Slow Show (Good Omens fanfiction)

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Fanfiction
Title: Slow Show
Author(s): mia_ugly
Date(s): 1 December 2019
Length: 95,505 words
Genre: slash fanfiction, alternate universe, All Human AU
Fandom: Good Omens
External Links: Slow Show, Archived version (AO3)
Cover art by thechekhov (2019)

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Slow Show is a Good Omens alternate universe slash Aziraphale/Crowley story by mia_ugly.

"Slow Show" is a Hollywood AU about human Anthony Crowley as a troubled, washed-up actor with a history of drug addiction, and Avery Fell (a human stand-in for Aziraphale) as a rising star with a squeaky clean image. The plot revolves around the Slow Burn (trope) between them as they costar in an award-winning TV series, "Warlock." The summary states this is a story "in which temptations are accomplished, grand romantic gestures are made, and two ineffable co-stars only take four seasons of an award-winning television program to realize they’re on their own side (at last, at last.)"

"Slow Show" is worth noting for essentially spawning its own fandom, that is sometimes referred to as the Slow Show Metaverse. The popularity of this fandom resulted in the creation of several character, ship and additional tags on Archive of Our Own - to the point where searching for Crowley (Good Omens) in the AO3 characters dropdown list while posting a new work will return a result for Anthony J. Crowley (Slow Show). It could even be argued that "Slow Show" has spawned two recursive fandoms, with fans writing fic set in the universe of the fictional "Warlock" TV show, as well as works about actors Anthony and Avery.

There is a considerable amount of recursive fanfic, metafic and related art and media surrounding it, such as fanworks presented as RPF about its imaginary actors.[1] This work has been podficced more than once and fans have also produced vid trailers.

Author's Notes

On completion of "Slow Show":

First things first, thank you to the two best betas/therapists in the world, @themoonmothwrites and @ineffably-effable. This story wouldn't exist without you, there's absolutely no way, and I'm in awe of the pair of you. A massive thanks again to @squeegeelicious for their extremely helpful insights and feedback. I hope I told this story in a way that rang true. Thanks to the Slow Show Support Group for existing (!!) and the Softest Soft Serve Server in the world for your truly punk rock kindness. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and leaving comments and making art (just murder me @thechekhov) and writing things and sending messages. I've never had this sort of response to anything I've written, and every comment has been a light.

Reviews & Recs

"This story is so well written even if you are not familiar with the canon you can follow along. It just breathes life to the book/show, twists it around and makes it its own story while keeping the familiarity of the story and the characters we know and love. Has its own metaverse"[2]

the world building is top notch and the weaving of canon in and out of the human au is masterful. some of the poetic language used in this fic has stuck with me long after reading. and while there was a lot of angst, it was ultimately very sweet.[3]

This is a fic I’m sure I don’t need to recommend because surely everyone has read it by now. But if not, what are you waiting for?!??! I tried to hold off until it was finished (I prefer to read through in one sitting usually) but curiosity got the better of me. I didn’t regret it at all! Updates were consistently amazing and the story kept me hooked! I hate when I forget what happened by the time there’s an update, that was definitely not the case with Slow Show.[4]

This is probably THE BEST human AU ever written. Love it sooooo much![5]

The minute I entered this fandom I kept seeing odd references to Slow Show and there’s a damn good reason for that. Human AU in which Az Fell and Anthony Crowley are cast in the same show Warlock. Crowley, troubled star with some bad shit under his belt and Az who has kept himself so well-hidden in his personal life as well as on stage doesn’t know anything about falling in love. Heartbreaking, wonderful, clever and totally addictive. I loved this so much.[6]

Human AU in which Anthony Crowley and Avery Fell are co-stars in a fantasy TV show (not RPS!). I avoided reading this because I’m not into AUs but caved after seeing so many people rec it. It really is incredible - it’s long and satisfying and filled with so much pining, and so thoughtful in how it deals with both of their emotional baggage. I lost an entire day to this fic and kind of want to go right back to the beginning and read it again.[7]

Crowley is the best kind of heartbreaking, and (even though I should know what to expect from @mia-ugly’s writing by this point) there are words and phrases in every chapter that strike like a punch to the gut. And then, in direct contrast to this, you have these moments of humour and heart-warming fluff that make your heart grow three sizes.[8]

do yourself the most delightful of favors and read this gorgeous thing from start to finish. drink it all down, savor every sip, cradle the warm mug of it in your hands as a shield against winter. you can thank me later[9]

Crowley is a mess, but a loving and tender one. I really appreciated the way Aziraphale was written- a very realistic and soft depiction of a person stuck in the closet[10]

I know everyone’s read this. But I will never stop talking about it. I had the pleasure of rereading it recently, and I was just blown away by how this fic tackles internalized homophobia and the struggle of coming out. Middle-aged men in love! My whole gay heart screams every time I think about this fic. So empowering and thoughtful and beautifully written.[11]

