Authors: Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
There are certain books which must be read.
Well, of course, all books must be read. That is, if you are going to get the contents of the book into your head, reading must be done. But that's not what I mean.
What I mean is, if you are a fan of a certain genre of book, there is a set of books which forms the "working vocabulary" of that genre's fans, and there is an expectation among those fans that other fans will have read those books.
For instance, if you say you are a fan of epic fantasy, then surely you have read Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings.
And if you are a fan of hard science fiction -- at least if you grew up in the sixties and seventies -- you will have read most if not all of the core Asimov books - the Foundation Trilogy and at least I, Robot, as well as probably Herbert's Dune.
And, when it comes to comic sci-fi (yes, that's a subgenre, and yes, "comic" means "funny" in this instance) everyone expects you will have read Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Well, shoot, I've read all those. What I had not realized is that there is another book which needs to be included on the list with Hitchhiker's is Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.
Neil Gaiman is an amazingly prolific writer (not Stephen King prolific, I suppose, but close) who has a well-deserved following; much of what he writes is spooky, but not all of it, and no matter what he writes, it's well received. He's a Big Deal. [1] Terry Pratchett is revered as the prolific counterpart to Adams in comic sci-fi (who was not all that prolific, when it comes right down to it) and is also a Big Deal. [2]
Well, before they were Big Deals, these two creative geniuses got together and wrote a book. Apparently, this book is now a :cult classic." Why I had never heard of it before I happened to pick it up and said "I've always meant to read some Pratchett, and here he is with Gaiman, who is spooky, but clever, so I should buy this," I'll never know. I think the reason has to do with the "cult." I'm not much of a "cult" guy. Meet me, and you don't think "cult." It might be about the last thing you think when you meet me. So, apparently, those cultists who worship Good Omens: ... just never mentioned it to me.
So here I am, in my advancing years, picking up this book a good 25 years after it was first published.
And enjoying the Hell out of it! (You think I just swore, don't you? And if you know me, you're thinking "Steve! You don't swear! What's going on? Is it that 'cult?' Do we need an intervention?")
The story in Good Omens: ... presupposes that Heaven and Hell have been at war since Creation, which really was only just over 6000 years ago, and that, as predicted by many a churchman over the years, as well as one extremely prescient witch (the Agnes Nutter mentioned in the full title,) the whole thing is going to come to a head in the years after the Anti-Christ is born.
The novel introduces us to a whole cast of Dramatis Personae who are involved in the End Times, including a pair of buddies from opposite sides of the Ultimate Battle - an angel named Aziraphale and a demon named Crowley. They've each been doing their appointed Thing for their Side for six thousand years, but they also have formed a bit of a relationship. Sound funny? It is funny! Britishly funny, though. Dry, clever, understated, even when very overstated things are happening. And yet, it has the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, depicted as never before. And while they, themselves, are in no way funny, the way they are brought into the present [3] is spot on!
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It's so funny. It's thought-provoking in the nicest possible way. It almost treats the whole Heaven/Hell/Good/Evil thing respectfully, but not completely. And yet, it's never offensive. [4] It's fun!
I think Christians who have read Lewis's The Screwtape Letters really ought to read this, too. And I think non-Christians who think they have a handle on how this whole God/Devil/Heaven/Hell thing can't be real, and doesn't have anything to say to my life really ought to read this. It will not convert you. I promise. But maybe, just maybe, whichever you are, you will learn what "ineffable" means, and you will laugh while you learn it. [5]
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[1] And he's fun to follow on Twitter. Seriously. (Well, he's not serious very much of the time, but then sometimes he is, and he's always interesting.) And he lives in Minnesota. Which is unusual for an Englishman.
[2] Sadly, Pratchett died in March 2015, but his impact on sci-fi ensures he remains a Big Deal, and will be so for as long as people are reading the subgenre, which is likely to be a very long time, indeed.
[3] Well, not the present of 2015 -- the present of 1990. It works. It really works.
[4] OK, it wasn't offensive to me. I realize that I offend much less easily than some people. So, if you are easily offended, especially where it comes to religion, be warned. It might offend you. But if it does, just remember a couple of things: it's fiction and it's satire, of a sort.
[5] And that might have sounded like I was swearing, too. But I was not. Ineffable. It's a word. Look it up. And then read this book.
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