Good Omens
 First edition cover, illustration by Chris Moore | |
| Author | Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Martin Jarvis (unabridged) Rebecca Front (full-cast) |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Orion Books |
Publication date | 1990-05-10 |
Blurb
First edition
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter - the world’s only totally reliable guide to the future - the world will end on a Saturday.
Next Saturday, in fact.
Just after tea.
Which means that Armageddon will happen on Saturday night. There will be seas of fire, rains of fish, the moon turning to blood and the massed armies of Heaven and Hell will sort it all out once and for all.
Which is a major problem for Crowley, Hell's most approachable demon and former serpent, and his opposite number and old friend Aziraphale, genuine angel and Soho book shop owner. They like it down here (or, in Crowley's case, up here).
So they’ve got no alternative but to stop the Four Motorcyclists of the Apocalypse, defeat the marching ranks of the Witch-finder army[1] and - somehow - stop it all happening.
Above all (or, in Aziraphale's case, below all) they need to find and kill the Antichrist, currently the most powerful creature on Earth.
This is a shame.
Because he's eleven years old, loves his dog even though it's really a Satanic hellhound under all that hair, really cares about the environment and is the sort of boy anyone would be proud to have as a son. He's also totally invulnerable, and a nice kid.
And if that isn't enough, they've still got Sunday to deal with...
Collector’s Library edition
It wasn't a dark and stormy night. It should have been, but that's the weather for you.
There is a hint of Armageddon in the air. According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (as recorded in 1655), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. So the Armies of Good and Evil are massing, the four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world's last two remaining witchfinders are getting ready to Fight the Good Fight. Atlantis is rising. Frogs are falling. Tempers are flaring, and everything appears to be going to Divine Plan.
All that's required now is the Anti-Christ. There's just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him.
Podcast episodes
Major appearances
These are episodes primarily devoted to discussing this book.
| Date | Show | Episode | External link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-01-08 | Pratchat | “It's the End of the World as We Know It (And We Feel Nice and Accurate)” | pratchatpodcast.com |
| 2019-03-20 | Kapitel Eins | “Episode 16: Ein gutes Omen”[2] | libsyn.com |
| 2019-04-21 | Welcome to the End Times | “Welcome to the End Times” (1/6) | anchor.fm |
| 2019-04-28 | Welcome to the End Times | “Tiny Bibliophilic Bells” (2/6) | anchor.fm |
| 2019-05-05 | Welcome to the End Times | “Witches Just Wanna Have Fun” (3/6) | anchor.fm |
| 2019-05-12 | Welcome to the End Times | “Metatron and Mad Prophetesses” (4/6) | anchor.fm |
| 2019-05-19 | Welcome to the End Times | “Heathen Passion and Occult Wiles” (5/6) | anchor.fm |
| 2019-05-26 | Welcome to the End Times | “INEFFABLE” (6/6) | anchor.fm |
| 2019-05-23 | Ink to Film | “Ep-90 Good Omens (1990 novel) part one” (1/2) | libsyn.com |
| 2019-05-30 | Ink to Film’’[3] | “Ep-91 Good Omens (1990 novel) part two” (2/2) | libsyn.com |
| 2019-05-28 | Wyrd Sisters | “Good Omens” | wyrdsisters.podbean.com |
| 2019-06-03 | Dragon Babies | “Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman” | dragonbabiespodcast.com |
| 2020-02-03 | The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret | “Castles and Snacks” (1/2) | thetruthshallmakeyefret.com |
| 2020-02-10 | The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret | “The Flaming Sword Of It All” (2/2) | thetruthshallmakeyefret.com |
| 2021-11-28 | Desert Island Discworld | “Louie Stowell and Good Omens” | desertislanddiscworld.com |
| 2021-11-28 | Teaching My Cat to Read | "Good Omens: What’s this? It’s Humanity With A Steel Chair!" | teachingmycattoread.wordpress.com[4] |
| 2022-01-10 | Stuck on Arrakis | “Stuck on a Side Quest: Good Omens” | buzzsprout.com |
| 2022-08-18 | Books w/ Bitches | “Good Omens THE Beginning to Thursday” (1/4) | spotify.com |
| 2022-08-25 | Books w/ Bitches | “Good Omens Thursday to Mid Saturday” (2/4) | spotify.com |
| 2022-09-01 | Books w/ Bitches | “Good Omens Mid Saturday- THE END” (3/4) | spotify.com |
| 2022-09-08 | Books w/ Bitches | “Good Omens Buzzed Review” (4/4) | spotify.com |
| 2023-01-18 | Books Are Magical | “Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett” | buzzsprout.com |
| 2023-04-25 | Coffee and Books | “Good omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.” | spotify.com |
| 2023-04-25 | Gaston Speaks | “We’re Booked Up - Good Omens” | podbean.com |
| 2023-07-12 | se leen relatos | “Todo Sobre Good Omens y mas”[5] | spotify.com |
Other appearances
These episodes include significant discussion of the book, but it’s not the main focus.
| Date | Show | Episode | External link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-07-26 | You Don't Know Lit | “Sir Terry Pratchett”[6] | podbean.com |
| 2023-03-29 | Heinous Investigations | “Hyperfixation Presentations: Good Omens”[7] | castos.com |
| 2023-05-19 | The Book Review[8] | “Essential Neil Gaiman and A.I. Book Freakout” | simplecast.com |
| 2023-08-01 | All the Good Ones are Taken | “Minisode 1” | podbean.com |
Adaptations
- Good Omens - radio play adapted by Dirk Maggs for the BBC in December 2014, starring Mark Heap as Aziraphale and Peter Serafinowicz as Crowley, and featuring Pratchett and Gaiman in a dual cameo as police officers, recorded in a car parked at Pratchett’s house.
- Good Omens - adapted for television by Neil Gaiman for Amazon Prime Video and the BBC in 2019, starring Michael Sheen as Aziraphale and David Tennant as Crowley. A second season was released in 2023, featuring a new story by Neil Gaiman and John Finnemore, plus flashback “minisodes” (incorporated into the episodes) by other writers. Elements from the plot Gaiman and Pratchett had for a sequel were seeded in the first season, and will form the basis of a third season if it’s produced.
- As well as an unabridged traditional audiobook narrated by Martin Jarvis, a new full-cast version was produced by Harper Audio and released in November 2021 on Audible, off the back of the popularity of the television series. It's narrated by Rebecca Front, and features Sheen and Tennant reprising their television roles alongside an ensemble cast playing the other characters.
- Good Omens: the Official (and Ineffable) Graphic Novel, an adaptation by frequent Neil Gaiman collaborator Colleen Doran, was announced in 2023. It will be published by Dunmanifestin in 2024, funded by a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
External links
- Good Omens at the L-Space Wiki
- Good Omens on Wikipedia
Footnotes
- ↑ All two of them.
- ↑ In German, about the German translation.
- ↑ Ink to Film followed this with two episodes about the television series, and later covered the second season as well.
- ↑ This episode does not have a dedicated page on the show's site, so this link is to the episode list page.
- ↑ In Spanish (we think; please correct us!).
- ↑ This podcast's format involves a “fight” between two books, in this case The Colour of Magic and Good Omens.
- ↑ Mostly about the television series
- ↑ This is the official book podcast of The New York Times.