Drawn to Good Omens

I have written over 200 stories, which new readers may find overwhelming.  So I created a shared google doc guide to help navigate them.  It presents categories/tropes/ratings which readers might prefer, and provides links to those fics which other readers found the most enjoyable.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK TO THE MASTER GUIDE

If you wish to dip your toes into my fanfic ocean first, to see if you are even interested in checking out the longer guide, here are links to my top five canon-based stories, and top three human AUs, by kudos.  (Note: all my stories have happy endings.)

Canon-based (all written pre-S2)

Home Sweet Home [Miscommunication]

An “ineffable idiots” story about what they want post-retirement.

Say a Little Prayer 

Crowley says a prayer, asking for just one favor, and receives an unexpected answer. 

Remember This  [Temporary Amnesia]

Aziraphale must help Crowley after he loses his memories.

Signs of Love  [South Downs cottage]

Crowley and Aziraphale don’t seem to be on the same page when it comes to a retirement home.

Once Upon a Miracle  [Risen Crowley]

Crowley makes a drunken declaration to God, which leads to an astonishing change.

Human AU romcoms:

Out of the Blue [Love at First Sight; AU; E-rated]

Bookshop owner Aziraphale falls for his TV idol, Antique Hunters host Anthony Crowley, when the show films in his village.

The Art of Love [Meet-Sparky; AU; E-rated]

Sparks fly when two artists with opposite tastes have to share a holiday cottage after a reservation mixup.

Written in the Stars [Enemies to Friends to Lovers; AU; M-rated]

After a public relations disaster at an author event, writers Crowley and Aziraphale are forced to play nice by their publishing house by pretending to be friends.

I think it's a good time to repost this digital piece I did two years ago, and which I titled, "The Eternal Dance."

Okay, this is my final take on the GO finale, and I don't care if it isn't the "true story", because this is fiction, and fiction isn't reality. Fiction is a structuring of reality to make a (hopefully meaningful) point.

First, a quote from the Good Omens novel:

“If you take the small view, the universe is just something small and round, like those water-filled balls which produce a miniature snowstorm when you shake them.”

Second, Rob Wilkins at Ineffable Con 6 brought a prop snow globe featuring Aziraphale’s bookshop and Crowley’s Bentley, and stated it would turn up in S3’s final scene.

Third, on May 17, Xitter account GO3 Spoilers #ForTerry posted:

Just because I’m seeing some discussion about it, Rob Wilkins said that the snow globes were gonna be a bigger part of GO3 than they were but were reduced to a small blink and you’ll miss it sort of thing. 

Unfortunately, I have no info on that account (I’m not on Xitter so can’t view the profile) and have no idea how accurate this is.  However, it does seem peculiar that you’d go to the trouble to make such an object only to blink and miss it in the end.  Everything is meant.  I feel it was a critically vital clue which we weren’t allowed to learn more about.  It’s definitely in the final shot in Asa and Anthony’s garden:

And not only does it appear to be snowing inside, it’s also clearly glowing.

My basic headcanon is now this:  

God lied, and like Satan was saying to her as A & C returned (“So then, he says, I’ve got a better idea. Let’s not, and say we did.”), She says she’ll do as they asked, but actually creates two universes:  the new godless one, into which She incorporates the key components of A & C’s love into countless reincarnated souls who find each other time after time, because their love always made Her smile, AND the old universe restored, and popped inside a snow globe, where OUR Aziraphale and Crowley live happily together while occasionally taking a peek at how their human counterparts are getting along — again, because their love always made Her smile.  And then She buggered off to go play with other multiverses elsewhere.

On TV night in their South Downs cottage, Crowley and Aziraphale watch the final episode of a show that has special meaning for them.

When he opened the front door, the restaurant name on the bag the deliveryman held was instantly recognizable.

"I am so sorry, my dear lad, there must be a mistake. We didn't order sushi tonight."

Anthony strolled up beside him, an arm sliding familiarly around his waist. "Could it be them again already? Were there any special instructions?"

"Oh, right, forgot about that," the young man replied. "But it was kind of odd. They just said, Leave it by the snow globe in the back garden. Doesn't make sense."

"It does to me." Asa took the bag. "Thank you very much. Have a lovely night."

As they walked out to their garden, Anthony sighed. "You do know I am a scientist who doesn't believe in the supernatural, remember?"

"I do remember, my dear. Just as you know that I enjoy a bit of whimsy and magical thinking at times, such as wishing on a star. And you've learned to live with me all the same."

