#neil gaiman's midnight days

[panzerdrako]

Hellblazer #27

HOLD ME (extract)

Gaiman/McKean

[comfortfoodcontent]

2000 Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days TPB DC Comics House Ad

[swanqueens]

i just finished good omens in one sitting tonight. i'm in fucking PIECES. the finale ended 10 mins ago and i'm still sat crying my eyes out. wHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK !!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Imagination

Neil Gaiman: [inhaling fresh morning air] ahhhh what a great day for a race! Clive Barker: what race? Gaiman: the HUMAN race Gaiman: i was just thinking of the awesome potential of the human mind Gaiman: and the limitless vista of the human imagination

Gaiman: just imagine! with the awesome power of imagination, YOU are in control of your own fantasies Gaiman: all you need is a pinch of curiosity, a dash of wonder Gaiman: and an ounce of whimsy!! Gaiman: butterfly in the skyyyy Gaiman: i can fly twice as hiiiigh

Gaiman: why, you could imagine anything! Gaiman: you could imagine a clockwork alligator as big as the sky! Gaiman: you could imagine a railroad conductor made of lemon drops! Gaiman: you could even imagine Gaiman: a boy who wears glasses and goes to a wizard school

Rowling: hello children Rowling: my lawyersss inform me there'sss some copyright infringement happening here Gaiman: ah but joanne Gaiman: if you check the time stamps, i'm sure you'll find that Tim Hunter actually PREDATES harry potter Rowling: Rowling: curssse you gaiman Rowling: you win thisss round

Rowling: curssse you gaiman Rowling: not even i am rich enough to overcome the limitsss of chronological time! Rowling: not yet Rowling: but sssomeday Rowling: if only i hadn't ssspent sso much on that fence

Alan Moore: [appearing in a clap of thunder] Behold! The Arch magus! King: the arch magus! Koontz: the arch magus! Lovecraft: the arch magus! Barker: the arch magus! Poe: the arch magus!

Alan Moore: behold! the story of the boy wizard antichrist! Rowling: ALRIGHT i can definitely sssue over this Moore: ah foolish mortal, observe and know... i never specifically SAID harry potter Rowling: Moore: i just said the boy wizard named [mumbles] who goes to school at [mumbles] school of witchcraft and wizardry and fights [mumbles]

Rowling: curse you moore! Rowling: alwayssss one ssstep ahead of the game! Rowling: curssse your plausssible deniability! Rowling: hmmm "plaussible deniability" huh? Rowling: well TWO can play that game...

Rowling: so anyway the nazis didn't actually commit those documented crimes King: gosh joanne that uh kinda sounds- Rowling: oh but you'll notice i never said the word "holocaust" Rowling: haha i'm too sslippery for you! Rowling: johnny law can't keep up! Rowling: they'll never catch JK Rowling with her molted ssskin around her anklesss!

[noneorother]

Share your GOS2 bibliography with me

How crazy is it that season 2 has basically forced me to go back to university. I’ve done more reading and critical analysis and historical research than I have in years. I bite my thumb at you, Neil (affectionate).

And as I’m sure I’m not alone in this, I’d love to see your bibliography of all of the references or reading/watch lists. I’m sure to pick up a few good ones! I’ll go first.

Movies + TV Arrival - Denis Villeneuve Clue - Jonathan Lynn I Know Where I'm Going - Powell & Pressburger The Ball - Magnus Dennison and Katja Roberts Every Day - Michael Sucsy About Time - Richard Curtis The Red Shoes - Powell & Pressburger The Small Back Room - Powell & Pressburger The Tales of Hoffmann - Powell & Pressburger Stairway to Heaven - Powell & Pressburger Ill Met By Moonlight - Powell & Pressburger The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse - Steve Bendelack Monty Python's Life of Brian - Terry Jones Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones The Twilight zone (The Arrival) Boris Sagal The Twilight zone (The Hitch-Hiker) - Alvin Ganzer Staged (Seasons 1 and 2) - Simon Evans & Phin Glynn Books The Crow Road - Iain Banks The Bridge - Iain Banks The Scholars of Night - John M. Ford Symbols of Sacred Science - René Guénon Catch-22 - Joseph Heller A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett Night Watch (Discworld) - Terry Pratchett Parlement of Foules - Geoffrey Chaucer The language of the birds - Farid ud-Din Attar Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen Persuasion - Jane Austen Midnight Days - Neil Gaiman Negative Burn #11 - Neil Gaiman Chivalry - Neil Gaiman Other Les contes d'Hoffamann - opera, Jacques Offenbach Don Giovanni - opera, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The Line, the Cross and the Curve - musical, Kate Bush The book of Enoch - Ethiopian Apocryphal trs. Rev. George Schodde, PhD

I'm sure there will be more... sigh. Spoiler alert: there are more! Donnie Darko - 2001, Richard Kelly Nothing Lasts Forever - 1984, Tom Schiller The Ghosts of Berkley Square - 1947, Vernon Sewell Brazil! - 1985, Terry Gilliam No Bed for Bacon - 1941, Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon Don't, Mr Disraeli! - 1949, Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon Murder Mysteries - Neil Gaiman The Man Who Was Thursday - 1908, GK Chesterton Small Gods - 1992, Terry Pratchett Ipomadon - Medieval - Trs. Richard Scott-Robinson

[neil-gaiman]

hello sir, Hellblazer issue #27, 'Hold Me' is one of my favorite chapters of the Hellblazer comics. But it is the only one I couldn't get my hands on. Do you know why 'Midnight Days', the one issue #27 is supposed to be in, is not published anymore? or why it isn't on any website? thank you!

