October is coming up again. It’s the time of year when I love to reread Roger Zelazny’s last book, A Night in the Lonesome October. It was published in 1993, shortly before the author’s death. It’s one of the most memorable Halloween stories ever written, combining elements from horror movies, Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, Sherlock Holmes, a witch inspired by Shakespeare’s MacBeth, and more.
Every few decades when the moon is full on the night of Halloween (a very rare “Blue Moon”, meaning the second full moon in that month), the fabric of reality thins. Whenever this happens, a mysterious group of Players come together to participate in “the Game,” the culmination of which is a mysterious and unearthly magical ritual. Each Player is accompanied by a strangely intelligent animal familiar.
The book is a story told by Snuff, the canine familiar for Jack, who may be Jack the Ripper. Each chapter relates the events of a day in the “Lonesome October,” as Players and Familiars jockey for advantage, gather magical ingredients, spy on each other, and, sometimes, even kill.
Here are the Players in this Victorian rendition of the Great Game and their animal Familiars:
Count Dracula: (Familiar: Needle, a bat) The bat serves the mysterious Count, who seems to only appear at night.
Crazy Jill: (Familiar: Graymalk, a cat) The enigmatic witch, Crazy Jill.
Good Doctor: (Familiar: Bubo, a rat) Bubo accompanies the “Good Doctor,” the scientist Victor Frankenstein.
Great Detective: (Familiar: None) A master of disguise, Sherlock Holmes is trying to solve the central mystery of the story, accompanied by his “rotund companion.” Is he a Player? Or is he an Intruder to the Great Game?
Morris and McCab: (Familiar: Nightwind, an owl) Two Hermetic occultists and graverobbers.
Owen: (Familiar: Cheeter, a squirrel) A druid.
Jack: (Familiar: Snuff, a dog) The dog narrator, Snuff, works for Jack, the infamous killer Jack the Ripper. But, is he really evil? Or is there something else going on?
Rastov: (Familiar: Quicklime, a snake) Rastov is a mad monk, possibly Rasputin under a false name, and a bit of a wildcard.
Vicar Roberts: (Familiar: Tekela, a white raven) Vicar Roberts is the “Clergyman” with the unfriendly white raven Tekela as his familiar.
Wolf Man: (Familiar: None) Larry Talbot is the “Wolf Man,” a victim of lycanthropy. Could his animal side be his own, twisted familiar in this deadly Game?
Like many other Zelazy fans, I enjoy rereading this book in October, but only a chapter a day, just like the book.
Enjoy!
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