This one is (obviously) an AU. However it’s both insanely good and also a fascinating look at how the characters still work perfectly when all metaphors are stripped away, highlighting how damaging homophobia is. (Composed entirely of pain, pining, poetry, and emotion that will burn clean through you.) Plus it’s got one of the best Crowley’s I’ve read, hands down.[12]

Slow Show Metaverse

Slow Show is notable for spawning an entire recursive fandom (or two), with writers primarily posting their works on AO3. Some works are set in the universe of Slow Show. These can be missing scenes, alternative perspectives, or expansions of the original story. Fanwriters also write RPF for the fics' characters.

Other fanworks are set in the universe of the fictional TV series "Warlock," starring Anthony Crowley and Avery Fell (the main characters of Slow Show). There are also crossovers where the Good Omens characters Aziraphale and Crowley meet "Slow Show" and/or "Warlock" (TV show) characters.

Many characters that appear in the fic have "Slow Show" (or "Warlock") specific character tags on Ao3. There are also ship tags and mia_ugly's Slow Show Universe is available as an additional tag. However not all writers in this fandom use the additional tag, and the number of works in that tag is not representative of the number of "Slow Show" recursive fanworks on Ao3.

Some writers also include Slow Show - mia ugly or Warlock (TV) Fandom as fandom tag(s) on works set in this universe. These fandom tags are synned (synonymous) with the main Good Omens fandom, which means clicking on the tag brings up all Good Omens fics. For readers looking to find Slow Show related works in one place. there is a specific AO3 collection; Slow Show Metaverse. This open, unmoderated collection accepts any works related to the Slow Show verse.

Comments

On wrangling "Slow Show" fanworks:

I’m not sure it counts since it’s not my actual experience, but the most wrangling-adjacent fun I’ve ever had is watching the Good Omens wranglers sort out Slow Show and the Slow Show metaverse. (For those who do not know: Slow Show is a Good Omens AU by @mia-ugly in which Crowley and Aziraphale are actors on a TV show called Warlock. Fans of the fic started writing fic about the fake TV show, inventing their own character names and storylines.) I imagine that’s what spectators in the Colosseum felt like as they watched innocent people try to not get eaten by lions. It was incredible. Toss a coin to your Good Omens wranglers, folks [13]

Wrangling Good Omens was such an Experience and even though nearly every day I wanted to tear my hair out and cry about what should go where, I loved it so much and I’m sad Pandemic Times meant I couldn’t keep up.
But yeah the early days of Slow Show wrangling was WILD and required MANY hands on deck, because we needed input from GOmens folk who didn’t follow Slow Show, those that did follow it but weren’t deep into the collective storytelling (like me), and those who were like, in the Discord servers and knew the “canon” everyone was following. Everything we did had to make sense to all of those people, as well as anyone who stumbled in from outside. And how to disambiguate everything was also a nightmare we had to sort out.
Huge shoutout to the Harry Potter and Supernatural fandoms for paving the way in terms of weirdness, so we could be at least marginally more prepared to snag things before they became ambiguous, and to those wranglers for sharing their thoughts on what they wish they’d done differently in the past.[13]

Fanworks Inspired by the Story

Fanart

Graphics and Gif Sets

Fanfiction

  • AO3 Collection for fanfiction inspired by the story, it contains over 100 works

Podfic

Vids

Fan Wikis

Example Art Gallery

  • Art by thechekhov (2019)

  • The Cover of Variety by CynSyn (2019)

  • Cover art by Amiril (2020)

  • Cover art by goodomensficrecommendations (2020)

Further Reading

References

  1. ^ Slow Show Metaverse, on AO3.
  2. ^ Rec on TV Tropes, Good Omens / Fanfic Recs. Accessed and archive captured on April 12, 2021.
  3. ^ "Dec 1, 2019 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-02-01.
  4. ^ "March 20, 2020 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  5. ^ "Sept 18, 2021 Tweet". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  6. ^ "August 5, 2020 Blog post". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  7. ^ "Good Omens Recs at Recs by Rhaegal". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  8. ^ "Sept 14, 2019 Tumbler post". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  9. ^ "Dec 2, 2019 Tumblr post". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  10. ^ "Good Omens AUs fic recs". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  11. ^ "Fic Writer Appreciation Day! (A GO Fic Rec List)". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  12. ^ "Good Omens: A Guide Down the Rabbit Hole". Archived from the original on 2022-02-02.
  13. ^ a b top 5 funniest/weirdest things you've seen as a tag wrangler (that's what you do, right? i think.) answered by runawaymarbles, reblog by aurorasulphur, Nov 2020.
✪ This article was featured on the Fanlore main page in 2022
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