I just checked Amazon. It seems to be there.

[romancedream]

“When we hold each other, in the darkness, it doesn’t make the darkness go away. The bad things are still out there. The nightmares still walking. When we hold each other we feel not safe, but better. “It’s all right” we whisper, “I’m here, I love you.” and we lie: “I’ll never leave you.” For just a moment or two the darkness doesn’t seem so bad.”

― Neil Gaiman, Midnight Days

[pluralzalpha]

Neil Gaiman comic and graphic novel recommendations

Yesterday I added to @theniftycat 's post with some of my own recommendations for Neil Gaiman's works. But I didn't put any comics on there. Instead of making it the longest post ever I've decided to make a separate long post!

Firstly, The Sandman goes without saying. It's already been covered in the previous post and is easily Gaiman's biggest work.

Death: The High Cost of Living

This is my single favourite comic ever. A spin-off from The Sandman, it follows Dream's sister Death on the one day a century that she lives as a mortal. It's a beautiful treatise on life, death, depression and hope.

Mark Buckingham and Chris Bachalo provide wonderful artwork (Mark's also a really nice gent, and signed some artwork from the book for me at a con). The collected version has an additional strip, an infomercial with Death and an embarrassed John Constantine teaching readers about safe sex. There's also a bumper edition which includes the sequel, The Time of Your Life.

Eternals

A lot of people will be familiar with the Eternals only from the recent movie, which I thought wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing either.

Gaiman's revamp of the Marvel title a few years before is excellent though. He brings his trademark balance of the everyday and the cosmically mythic to the title, and adds a lot more nuance than in the original comics. John Romita Jr's artwork is incredible, a worthy successor to Jack Kirby.

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

One of the best, and most meta, Batman stories ever written. A final end to the Batman saga, dealing with his death, but with multiple, fascinating tellings that all contradict each other. Alfred's story is the highlight.

As well as the graphic novel edition, the whole thing is included in "The DC Universe by Neil Gaiman" along with a selection of other iconoclastic stories for DC heroes and villains.

Signal to Noise

One of Gaiman's many collaborations with the unique visual artist Dave McKean (who also worked with him on MirrorMask, Neverwhere and the Sandman covers). It's grim, moving and powerful, and not overtly a fantasy unlike much of Gaiman's work.

Black Orchid

Another Dave McKean collab, this is a revamp of an existing DC superhero, with a complex new origin story. A powerful story that interacts with other intriguing DC characters such as Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing, all beings with plant-based powers and mysterious natures. It's short, striking and beautiful.

An ongoing series came after, but Gaiman wasn't involved. It's not bad though. I can't speak for the later New 52 version.

There are many more, and I'm sure people are going to be annoyed at my leaving out The Books of Magic, Marvel 1602, Midnight Theatre, Violent Cases, Mr Punch...

[kuuyandere]

All he wanted.

All he wanted was for someone to care about him. Someone to hold him. Someone to warm him.

Nobody would.

When we hold each other, in the darkness, it doesn't make the darkness go away. The bad things are still out there. The nightmares are still walking. When we hold each other, we feel– not safe, but better. "It's all right," we whisper. "I'm here. I love you." And we lie, "I'll never leave you." For just a moment or two the darkness doesn't seem so bad. When we hold each other.

-- Neil Gaiman, Neil Gaiman’s Midnight Days

[panzerdrako]

Welcome Back to The House of Mystery

Neil Gaiman / Sergio Aragonés

[seven-stars-in-his-palm]

urgh i just remembered the tumblr post i saw that nudged me into watching good omens and it hit me like a freight train. there was this neil ask that i saw on my for you page (i used it very sparingly back in the day) that had someone asking "why didn't aziraphale use/keep holy water in the bookshop when shax and the demons stormed the bookshop?" and neil replied "why would he have that in the shop? it could hurt crowley." and see i had no idea who any of these people were beside from a vague knowing of Neil Gaiman who was Famous and On Tumblr For Some Reason and i cried for a good minute. i remember this, i was on my bed which didnt have my kickass shelves by the foot of yet, and a lotta posters instead. i stared at the bright colors as i cried. afterwards, i took a deep breath, said "who the fuck is crowley" and put good omens on the watchlist. a few days later i sat down to watch it, ran thru to midnight, and i cried sooooooo much more tears. oh if i could experience it again.... you never how how good it is until long after. the point: thanks neil gaiman. i wouldnt be here without ya man

[speakingimages]

