Good Omens
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (1990) is a fantasy novel written in collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman . Due to the different status of the authors in America and Britain, American editions credit Gaiman before Pratchett, while British editions credit Pratchett before Gaiman.(But in reality it is Terry Pratchet who did most of the work)
The book is a comedy, concerning the birth of the son of Satan, the coming of the End Times and the attempts of the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to avert them, having become accustomed to their comfortable postings in the human world. A subplot features the gathering of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse — War, Famine, Pollution (Pestilence having retired upon the invention of penicillin), and Death — the last of whom is characterised in a manner reminiscent of the personification of Death in Pratchett's Discworld novels and calls himself Azrael before his final exit.
As Pratchett and Gaiman were living in different countries at the time, and as the writing of the book predated widespread use of the Internet, the collaboration took place largely over the telephone, with Pratchett (the more experienced novelist) doing the majority of the actual writing.
Quotes
--"Have a nice doomesday."
--"Kids! Bringing about Armageddon can be dangerous. Do not attempt it in your home."
--"Shadwell hated all southerners and, by inference, was standing at the North Pole."
--"'?' he said."
--"Voodoun is a very interesting religion for the whole family, even those members of it who are dead"
--"'You're Hells Angels, then? What chapter are you from?' - 'REVELATIONS, CHAPTER SIX.'"
--"It wasn't a dark and stormy night. It should have been, but there's the weather for you. For every mad scientist who's had a convenient thunderstorm just on the night his Great Work is complete and lying on the slab, there have been dozens who've sat around aimlessly under the peaceful stars while Igor clocks up the overtime."
--"Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide."
--Aziraphale was the first angel ever to own a computer. It was a cheap, slow, plasticky one, much touted as ideal for the small businessman. Aziraphale used it religiously for doing his accounts, which were so scrupulously accurate that the tax authorities had inspected him five times in the deep belief that he was getting away with murder somewhere.
--"Hoor of Babylon!"-Shadwell
Film version
A film was in the works, under the direction of Terry Gilliam. Johnny Depp and Robin Williams were set to act in it, but the project was canceled due to lack of funding [1].
The tedious history of this project and similar experiences with projected films of various of Gaiman's other works (including The Sandman series) have led to his cynical view of the Hollywood process, a view which occasionally surfaces in his weblog [2] and in some of his short fiction.
Translations
- Dobrá znamení (Czech)
- Hoge Omens (Dutch)
- Head ended (Estonian)
- Hyviä enteitä (Finnish)
- De bons présages (Template:Fr)
- Ein gutes Omen (German)
- Elveszett Próféciák (Hungarian)
- Dobry Omen (Polish)
- Belas Maldições: As Belas e Precisas Profecias de Agnes Nutter, Bruxa (Brazilian Portuguese)
- Buenos Presagios (Spanish)
- Goda Omen (Swedish)
Related articles
External links
