Good Omens
 First edition cover, illustration by Chris Moore | |
| Authors | Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Martin Jarvis (unabridged) Rebecca Front (full-cast) |
| Cover artist | Chris Moore (first edition) |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Orion Books |
Publication date | 1990-05-10 |
Good Omens is a 1990 standalone fantasy novel co-written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - it was Gaiman’s first novel. The initial idea of “what if the Anti-Christ grew up to be a nice boy?” was Gaiman’s; he told it to Pratchett, who wanted to know what happened next and offered to buy the idea from Gaiman. Instead they ended up writing it together. It was not an immediate success but has become a cult favourite, especially after it was adapted into a television series starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen. The third and final season of the series will be based on the original idea Pratchett and Gaiman cooked up for a sequel they never wrote.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-01-11 | Overdue[2] | “Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett” | headgum.com |
| 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”[3] | 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’’[4] | “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 |
| 2019-07-11 | Tipsy Nerds Book Club | “Thunderbolts and Lightning: Good Omens” | buzzsprout.com (mp3) |
| 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[5] |
| 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”[6] | spotify.com |
| 2023-08-30 | A la aventura - Libros y lectura[7] | “Buenos presagios” | libsyn.com |
| 2023-09-17 | Unseen Academicals | “Good Omens, Part 1: Antichrist Phenomenon” (1/3) | spotify.com |
| 2023-12-13 | Unseen Academicals | “Good Omens, Part 2: Apocalyptic Revelations” (2/3) | spotify.com |
| 2024-01-02 | Unseen Academicals | “Good Omens, Part 3: Faithful Adaptations” (3/3)[8] | spotify.com |
| 2023-10-28 | Stray Reads | “Good Omens” | spotify.com |
| 2023-12-26 | Greeks and Geeks | “Is Good Omens Cozy?”[9] | buzzsprout.com |
| 2024-05-24 | Left On Read | “Good Omens (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett)” | spotify.com |
| 2024-08-01 | The Audiobook Club | “Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman” | 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”[10] | podbean.com |
| 2023-03-29 | Heinous Investigations | “Hyperfixation Presentations: Good Omens”[11] | castos.com |
| 2023-05-19 | The Book Review[12] | “Essential Neil Gaiman and A.I. Book Freakout” | simplecast.com |
| 2023-08-01 | All the Good Ones are Taken | “Minisode 1” | podbean.com |
| 2023-08-22 | Geeks Without God | “Good Omens”[13] | geekswithoutgod.com |
| 2023-11-08 | The Turtle Reads | “Good Omens Guardian Angels and Clay’s New Nickname” | captivate.fm |
| 2024-02-23 | Rhody Radio: RI Library Radio Online | “Rhody Recommends: Book to Screen” | spotify.com |
| 2024-06-16 | Books, Ballads and B-Roll | “Witches, Worship, and Woe” | hvspn.com |
| 2024-07-23 | Book Chat Live | “BCL S9 E4: Kris Faatz”[14] | spotify.com |
| 2024-08-05 | Off Script | “Good Omens”[15] | spotify.com |
| 2024-08-07 | The Speculative Collective[16] | “The Humour” | buzzsprout.com |
| 2024-08-26 | Algorithme Humain [17] | “Good Omens/ Don't Hug Me I'm Scared” | spotify.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 the third season, to be released in 2025.
- 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. 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.
- A stage musical has been in development in Australia since 2013 by Vicki Larnach, Jim Hare and later Jay James-Moody. It has not yet been completed, in part because the international rights are complicated and an Australia-only production would not be financially feasible. Workshop versions (with full cast but minimal sets) were staged several times between 2017 and 2019, and there are still hopes it will see the light of day as a full production. The official website goodomensthemusical.com includes clips of workshop performances and an interview with the creative team.
External links
- Good Omens at the L-Space Wiki
- Good Omens on Wikipedia
Footnotes
- ↑ All two of them.
- ↑ Also did episodes about The Colour of Magic and Guards! Guards!.
- ↑ 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!).
- ↑ In Spanish.
- ↑ Also discusses the radio series and the TV show.
- ↑ Also discusses the television adaptation.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Also discusses both seasons of the TV show.
- ↑ Guest author Kris Faatz discusses many of his favourite books, including Night Watch and Good Omens.
- ↑ Season 1 of the TV show as an adaptation of the book
- ↑ A general discussion of humorous speculative fiction, including the work of Piers Anthony, Douglas Adams and Jasper Fforde.
- ↑ In French; appears to be a show which gives human recommendations for other creative works, based on something you’ve liked, including in this episode Good Omens.