"I've loved you all the same, every single thing about you, even our differences."

When they came to the snow globe in their garden, Asa gazed down on it in wonder. There was no denying the evidence of their own eyes, really. "They must be feeling peckish again. I hope they enjoy this."

"Wait." Anthony took a pen from his jacket. "I'm going to try something new." He took the bag and wrote on it. Asa smiled at the message. Find a way to tell us who you are.

"Very nice, but a bit demanding." He took the pen and added Please to the start of the note. "There. That's better. Then he set the bag down beside the globe.

He took his beloved husband's hand, and as they stood there watching, the snow globe suddenly brightened, temporarily blinding them, just as it always did when this peculiar magic happened in their garden, the magic which Professor Anthony Crowley tried to deny rather unsuccessfully. When their vision returned, the bag had vanished. Just as it always did.

"Huh." Anthony shook his head. "Still think there must be a rational explanation. We simply haven't got that far in our science yet."

"Of course, my dear. Shall we go sit and look at the stars for a while?"

"Sounds good."

But as they turned to head off, Anthony gasped. "Angel! Look at our apple tree!"

Asa smiled at his husband's favorite endearment, and followed his gaze. The tree trunk was glowing. They walked closer, and when the strange light faded away, there, seared into the bark quite clearly, were the letters A + C, with a heart surrounding them.

"Oh, my...but...but those are...I mean, that could be A for Asa...and C for Crowley."

"Or A for Angel...and C for...uh...I don't know...just a bizarre coincidence, or...um...er...ngk."

"Admit it, my love. You cannot explain that away easily."

"Yeah...not so much."

"Well, have a good look at your stars, then, and think happy scientific astronomical thoughts to get over it. Shall I make us cocoa?"

"You know, I'm feeling more like drinking an extraordinary amount of alcohol at the moment. Have we still got some of that Chateauneuf-du-Pape?"

"We do. I'll go fetch it. I shall happily get squiffy with you tonight." He leaned in to give Anthony's cheek a quick kiss. "I love you, my dear."

"I love you, too."

As he strolled back towards their cottage, Asa paused by the snow globe. Inside it stood a building which was an old bookshop, and an antique car. It had been in the garden when they bought this home, and no one seemed to know where it had come from. He often saw a lovely golden-yellow light coming from inside the bookshop, and he saw it now, and for some reason, this always made him feel joyful.

He knelt down closer to it, and said, "Thank you, A and C. I still don't understand who or what you are, but I do feel blessed to have you here. May you be joyful in your own love, forever."

As he straightened, Asa swore the golden light flickered more brightly before quieting down once more, and he went on to the cottage with a lightness in his step, and a soft smile on his lips.

The End...which is only a beginning...

Never Mess with Perfection

Okay, having processed all the post-GO3 Feelings, I realize the error of my ways.  All these years, I hoped they could break the jinx of messing with perfection, but I was wrong.  Because in my experience of media, making sequels to something which is already perfect is rarely, if ever, a good idea.

And GO1 was perfection*.  It was fun.  It was joyful.  It clearly showed the friendship and love between Crowley and Aziraphale, and it had a happy, feel-good ending where they were free and together.  There was no reason to do anything more.  

Good Omens didn’t run off the rails in the finale.  It ran off the rails at the end of GO2, and it was never getting back on track.  Because the Metatron’s offer, and all that it led to, never made sense.  Why would Heaven promote an angel who repeatedly lied to God, showed no interest in leadership, and who openly refused to fight in the Armageddon battle?  THAT was the point of no return for this series.  It was never explained.  It was never right.

GO2 was clearly set up as a romantic comedy, and the classic ending should have been No Metatron Offer followed by Crowley and Aziraphale’s Declarations of Love, Cue Happy Ending, and we’re done for good.  But instead, we got what I call Manufactured Angst.  This occurs when characters behave out of character solely in order to produce angst which the story never needed.  It does happen in GO1 (*thus the asterisk for “perfection” above) in the bandstand scene.  Up to that point, they’d been happily working together with no indication they wouldn’t share information, when suddenly Aziraphale breaks it off with his holier-than-thou “we’re not friends” pack of lies, and it always rings false every time I watch it.  And that wasn’t from the book.  Not only that, it had no real consequences.  The whole scene was manufactured angst purely for the sake of angst — as was the entire final fifteen minutes of GO2.  

