title: The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains: A Tale of Travel and Darkness with Pictures of All Kinds
author:  Neil Gaiman 
description: There is a stark simplicity in Mr. Gaimans prose in this deceptively dark tale of how far men will go to achieve their hearts desire only to find that the achievement pales in comparison to the desiring. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)<br /><br />Gaimain (Anansi Boys) has crafted a fresh story of magic, humanity, loyalty, and memories waiting at the edges of things, where lost innocence can be restored as long as someone is willing to bear the cost. (Publishers Weekly (starred review) on THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE)<br /><br />Part fable, part fairy tale and part cautionary tale, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is by turns hauntingly beautiful, painfully intense, funny, witty, wise, scary, and heart wrenchingly sad. (SFRevu on THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE)<br /><br />A terrifying shift in the nature of things lies at the heart of Neil Gaimains rich new novel. (The Guardian on THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE)<br /><br />Poignant and heartbreaking, eloquent and frightening, impeccably rendered, its a fable that reminds us how our lives are shaped by childhood experiences, what we gain from them and the price we pay. (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE)<br /><br />[T]here isnt much Gaiman cant do when it comes to writing. (Denver Post on ANANSI BOYS)<br /><br />A hybrid of folk tale and farce that freely partakes of the comic wealth in each, slipping effortlessly back and forth between them . . . Anansi Boys is Gaimans tribute to [Anansis] trickster spirit, as nimble and resourceful as his own imagination. (Salon on ANANSI BOYS)<br /><br />Original, engrossing, and endlessly inventive; a picaresque journey across America where the travelers are even stranger than the roadside attractions. (George R. R. Martin on AMERICAN GODS)
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  ![image](../Images/iv.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  Photograph © by Stephanie Berg/Dreamstime.com
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Author’s Preferred Text
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Neil Gaiman
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../Images/logo.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [Dedication](../Text/004_TOC.html#ded_01)
  
  
  
  
  
  ## FOR ABSENT FRIENDS—
  
  
  
  
  
  Kathy Acker and  
  
  
    
  
  
  Roger Zelazny,  
  
  
    
  
  
  and all points between
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](../Images/ded.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## [Caveat, and Warning for
  Travelers](../Text/004_TOC.html#frontmatterpage_03)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is a work of fiction, not a guidebook. While the geography of the United
  States of America in this tale is not entirely imaginary—many of the landmarks
  in this book can be visited, paths can be followed, ways can be mapped—I have
  taken liberties. Fewer liberties than you might imagine, but liberties
  nonetheless.
  
  
  
  
  
  Permission has neither been asked nor given for the use of 