G is for ‘Only the Gods are Real’

Blogging from AtoZ 2024

• AtoZ Challenge 2024
• Gettting ready to AtoZ
• A is for Actually/Abundance
• B is for boo…. Brilliant things
• B is for Bad Idea Bears
• C is for Challenging
• D is for Dark #AtoZ2024
• E is for environment #AtoZ2024
• E is for Editing
• F is for Finders Keepers
• F is for Family and Friends
• G for Groups – AtoZ 2024 #MondayBlogs
• G is for ‘Only the Gods are Real’
• H is for Home
• I is for ‘I am, I feel…’
• J is for Jump (a poem)
• K is for Killing #AtoZ
• L is for Ludosport (what else?) #AtoZ
• M is for (e)motionless
• M is for Mourning
• M is for Meditation #MondayBlogs
• M is for Magic
• N is for normal
• N is for November
• O is for Outer Space
• P for Psychosis #Mondayblogs
• Q for quotables
• R for reality
• S is for singing and other music
• T is for Time and Travel
• U is for Understanding
• V is for Via
• W is for Wishes
• X is for Xray and other medical stuff
• Y is for Yesterday
• Z is for Zebras and ZZZZs
• And…that’s it – An AtoZ Rounup

Anyone that knows me will know that American Gods is one of the pieces that I absolutely adore.  And Neil Gaiman, in introducing the re-edited version talks about the book, and everything in it, and ends by saying ‘only the gods are real’.  It’s something that’s changed my perspective on the world a couple of times.

Before I jump into this one though, over on another post, I’m talking writer’s groups – mine and ones I help out on, or enjoy.  They are divided into mine/co-founder, moderator or admin, and member groups.  Some on Facebook, a few Discord servers.  Enjoy!

Firstly, and up front, I’m pagan. I believe in multiple gods, I count a few as my siblings, and there’s a lot of running jokes about all of that in my world.  When I lived in Edinburgh, the fire festival in Edinburgh, for Beltane, was one of the major dates in my world. I low key celebrate all of them now that we live further south, but we often travel on Yule, so it’s a bit weird.  I get to be in the two most important places to me, and that’s nice – we leave from Gloucester, we arrive in Edinburgh, it’s been absolutely brilliant to do every year. For Beltane, when we’re home, I get a firepit, and I get to spend a bit of time wandering in woods, or collecting stuff to enjoy on the day.  A few Beltanes ago, we even had some special powder to throw into the flames to give my daughter something to photograph for a project.

I think some of the reasons I love American Gods is that at it’s heart, it’s a story about interacting with people, that turn out to be very flawed, very unique, and possibly very important.  Mr Wednesday aka Odin was easy to spot but I didn’t pick up on Shadow’s cellmate till I heard the book read out loud. It’s also a story though about a crime being committed – a serial killer of sorts (also a mythological creature) and how everything is designed to get Shadow, the main character ‘off the board’, but actually puts him in the way of destroying that.  It becomes a question of whether that was done deliberately, or if it was happenstance.

I’ve not got the video of the beginning of the 10th edition American Gods, but there’s another piece he did on Youtube that I really like that kinda reflects the way things are with all his books.

There’s his commencement speech

My favorite though, and I met him for the first time around now while he was touring with Ananzi Boys, is the poem Instructions.

Now that the good bit is over, I’ll tell you about some of my books.

In my books, there’s various forms of religion.  Nate Naire (Glass Block) is a person that uses viral indoctrination to recruit to his cult.  He considers himself a god.  He’s got no clue about the ‘real’ gods that Harper knows about though.  He’s got no clue about the Priestesses of Care.  He’s got no clue about the other universes.  So he’s definitely shown not to be a god, but is worshipped as one. Plus there’s the almighty god of TECH in my world – the haves and have nots are very….pious in that sort of divide and Harper, who has none is often referred to as a heathen or similar.  I explain why in my books, but it wasn’t actually meant as a religious thing at the start – it was more to do with the nano-virus and it just kind of…ended up that way (see F for Finders Keepers to understand why that might make sense).

Then there’s HellHounds and Hexes – Cry Havoc is the first book in that, and it’s discussed, in depth, that Chancey knows of gods, that wander the wilderness, nearly forgotten, while others hold court.  She herself owes a debt to several gods, and Lucifer Morningstar.  She also meets a Hellhound, so there’s the idea of traditional heaven and hell, with fae and all other sorts of things in there.
On the other hand, Shula is the follower of a different type of god – a demi god.  She was built from a game that I played called Pathfinder. Not connected to my other books directly, she’s a character that appears in stories that end up being Lit_RPG, so the gods they talk about are…different.  Capricious and directly influenceable.

I’m very careful when talking about religion to be clear on one final thing.  It’s personal – I respect all religions, as long as they’re not used as a reason to hurt others. And with it being personal, what I see in the tales I read and write, might not quite line up with what you take from them – and really? That’s ok.

With that in mind, what are your thoughts? Have you read American Gods – and if so, did you catch who Shadow’s first cellmate was as his actual name (cause the twist was really difficult to see, from the start, but when it’s said out loud….*facepalm*), or did you miss it like me until you either read the name out loud or heard the audiobook?
How about your gods?

Yesterday's posts
F is for Family and friends - Kaiberie.com
F is for Finders Keepers
Visit other blogs from the AtoZ challenge! 

Yesterday's blogs I visited
I spent a weekend at LudoSport - I'll be picking up blogs again tonight and tomorrow!
Until then, please check out my 'Non AtoZ' diversion

The Current posts in my AtoZ challenge are:

T is for Time and Travel

Visit other blogs from the AtoZ challenge!
My other posts are listed at The AtoZ of me and my inspirations

No visits today – I’m asking that you read my post, P for Psychosis.

Kai( Kai Viola, Author )

Kai is a writer, author and avid reader.  A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.