My Reading List

Fortunately, the Milk - Neil Gaiman

The Book of Mythical Beasts and Magical Creatures - DK

Queen Charlotte - Julia Quinn

The Midnight Library - Matt Haig

Turtles All the Way Down - John Green

Katt vs Dogg - James Patterson

Cursed - Thomas Wheeler

Batman: Under the Red Hood - Judd Winick

Batman: A Death in the Family - Jim Starlin

Batman V3: Death of the Family - Scott Snyder

The Witch of Portobello - Paulo Coelho

Carrie - Stephan King

BFG - Roald Dahl

Waiting for Godot - Samuel Becket

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days - Jeff Kinney

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Original Screenplay - JK Rowling

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul - Jeff Kinney

To The Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf

Looking for Alaska - John Green

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green

The Sun is Also a Star - Nicola Yoon

A Clash of Kings - George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School - Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw - Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules - Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Jeff Kinney

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Sunsweet Prunes

Ray Bradbury: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of the lazy summer of youth Bradbury: long days down by the river, fishing in miller's pond, afternoons at the soda shop, ice cream sundaes with fabulous unicorn worlds built of whipped cream, nickels for a dime Bradbury: and becky miller's freckled-face kisses Bradbury: sweeter than sunsweet prunes

Bradbury: sunsweet prunes, i tell you Bradbury: the only prune that's sweeter than a nostalgic midwestern childhood Bradbury: and they come in these little individually wrapped plastic packs too King: Poe: Barker: Koontz: Lovecraft: Bradbury: I just think they're neat

Bradbury: according to my stories, in the far distant future of 2001 Bradbury: we shall travel in tubes Bradbury: we'll have flying cars Bradbury: and we'll all be eating our sunsweet prunes out of individually wrapped plastic packs Poe: wait you never said that in your stories Bradbury: i wish i had Bradbury: i would have been 1 for 3 at least

Bradbury: look, they individually wrap these sunsweet prunes in plastic Bradbury: what a world! Bradbury: its like living in the not too distant future Poe: doesn't that create a lot of waste Bradbury:

Bradbury: tearing open this individually wrapped snack pack reminds me of tearing open presents on christmas morning, snow on the ground, ma and pa taking the day off from working the farm, the whole family arriving in a caravan of automobiles, aunts and uncles and cousins by the dozen, oh my! oh my! uncles a little too loud after three egg nogs, cousins playing cops & robbers in the hay loft

Bradbury: and the feasting, the jollity! too many voices all at once, raised in laughter, in song. the twinkle in dad's eye, the red roses in mom's cheeks, grandpa's baritone chuckle. falling asleep to the sounds of bing crosby on the tombstone radio, surrounded by the warm glow of early evening King: wow these prunes sound pretty incredible King: i'm sold! Koontz: [tearing open sunsweet prune container] guys Koontz: i think my prunes are broken Koontz: i didn't feel any of that stuff ray said

Poe: ray are they paying you to advertise for prunes Bradbury: no no of course not! Bradbury: i would never accept money to tell you about the incredible health benefits of america's favorite prunes, sunsweet Bradbury: full of 12 different antioxidents King: can i buy them with my american express card

Neil Gaiman: but ray! Gaiman: using the limitless vista of your inpirational mind to advertise a mere consumer good Gaiman: such a tawdry use of the gift of imagination! Gaiman: it cheapens us as writers just as the low low prices of chipotle cheapens organic rice and GMO-free beans to bring wholesome healthy Mexican inspired fusion cuisine to the masses

Gaiman: you can't leash the phoenix of creativity to the millstone of commerce! Gaiman: she must fly free! Gaiman: free like the secret dragon sauce available now at now extra charge at your local chipotle King: neil's right! Poe: about chipotle? King: about everything!!

[midnightcowboy1969]

My bookshelf

Hey, @beanifred <3 So, here's a big peak at my bookshelf (way too many books as I said)

Beginning with my treasures:

The "Real" Bob Steele and a man called "Brad" by Bob Nareau

The Photostory of "Battling Bob" Bob Steele by Mario DeMarco

2. The Columbo Collection

Just One More thing by Peter Falk

The Grassy Knoll by William Harrington (my enemy)

Murder by the Book by Steven Bochco

And now there's chaos:

3.

Psycho 1 & 2 and Night-World by Robert Bolch (Norwegian edition)

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

The Body Snatcher by Jack Finney

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Trash by Dorothy Allison (lesbian but at what cost)

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

The Buddah of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (I also have American Gods but I cannot find it)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

The Complete Short Stories: Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie

Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell

The Hunter by Richard Stark

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The System by John Burke (novelization)

Alien Nation by Alan Dean Foster (novelization)

Edge of the City by Fredrick Pohl (novelization)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The Collector by John Fowels

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (Norwegian edition)

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke (novelization)

Ninteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Jaws by Peter Benchley

Wanderer by Sterling Hayden (the actor)

The Wicker Man by Robin Hardy & Anthony Shaffer (Novelization (?))

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

4.

