Articles with the Tag A Night in the Lonesome October

A Night in the Lonesome October
Roger Zelazny
Gahan Wilson (illustrator)
280 pages
published in 1993

A Night in the Lonesome October is a special book: except for the various collaborations he did with Robert Sheckley and others, it was the last novel written by Roger Zelazny before his death two years later. It was also a return to form. Zelazny had been one of the more interesting writers to emerge from American New Wave science fiction back in the sixties and had been a steady Hugo and Nebula nominee and winner in the sixties and seventies. the latter half of the eighties he had been mostly concerned with writing the second, lesser Amber cycle while in the nineties he mostly collaborated with other writers. A Night in the Lonesome October was the first new, solo non-Amber Zelazny novel since 1987 and more than that, it was good. As such it became a bit of a fan favourite among the people on the Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written, which resulted in a tradition of reading the novel day by day during October each year. This is possible because each chapter is a diary entry devoted to one day in October. I never took part in this, but this year I decided to try it when I wanted to reread it. (UPDATE: liar.)

Set in Late Victorian London, A Night in the Lonesome October is the diary of a dog named Snuff, companion to a man called Jack who has a special knife. Yes, that Jack. He and Snuff are participants in the Game, held every few decades when there’s a full Moon on Halloween, October 31. There are some other, very recognisable characters taking part in this game: a certain Count, the Great Detective (of course), the Good Doctor and his self made man, etc. There are also some less recognisable people taking part in the game, like Crazy Jill and her cat, Graymalk, the latter as close to a friend that Snuff has in the Game. What the Game is about is only gradually made clear, but it is one played between two sides, Openers and Closers. Each player may not know which side the others are on; each player is basically playing on his own until the climax. Therefore there’s room for schemes to be drawn up, alliances to be made and betrayals to happen.

It takes discpline to read A Night in the Lonesome October this way, day by day, especially at the start when the chapters are sort. The tendency to read ahead is great because Zelazny sprinkles enough interesting tidbits around even in these short chapters to tempt you into reading further. Why is a dog keeping a diary and why is it Jack the Ripper’s dog? What are the Things it is guarding in the Mirrors, Circle, Wardrobe and Steamer Trunk? What is it patrolling for and what is it his master is seeking? What does it all mean? Luckily ultimately every question does get answered, albeit often indirectly and in passing. The backstory is only hinted at, never explained. There’s also a little bit of legerdemain going on; not every player is what they seem, nor is every player even in the game. Not everything that looms large in Snuff consciousness as part of his duties is as important as it seems either, especially in those early chapters.

A Night in the Lonesome October at heart is a horror mystery pastiche where a lot of the fun comes from that frisson of recognition as characters wander in and out of the story and understanding their true roles in it. It’s a fun little book that you’d normally read in an hour or two, but reading it spread out like this heightens the anticipation for each chapter. I’m not a patient man and it did take some effort to stick to it, but I’m happy I did. Even if the whole book seems to have written for the truly awful pun in the second to last line of the story…

A Night in the Lonesome October
Roger Zelazny
280 pages
published in 1993

A Night in the Lonesome October took me all of October to read, not because it was such a long or difficult book, but because I read each chapter on the day it took place. This has been an ancient tradition in online fandom, or at least it was when I was hanging around rec.arts.sf.written in the late nineties (and I see Andrew Wheeler at least remembers this tradition too). It’s an interesting way to read a novel you’d otherwise read in a day or so. It also constituted my (semi) annual allowed read of a new Zelazny novel; I ration my reading of a “new” Zelazny as he’s one of my favourite authors and the supply is after all limited.

A Night in the Lonesome October in fact is the last solo novel he completed before his death two years later. Sadly to say, it’s also one of his few late novels that’s any good, unlike say his collaborations with Robert Sheckley. Like so many other grandmasters Zelazny had declined somewhat in his later years, for a variety of reasons, but A Night in the Lonesome October was a return to form. Witty, well written and with the characteristic inventiveness of Zelazny’s best work; it’s no wonder it became a cult favourite.

The inventiveness starts with the narrator, Snuff, the canine familiar of a man named Jack, who stalks the streets of London with his master, occassionally running into the Great Detective with his companion, possibly another player in the Game. Snuff tells his story in the present tense, each day setting down the events of the day, starting at October the first and ending of course on Halloween, October 31st.

As the days pass, the other players in the Game slowly gather with Jack in a small village near London and the contours of the Game slowly become visible to the reader. It’s seems there’s a ritual at the right night in October, in which there are Openers and Closers, with Jack being a Closer. So far the Closers have won the Game each time, but the Openers need to win only once to change the world forever.

Apart from Jack and the Good Detective, who may or may not be involved, there’s the mad witch Jill and her cat Graymalkin, the mad monk and his familiar, the snake Quicklime, the Count with his bat, the Doctor, his assistant and the giant man they bring to life who loves kitties, as well as some other strange characters not necessarily part of proceedings. There’s Larry Talbot, who unlike Jack, is able to talk to Snuff at any time, not just after midnight, as well as the local vicar, who seems very handy with a crossbow.

All these characters, when not pastiches of certain well known characters, are of course equally well known horror archetypes and A Night in the Lonesome October takes these archetypes and puts them into a Lovecraftian story, making it one of the few Lovecraft inspired stories that is actually comforting rather than unsettling. The Game and its participants show all the signs of being a long established ritual, with the various parties having adopted somewhat of a comradedly bond between them, not unlike rival Cold War spies thrown together in some godforsaken outpost.

This then is a cozy Lovecraft story, though there certainly is an air of menace behind the geniality. Zelazny is great at handling these switches from comfort to disquiet. His writing in general sparkles here. It was a great pleasure reading a chapter each day on the way to work, then put the book away and read something else.

It’s also of course, quite literally, a shaggy dog story.