As you've all heard, the Limited Edition of Neil Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS is now out. We trust you will find it was worth the wait. The quotes above are from two long-established and reputable book dealers who received advance copies. You can see photos of the book here on our website—but pictures really don't do it justice. You'll have to hold your own copy in your hands to fully appreciate just how good it is.

And just how good is it?

The Hill House edition of AMERICAN GODS is an object to treasure. But AMERICAN GODS is a book to be read—read avidly as befits Neil's masterpiece of modern fantasy. We're readers, too. We know what reading a book you love means. It means taking it on buses and trains. It means propping it up on coffee house tables. It means never letting it leave your side until you finish it. But—trust us—you're not going to want to risk getting coffee-stains on this edition or, God forbid, leaving it behind you on a bus.

So how does Hill House handle this conflict of interest? By printing a whole other edition of the book—one that, while still attractive, is designed to be read—and then providing it to all our customers for free!

That's right. We've produced a 6" x 9" paperback Reader's Copy of Neil's final preferred text and make it available to every purchaser of the Limited Edition at no extra cost. No competition to win. No other shoe to drop. Just a free gift from the book-loving lunatics of Hill House to our customers.

Included as an appendix in the Reader's Copy will be a six-hundred word section that Neil deleted from the novel. Like the story of the Chinese Emperor (which the subscribers to the Gaiman Series received as a stand-alone booklet), this section is a marvelous piece of writing; the only reason Neil removed it from the finished text is that it didn't quite work within the book as a whole. Neil's provided a brief prefatory note which will be included with the appendix which will not only explain his decision as to why he removed the section but will tantalize you with the possibility that the ideas raised by this section may be explored more fully by Mr. Gaiman at some point in the future. Intrigued? Just wait till you see just what this section is.

And because the production of the Reader's Copy involves resetting the text, we've also taken the opportunity to correct a handful of small typographical errors that resulted from the transfer of Quark files from the U.S. to our printer in China. If our beautiful Limited Edition was the Author's Preferred Edition, then the Reader's Copy could now be said to be, textually at least, the Author's Preferred Preferred Edition! Our heartfelt thanks to Neil for working with us on ensuring that his fans receive the true last word on a modern masterpiece.

With all best wishes and many thanks for your support,
Peter Schneider & Pete Atkins