Terror by Dan Simmons

Papillon 1 & 2 by Henri Charrière (Norwegian editions)

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (book of all time)

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Midnight Cowboy by John L. Herlihy

Shooting Midnight Cowboy by Glenn Frankel

Cape Fear by John D. McDonald (watch the movies)

The Bretheren by John Grisham (Norwegian edition)

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorgood

Glitz by Elmore Leonard (Norwegian edition)

The Big Sleep and Other Novels by Raymond Chandler (the other novels are Farwell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye)

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Client by John Grisham (Norwegian edition)

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Legion (Exorcist 2) by William Peter Blatty

La Peste by Albert Camu (Norwegian edition)

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffery Cranor (not read)

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg

The Day of the Dolphin by Robert Merle

Local Hero by David Benedictus (novelization)

The Glass Cage by Colin Wilson

American Psycho by Brett E. Ellis

Fools Die by Mario Puzo (Norwegian edition)

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

The Sicilian by Mario Puzo (Norwegian edition)

5.

Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin (Norwegian edition) + Four different Game of Thrones books in Norwegian

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

The Betsy by Harold Robbins (Norwegian edition)

Aliens by Alan Dean Foster (novelization)

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

The Auctioneer by Joan Samson

Timeline by Michael Crichton

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

Dune, The Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

Hitchiker's Guide to the Galxy by Douglas Adams

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

6.

Trumpet by Jackie Kay

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman (short story collection that made me dislike short stories)

Mr. Monk in Trouble by Lee Goldberg (my enemy)

Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop by Lee Goldberg (I hate him)

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Wolf

Oranges are not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Maurice by E. M. Forster

The Case of the Gilded Lily by Erle Stanley Gardner (Norwegian edition)

The Case of the Glamorous Ghost by Erle Stanley Gardner (Norwegian edition)

Something Happened by Joseph Heller

Marathon Man by William Goldman

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire by Derek Landy

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley (Norwegian edition)

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurt

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Norwegian edition)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three by John Godey (bad)

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

Killing Time by Della Van Hise (Star Trek Spinoff Spirk book)

Star Trek: Department of Temportal Investigations: Forgotten History by Christopher L. Bennet

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Missing by Una McCormack

Star Trek Enterprise: Rise of the Federation: Uncertain Logic by Christopher L. Bennett

7. Stephen King Collection

Outsider

If it Bleeds

On Writing

Blaze

Carrie

The Stand

Hearts in Atlantis (Norwegian edition)

The Tommyknockers

Cujo

Thinner (Norwegian edition)

The Shining

Night Shift

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (Norwegian edition)

Dreamcatcher

Doctor Sleep

Rose Madder

Pet Sematary

Christine

Salem's Lot

Dolores Claiborne (Norwegian edition)

The Bachman Books

The Institute

Insomnia

Misery

Finders Keepers

End of Watch

Firestarter

The Body

Needful Things (Norwegian edition)

Bag of Bones

8. Not pictured

A collection of Sherlock Holmes books

Many Hardy Boys books

Chilly Scenes of Winter by Ann Beattie

Some comic books

I believe this is approximately everything lol.

My dream is to have a small cozy rooms dedicated to the books I own. It won't happen any time soon.

[sourcreammachine]

Doctor Who episodes ranked let’s go

(o’th’ revived era. and eight’s movie because i’ve seen it)

and two-parters are counted as one, but i get to define what a ‘two-parter’ is. this is because i’m in charge not you

9.11 Heaven Sent aka the stars align and somehow Moffat manages to pull an incredible script out of his arse after being stuck up there for so long aka Capaldi is the new Atlas from carrying his entire era aka now you understand why i’m splitting up some two-parters and not others aka ahaha 9.11 lol

3.8/9 Human Nature / The Family of Blood

1.9/10 The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances

3.10 Blink

2.4 The Girl in the Fireplace

4.12/13 The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End

1.6 Dalek

6.i A Christmas Carol

3.11 Utopia

4.8/9 Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead

7.v The Time of the Doctor okay hear me out first thing is i’m an absolute sucker second thing is why couldn’t season 7 have actually seeded any of this with actual thought and subtly rather than mystery-box hackery it literally makes me think of how much better his era could’ve been if Moffat wasn’t so up his own arse

2.8/9 The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit

7.iv The Day of the Doctor

4.11 Turn Left

3.4 Girldick

1.12/13 Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways

7.iii The Night of The Doctor aka my boi Eight finally gets done justice

4.10 Midnight

4.6 The Doctor’s Daughter

3.2 The Shakespeare Code

3.i The Runaway Bride

2.12/13 Army of Ghosts / Doomsday

2.3 School Reunion

6.11 The God Complex

4.1 Partners in Crime

10.11/12 World Enough, and Time / The Doctor Falls (look, i’m a sucker i know, and i couldn’t give a shit about Gomez and Simm, but fuck you Moffat actually figured out how to write human emotions. Talalay’s finest hour. Lucas’ finest hour. Moffat did not deserve a swan song but he got himself one somehow)

