Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch was published in 1990 in a collaborative effort between two of the (in my opinion) biggest names in the Fantasy Genre. Pratchett is most famously known as the author of the Discworld series, while Gaiman wrote The Sandman comics, American Gods, and Anansi Boys. Good Omens was Gaiman's first novel.
The book is a parody of Antichrist genre films and books of the 70's, most notably 1976's The Omen. In pure parody style, we are introduced to Aziraphale, an angel, and Crowley, a demon, who have become quite attached to the pleasantries of humanity. They are supposed to be watching over the Antichrist to ensure the End of Times happens as planned when they realize that their 11 year-old child is not the Antichrist. Switched at birth, the real Antichrist grew up elsewhere. So the hunt is on for Aziraphale and Crowley to find the child, while the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse also search for him. Add to this a human woman and man have found the single remaining copy of Agnes Nutter's book of prophesies and have begun to search for the child as well.
Good Omens was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1991 and received a Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel that same year. When the novel came to America, a 700 word section was added near the end dealing with the first child and many footnotes were inserted as well.
Back in the early 2000's, a film version was planned but fell through. Robin Williams and Johnny Depp had been rumored to be playing Aziraphale and Crowly, respectively. Even up to 2008, a movie version of Good Omens was at least a hopeful wish of those involved. In March, 2011, Neil Gaiman confirmed that Terry Jones (He wrote the screenplay for Labyrinth and is one of the guys from Monty freaking Python!) is working on an adaptation of Good Omens for television and is set to premier sometime in 2013.
I really need to figure out who I loaned my copy to a few months back and retrieve it!
*edited to fix spelling errors :)
*edited to fix spelling errors :)
2 comments:
A very favorite book! Loved reading this. Some stuff I didn't know.
That said, as your editor, I gotta tell ya....It's Gaiman, not Gaimon. Also, it's Locus, not Locust.
Ahem.
Sorry.
<3
Dammit, I thought it was Gaiman but it didn't look right. I should have looked it up before I changed all of them! lol Didn't catch locus though.
BTW, I found a copy of Good Omens at a used bookstore yesterday for $1. Total score for me. :)
Going back to fix the mistakes now. <3
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