Good Omens

Authors: Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

I was in one of those moods when I picked this book. Correction: My sister picked it out for me from her vast collection of fantasy at my request for something 'light and fun' to read. Halfway through the the 2nd chapter, I realised it was a parody of 'The Omen' (not something I particularly want to think about while I'm pregnant) but was already having too much fun to stop.

The story revolves around an angel, Aziraphale (Israfil, peniup sangka kala?) and a devil called Crowley, the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Both of them were stationed on Earth as agents of their respective Masters to put things in place leading up to the Apocalypse. However, after spending thousands of years on this world with only each other as familiar company and having acquired a taste for earthly pleasures, they strike a partnership to avoid the Apocalypse from happening.

Trust Pratchett to come up with the hilarious dialogue. And you can always bet on Gaiman to provide the 'other dimension' to your everyday objects and people, like War and Pollution. Okay, so War and Pollution is not exactly everyday stuff but what else do you read about in the news?

It seemed close to blasphemy reading this novel (God knows what was going through their minds while they wrote it), but admittedly it was just too good to put down. Even if you're not planning on reading the whole book, at least read the authors' biography:

For those who really need to know, Terry Pratchett was born in
Buckinghamshire, England, in 1948. He has managed to avoid all the really interesting jobs authors take in order to look good in this kind of biography. In his search for a quiet life he got a job as a Press Officer with the Central Electricity Generating Board just after Three Mile Island, which shows his unerring sense of timing. Now a full-time writer, he lives in Somerset with his wife and daughter. He likes people to buy him banana daiquiris (he knows people don't read author biographies, but feels this might be worth a try).

Neil Gaiman used to be a journalist, but gave it all up to write
comics, which he claims are a totally valid late-twentieth-century art form, and he's even won awards for them, so that's all right. He's 5'11" tall, owns a number of black T-shirts, and although he's not overly keen on banana daiquiris, is always very flattered when appreciative fans send him money (he's read Terry Pratchett's biography, and, although he doubts that this will have any effect, figures what the hell).

Now excuse me, but I need to go catch up on all those Discworld novels.