5.2 The Beast Below

8.8 Mummy on the Orient Express (despite the awful, horrible ending, see below (very far below))

4.7 The Unicorn and the Wasp

4.2 The Fires of Pompeii

7.12 Neil Gaiman’s Good Episode

1.1 Rose

5.1 The Eleventh Hour

2.7 The Idiot’s Lantern

10.1 The Pilot

5.10 Vincent and the Doctor

4.i Voyage of the Damned

6.4 The Neil Gaiman Fanfic Hour

3.1 Smith and Jones

4.4 The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky

6.10 The Girl Who Waited

1.2 The End of The World

5.12/13 The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

2.i The Christmas Invasion

6.7 A Good Man Jumps The Shark

5.6 The Vampires of Venice

4.3 Planet of the Ood

7.ii The Snowmen

1.11 Boom Town

3.12 The Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords

1.7 The Long Game

7.7 The Rings of Akhaten

8.6 The Caretaker

5.7 Amy’s Choice

9.7/8 Zygons. you can basically hear Capaldi’s back cracking from him carrying it

4.v/vi The End of Time, Parts 1 & 2

10.6 Extremis, the most underrated episode fuck you

4.ii The Next Doctor

8.5 Time Heist

6.1/2 The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon

2.1 New Earth

10.3 Twelve Decks a Racist

9.ii The Husbands of River Song (yeah i’m a sucker, the ending gets me)

6.3 Curse of the Black Pearl spot, fuck

11.1 The Woman Who Fell To Earth (based on how it made me feel in 2018, looking back yeah the warning signs were all there)

5.4/5 The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone

5.11 The Lodger

1.3 The Unquiet Dead

7.4 The Power of Three aka Chris Chibnall Shits Himself on Live Television

2.5/6 Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel

7.9 Hide

10.5 Oxygen aka La Problema Es Capitalismo

8.1 Deep Breath

2.2 Tooth and Nail claw, fuck

1.8 Father’s Day

11.3 Rosa (bring back Blackman as an episode writer, she wrote Noughts & Crosses, she can do it)

7.11 The Crimson ‘Orror

6.8 Let’s Kill Hitler

6.5/6 The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People

4.iv The Waters of Mars

7.6 oh no it’s clara

9.10 yaay clara’s dead

5.8/9 The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood

12.5 Fugitive of the Judoon (again, based on how i felt watching it for the first time. it was a good episode and an interesting mystery box, just one filled with shit)

1.4/5 Aliens of London / World War Three

7.5 The Angels Take amy lol

2.11 Fear Her

8.4 Listen, aka the first episode that Capaldi carries, despite Moffat being himself again

10.ii Twice Upon a Time (ugh we could’ve had a brilliant trilogy to see out Capaldi, but instead we get Moffat masturbating on live television for an hour. look, The Doctor could have had an actual character arc - they feel like they’re on borrowed time after their resurrection on Trenzalore, after the events on Gallifrey they feel like any sort of feelings of ‘duty’ as last of the time lords (as errant and fleeting as such feelings might’ve been) are resolved, and after failing their BIG MASSIVE SEASON 10 ARC with Missy and getting stabbed in the back, and BILL [redacted for spoilers], they’re happy to accept their death - and that’s where the season ends. yuletide 2017 could’ve ended this arc, they’re taught the love of the universe again, they see the goodness they bring to all life - Clara, i am a good man. and when they sit down to die, those words ‘maybe just one more go’ could’ve had the weight of the universe behind them, it could’ve been the greatest who line ever written, had that line actually had weight on its shoulders. Moffat is a hack. mystery-boxing is hacking, end of story. Capaldi, the finest actor ever in the role, was done dirty by scripts with no weight and planning. Grand Moff lives up his own arse - that power gives him the ability to write incredible episodes such as Heaven Sent and everything he ever touched under Davies - but it makes all series, arcs and continuity fall apart into a pile of shit. this episode is the finest example - a universe of potential, reduced to one hour of self-congratulatory masturbation)

6.9 Night Terrors

11.9 It Takes You Away (the one with the frog god)

7.10 Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

9.12 Heaven Sent Part II: Whoops

8.9 Flatline

7.3 A Town Called Widowmaker

4.iii Planet of the Dead

9.1/2 The Magician’s Apprentice / The Witch’s Familiar

6.12 Closing Time

3.7 42

13.i Eve of the Daleks (the aisling bea one)

8.3 Robot of Sherwood

9.5/6 Maisie Williams

6.13 The Wedding of River Song

5.3 Victory of the Daleks

8.11/12 Dark Water / Death in Heaven aka i’m sorry Gomez but not even you can carry this

3.6 The Lazarus Experiment

11.i Resolution (…of the Daleks)

10.2 Emoji Robots

8.2 Into the Dalek

10.5 Knock Knock. Who’s There? Yer mum

7.13 The Name of the Doctor aka the Biggest Waste of Richard E. Grant until Rise of Skywalker

7.2 Dinosaurs on a Plane

10.8/9 The Pyramid at the End of the World / The Lie of the Land

Doctor Who: The Movie!

