths

The gods of Asgard are coming, courtesy of the author of Coraline

Neil Gaiman, author of Coraline and The Sandman series of graphic novels, has written a novelistic retelling of the Norse myths to be published by W.W. Norton in February. Gaiman has been interested in Norse mythology since he was a child and their influence is stamped on much of his writing, from the appearance of the Loki and Odin in his children’s book Odd and the Frost Giants to his fantasy novel American Gods.

The new book, Norse Mythology, will begin with the genesis of the nine worlds and continue through the tales of Odin, Thor, Loki, and the rest of the gods on Asgard.

Gaiman told his publisher, “To get the opportunity to retell the myths and poems we have inherited from the Norse was almost too good to be true. 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.”