A Fan's Interview With 'American Gods' Author Neil Gaiman

Here & Now launches its occasional series, "Page Turners: Ask The Author" with English author Neil Gaiman and Here & Now intern, Alissa Greenberg.

When Gaiman's novel, "American Gods," came out in 2001, it became a New York Times bestseller and won awards for fantasy, science fiction and horror writing.

The now 24-year-old Greenberg said she first picked up the book in high school and "couldn't put it down," reading the book at least ten times.

The novel tells the tale of immigrants who came to America and brought with them their ancient gods, which they then abandoned for modern gods, gods of the stock market and the Internet.

Both the old and new gods duke it out for supremacy, in a multi-cultural story that takes the reader through a wild, cross-country road trip.

Greenberg interviewed Neil Gaiman with Here & Now's Robin Young and explained why she has re-read "American Gods" so often.

"As somebody who's really interested in other cultures and religions, I loved seeing them all put together and answering the question of what would happen if they all had to exist together," Greenberg said.

She discussed with Gaiman a quote from the novel that has stayed with her over the years:

Alissa Greenberg: "You write in 'America Gods' that America is the only country that doesn't know what it is and is preoccupied with finding it out."

Neil Gaiman: "In the decade since I wrote that, I would probably modify that statement.. because I think that Australia [fits into the same category].

They're basically both new countries of immigrants in which pretty much everyone is an immigrant who displaced an indigenous population and then had to invent themselves."