11.6 Demons of the Punjab

7.1 Asylum of the Daleks

7.8 Cold War aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually

3.4/5 Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks

11.5 P’ting

9.3/4 Under the Lake / Before the Flood aka the Biggest Waste of Peter Serafinowicz since the Clone Wars didn’t bring him back. also a deaf person falling in love with their interpreter is the most toxic thing ever. and it’s 90 more minutes of season 9 tedium ugh

2.10 Love and Monsters. yeah this high up

8.7 The anti-abortion episode. and it’s not just for that fact alone nonono, The Doctor is such an unbelievable unforgivable cunt this time. at least Clara calls them out in that brilliant final-ish scene BUT they’re still unforgivable AND they get forgiven anyway next week?? literally they take the way Clara’s character arc was going and throw it all in the bin

8.10 In The Forest of the Shite

11.7 Kerblam!

10.9 Empress of Mars aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually

9.i Last Christmas aka remember how they reset Clara’s character arc after Mummy for literally no reason???? THEY FUCKING DID IT AGAIN!! she’s literally put in limbo for an ENTIRE SEASON, after they gave her TWO good offramps and apparently chickened the fuck out from using them?? and expected me to care when she (spoiler)? also the episode’s like really boring. bonus points for the absolutely perfect casting of Nick Frost tho, very nominative determinism

10.i is my hatred of Doctor Mysterio unwarranted? probably. but i still hate it

12.8 The Haunting of Villa Diodati, the most overrated episode fuck you. no it is not ‘the only good episode of season 12’ - it’s just as bad as the rest. The Doctor is unnecessarily unlikeable. the villain boy is nonsense, uninteresting and unlikeable. and worst of all - i don’t want to have violent sex with any of the people in this villa

12.4 Nikola Tesla’s Tower of Terror

11.8 The Witchfinders

9.9 Sleep No More aka i’m starting to think Mark Gatiss might be a bad writer actually

13.2 Flux Part 2: War of the Sontarans (oh yeah like they don’t do war normally, that’s like saying the fucking ,, toasting of the toaster or something)

7.i The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe (it’s only Chibnall from here on out let’s goo)

12.1/2 Spyfall. literally how the FUCK do you waste both Stephen Fry AND Lenny fucking Henry how the fuck. also The Doctor basically committed a nazism right

12.3 Orphan 55, the second most underrated episode - a lot of people say it’s Chibnall’s worst but i think there’s worse

12.i Revolution of the Daleks (the priti patel one)

11.2 The Ghost Monument

13.4 Flux Part 4: Village of the Angels

11.10 The Battle of Rashhcjxjshog s Kjalapados

12.7 Can You Hear Me? (that was the one with the finger guy. no i don’t mean jonathan banks)

11.4 Spiders in Sheffield

12.6 Praxeus

12.9/10 how did they let chibnall get away with it. isn’t there supposed to be oversight. aren’t there supposed to be safeguards. how did they let him get away with it

13.1 Flux Part 1: The Halloween Apocalypse

13.ii Legend of the Sea Devils

13.3 Flux Part 3: Once, Upon Time

13.iii The Power of the Doctor aka thank fuck, it’s finally over

10.5 Flux Part 5: Survivors of the Flux

10.6 Flux Part 6: Fuck You Chibnall

[esthermitchell-author]

[Part 6 of 6] "Rescue Me": Being the Story of an Angel, a Demon, and the Second Coming (Fan fiction based on Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)

Part VI: The Truth About Forgiveness

AZ Fell and Co Bookshop, Soho, London -- The Day the World Didn't End

Aziraphale had miracled away all the books and such stacked in the small flat on the second floor of the bookshop before he and Crowley even cleared the bookshop doorway. Since an angel didn't actually need to sleep -- though Aziraphale himself had become familiar with the practice over the millennia and knew Crowley was quite fond of it -- the small living space hadn't been used since Jim -- pardon, Gabriel -- left for parts unknown with Beelzebub, just a little over six months ago. Now, with the space cleared, he tightened his grip on Crowley's forearm and hip, helping his injured love into the room and over to the bed. Crowley groaned in pain as Aziraphale helped him recline on the bed, immediately drawing the angel's attention.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, my love," he murmured, miracling a bowl of clean water and a cloth to the table beside the bed. Lifting the soaked cloth from the bowl, he wrung it out and smoothed the fresh, earthly water over Crowley's injury, washing away the remnants of holy water clinging to his wound and keeping his injury from healing. The whole time, Aziraphale kept up a running murmur of soothing words. "I'm here, Anthony. I love you, and I'm right here."

"A-angel?" Crowley's voice was weak -- weaker than Aziraphale had ever heard it before -- and tore at the angel's heart with the plea in it.

"I'm here, love." He clasped Crowley's flailing hand, bringing it to his lips before pressing it back to Crowley's abdomen with a small pat. "I'm right here."

Crowley's eyes flickered open, the beautiful golden color nearly swamped by midnight slits of his pupils. His hand sought Aziraphale's again, clasping onto his wrist and bringing the captive hand to his face, nuzzling against it as he hoarsely muttered, "Y-you forgave me."