I have rewatched GO1, especially the Crowley and Aziraphale scenes, hundreds of times.  I rarely rewatch any of GO2, other than an occasional revisit of the sweet, all-too-brief moments (“smitten”, “our car” et al) between them.  I had high hopes that GO3 would return us to the joys of GO1, but really should have known better.  They had already messed up perfection.  All I can do now is heave a big sigh and return to the GO1 happy place and stay there for good, and chalk up GO2 F15 and GO3 as AU versions of Good Omens which have nothing to do with The True Canon.  

All that being said, GO3 did leave, in my view, “original” Aziraphale and Crowley together — they weren’t erased from the Book, because without existence, there’s no love to form, and without their enduring love, no multiverses could continue to contain it.  But the one universe we were shown does contain it, therefore it exists, therefore they still exist, somehow popped into however many multiverses there are in multiple forms but still original them together.  And now there are also human forms of them, too, always finding each other, but I think those two are separate entities whose souls were split off from “our” A & C, and “our” A & C may be floating around space while occasionally looking in on the human couples to see how they’re getting on (witness the two shooting stars in the GO3 end scene), and/or popping out of the bookshop-in-the-pocket-universe snow globe (which can be seen on the garden path in that end scene) to have a little peek.

And I do really like the AU human versions very much.  It’s the only scene which I’ve rewatched multiple times, because it’s full of joy.  As all of GO should have been, in the end.

They’re out there somewhere still…LOGICAL ANALYSIS AHEAD!

Statement A:  We were told (S2, Lord Beelzebub) that removing an entity from the Book of Life means that they never existed.

Statement B:  We were shown (end scene of S3) that Crowley and Aziraphale’s enduring love for each other exists in other universes in some version.

Logically, these two statements CANNOT both be true, because IF they never existed (A), then they never loved, thus negating statement B.  

Therefore, either A or B must be false.  We were told Statement A was true in S2, and Michael in S3 does tell Uriel that she “undid them all”, which seems to confirm that idea. 

But we were also shown that statement B was true (AU universe, Time After Time) so logically:

EITHER Statement A was not true — and they were removed from the Book, but did exist and did love, although that particular universe is now ended, OR

Statement A IS true (and we were given clues that it is), which must mean God never removed Crowley and Aziraphale from the Book of Life* and they are still out there somewhere, in some form, loving each other eternally. 

*Which makes sense given the Book — except for the Bookshop — was destroyed in the Eternal Flame, which would have included their pages, which SHOULD have instantly destroyed them but DIDN’T.

I prefer the second (and to me, the only logical) option.  I still find S3 to be a mess overall, with almost zero redeeming value.  I missed the sheer joyfulness of S1 — I love the banter, the friendship, the joyful silliness, the historical flashbacks, the clear love between them, and of course, the very satisfying and happy ending.  That same joyfulness occurs in S2 in smaller ways here and there, but it’s obviously spoiled by the final fifteen.  In S3, the only place I felt some of that same joy was in the mini-AU romcom, and the rest was utterly lacking in that sense of joyful connection between the characters.  What a shameful, wasted opportunity to revive the joy of S1!

I wasn’t devastated by it.  I was mostly confused and frustrated, and annoyed that I waited hopefully for so long for a better resolution.  

The past three years have been hard. I lost my mother (not unexpected), then 16 months later, I lost my sister (unexpected). My only surviving immediate family member, a brother, is mentally disabled, and I spent a turbulent 1-1/2 years trying to manage his care before finally finding the perfect adult family home for him. Meanwhile, there were many $$$$$ unexpected home and car repairs (but at least I had a home and a car!). Oh, and somewhere in there, my younger dachshund Pippin had emergency neck disc surgery (recovered), while my older dachshund Truman was diagnosed with untreatable cancer (on palliative care now).

I know that without Good Omens, and especially fandom, I would have been MUCH more depressed by now. Yes, I have good friends who gave me support, and I'm grateful to them, but GO gave me an escape from reality, however temporary. I desperately needed that. It also inspired me so much -- to create art, and to write massive amounts of fanfic -- which brought me great joy, as have the tentative forays I've made into fandom social spaces.

THANK YOU all for being here. THANK YOU for making me smile whenever I was down. THANK YOU for keeping this wonderful fandom strong. Just...THANK YOU.

One last art piece to revisit: the beloved bookshop. This was from a pre-production photo, before they added a bookcase behind the sofa. Watercolor, ink, and gouache, 8"x10" on tan-toned paper.

Here are my two favorite works with both Crowley and Aziraphale, inspired by stained glass and silhouette art. The first was drawn digitally, while the second is watercolor on hardboard.