"Hush, my dear," Aziraphale soothed, sliding his hand up to thread through the soft strands of Crowley's red hair. "I was wrong to do that. You, my love, have done nothing in need of forgiving."

"And yours, angel," Crowley nearly purred, arching his neck to get closer to Aziraphale's touch, his voice growing stronger with every pass of the angel's stroking hand, "is the only forgiveness I've ever craved. I'm so sorry I pushed it away. I was foolish, and so afraid..."

Aziraphale leaned in to brush a kiss against Crowley's brow as the demon's voice faded off. "Sleep, now, love. Rest and heal. I will be just downstairs, if you need me."

He started to rise, but Crowley's long fingers wrapped around his wrist, stopping him. Pausing, he looked back down at his demon, to find Crowley's golden eyes fixed on him.

"Stay," Crowley rasped, his voice still hoarse and painful. "Just until I fall asleep?"

Aziraphale's heart clenched, and he regained his seat on the edge of the bed, reaching out to trail his fingers over Crowley's face. "Of course, dear one."

He stayed where he was, lightly stroking Crowley's face and humming a comforting, angelic lullaby, until Crowley's eyes closed and his body relaxed into the grasp of healing sleep. Once he was sure Crowley was asleep, he rose carefully from the edge of the bed and moved quietly about the room, seeing to his demon's comfort before he left, pulling the door carefully shut behind him. Crowley would sleep for a while, now, but he would heal.

Aziraphale smiled to himself as he drew a breath of familiar air, untainted by the machinations that had kept Crowley and himself apart for so long.

"Never again, my sweet Anthony," he murmured to the closed door, then made his way down the winding wrought-iron stairs to the ground floor, where his desk was no doubt overrunning with tasks needing done.

******

Crowley came awake with the sense of having slept long and deeply. How long, and how deeply, he had no idea. After all, he'd once slept an entire century away, simply because he could. His eyes flickered open, and he stared in confusion at the deeply golden-yellow walls and ceiling. For a moment, he had no idea where he was, except that it certainly wasn't his flat in Mayfair.

Slowly, recognition dawned on him. He was in the upstairs flat of the bookshop. Why he was there, he still hadn't quite put his finger on, but he expected it'd come back to him eventually. He recalled having strange dreams, the likes of which he hadn't had since his imbibing of laudanum back in 1827. Drying out in Hell had been beyond terrifying, but the poison-induced trips up until that point had been even worse.

Had he taken laudanum again? Nah. He'd definitely remember if he had, mostly because he swore to himself he never would again.

Puzzling over the fleeting memories of watching Uriel turn to ash in his grip, of snaking his hellfire along that bastard Metatron's body, of Michael's scream that felt so real but had to be just a dream, he swung his feet over the side of the bed. He stared down at his feet in confusion, then over at the boots he was no longer wearing, sitting neatly on the floor beside the bed. He couldn't remember taking them off.

Shaking his head, he moved to rise, and stumbled, falling back to the edge of the bed as dull pain sliced through his right side. Glancing down, he realized he was trussed up in bandages -- ones that had been expertly applied, as if by a healer's hand...

"Angel," the word sighed from him, and he shook his head, easing more carefully from the bed and padding across the floor toward the door. He snagged the white shirt -- several sizes larger than his sparse frame and completely the wrong color for him -- hung carefully over the back of an old-fashioned rocking chair in the corner and donned it. Then, with a grimace of distaste, he snapped his fingers, the material turning instantly black and shrinking as close to his body as he dared with the bandaging.

Much better.

He still had to figure out what happened. Only trickles and flashes of it came to him as he wound his way down the circular wrought-iron staircase to the ground floor. Somewhere in amidst these books, his angel was no doubt buried in a book.

Sure enough, as he cleared the nearest row of shelves -- surreptitiously rearranging a few of the books as he went, just because his angel's reaction to books out of place always amused him -- he found Aziraphale seated at his desk beneath the eastern window, his attention on a stack of loose papers scattered about him as he made notes on the pages. A slow smirk crept over Crowley's face, and he propped himself against one of the nearby pillars, legs crossed at the ankles, and just watched for long moments.

"You should be resting." Aziraphale's voice pierced the quiet, though he spoke softly and never looked up from his task. "Your injury is still mending."

"What the Heaven happened, angel?"

Aziraphale slowly put down his pen and turned toward Crowley, looking at him over the top of his reading spectacles. The concern on his angel's face dug around under Crowley's breastbone. He didn't like the feeling of worrying his angel. "You really don't recall?"

Crowley made his way across the space between them, easing himself to sit on the arm of Aziraphale's chair, soaking in the warmth of his angel's body against his side and hip. "I had what I thought were hallucinations. Guessing they weren't. Fighting in Heaven?"

"Most assuredly not hallucinations," Aziraphale agreed, turning himself slightly and lifting one hand to rest it on Crowley's knee. The demon practically purred. How long had he been craving these simple touches? Too bloody long. He intended to soak them up for as long as he possibly could.

"So I did hear God talking to you?"

His angel stirred uneasily, a light flush crawling up his neck. "Might have done."

"And you telling Her where She could stick any attempt to stop you from healing me? Did I imagine that?"

He delighted in watching his angel flush to the roots of his pale blond hair, even as Aziraphale glanced away. "Ah, yes, well..."

"Angel," he dropped the pretense and all kidding, now that he knew without a doubt he hadn't dreamt a moment of what happened. He skimmed his fingers along one flush cheek, urging Aziraphale to look up at him. "I can't even begin to thank you. For all of it."

"No need to thank me at all, dear one," Aziraphale murmured gently, meeting his unshaded gaze in the way no other being in all of existence had ever done -- head-on and unafraid. "None whatsoever."

Sensing Aziraphale still needed time to come to grips with what he'd done in Heaven, Crowley stroked his cheek one last time, then moved his hand to cover his angel's where it still rested on his knee and glanced around the bookshop. "Seems the shop weathered everything okay. Everyone all right?"

"Far as I can tell," Aziraphale noted with a smile. "Not certain Sergeant Shadwell will ever be the same, this time around. From what I've been told, his mind might have snapped. Still, only time will tell."

"How sad," Crowley deadpanned.

"Crowley," Aziraphale admonished. "Behave yourself."

"I'm a demon, angel," he pressed a swift kiss to the top of Aziraphale's head and eased back to his feet. "I don't know how."

"I don't believe you."

Crowley flashed him a wicked grin and tossed him back his own words from six months before. "Wait and see."

With a glance out at the street -- wonder of wonders, the Bentley appeared unscathed, as well, though there was a three-wheeled car on its roof a short distance away, looking like a dead, light blue turtle -- Crowley sauntered toward the front door to peek outside at the street corner. Nothing much looked destroyed, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know what the inky smears decorating the alleyway across from the shop, on the corner of the café, were. Looked a lot like something that had once been demonic. He still had a stain very like that -- named Ligur -- in the carpet of his flat.

As he moved to step away from the door, a folded slip of paper in the mail slot caught his eye. Freeing it, he unfolded the page and scanned its contents. "Hey, angel?"

"Hmm?"

"You're not planning to go back to Heaven any time soon, are you?"

"Never," Aziraphale called, his voice tinged with gentle humor. "I thought you heard my conversation with the Almighty."

"So who's running things up there, then?"

"Saraqael, technically. Level-headed, and I daresay they learned a thing or two, in recent days. Muriel, too -- they're going to be a regular envoy between Earth and Heaven, in case they need my help. I think Heaven's in good hands, at last."

Crowley suppressed the clutch of relief in his chest just to hear Aziraphale wasn't leaving again. He sauntered back over to sprawl carelessly -- albeit with a flinch as his wounded side protested -- on the settee. He didn't ask about Hell. He couldn't care less what went on down there, so long as they stayed away from him and his angel. Not like Aziraphale was likely to know much about Hell, anyway. He watched his angel silently for a long moment, just soaking in the peace, before he ventured another question.

"How long was I asleep?"

Aziraphale peered over the edge of his reading spectacles at him. "Not nearly long enough. About a week." The angel's gaze focused on the paper Crowley held, next. "What do you have there?"

"Found it in the mail slot. Maggie has terrible spelling." A smirk played at his lips and he waggled his eyebrows playfully at his angel. "The company you keep, angel."

Aziraphale ignored him. "Oh? What's the matter, now?"

"She and Nina have invited us, along with the others, to a 'Not the End of the World' party. Can't imagine whose idea that was." Crowley levered himself off the settee and crossed the space between them, to drop the note onto the pile of papers already littering the angel's desk. He flicked his gaze over them, and tsk-ed lightly. "Agnes Nutter? Don't tell me you're still set on playing with fire, angel."

"Not a bit," Aziraphale tensed slightly. "I was merely curious if these predictions ended up as true as before."

"And?" Crowley swung around to settle himself against the edge of Aziraphale's desk, facing his angel.

"That woman must have been touched by the Almighty, Herself. Speaking of... I assume it wasn't lost on you, what She said about you... about us."

Crowley dropped forward, planting his hands on either arm of the chair, trapping his angel in as he leaned further in, until their foreheads touched as he slowly enunciated, "Not. A. Word."

And, with that, he closed the final distance, until their lips met in the slow, sweet kiss he'd waited an eternity to know. For the first time since he fell, Crowley felt truly redeemed.

THE END

NOTE FROM ESTHER:

Thank you all for taking the time to read my fanfic! I appreciate it. Looking forward to a Season 3, and seeing just how far off I was, with this. (won't change anything... I loved every minute of writing this!)

Thank you to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett both for giving us all something capable of inspiring so much!

For anyone who found this at random and isn't already part of the GOfandom, and wants to know more, you can head on over to Amazon.com and search "Good Omens" to find the book (in several different formats -- my favorite at the moment is the full-cast reading of the book. Best of both worlds! :)...) and the Amazon Original series for Good Omens.