Roger Zelazny’s last novel, A Night in the Lonesome October is completely different than anything he had written before (his most noted work was the Amber series).
This novel is a droll, light hearted and funny mash of Victorian style meets gothic horror in a supernatural fantasy about the ongoing struggle between the champions of chaos who are attempting to allow the elder gods (think Lovecraftian Cthulhu) entrance to the world and those attempting to keep the gateways closed.
Zelazny borrows characters from the works of such notables as Stoker, Shelly and Lovecraft and places them together in a comedy.
The champions of order and chaos are well known personas: Jack the Ripper, Dracula, the werewolf, witches and druids, Dr. Frankenstein, and others. Animal familiars accompany each champion and the story is told from the familiar’s perspective (the book is narrated by Jack the Ripper’s pet dog Snuff.)
When a full moon occurs on Halloween it creates the potential to open a gateway to the other world and unleash chaos upon ours. The champions of order and chaos are drawn to the site of the new potential gateway and proceed to try to locate the gate, identify the other players, guess which side they are on, neutralize potential enemies and gather items of power to open or close the gateway.
It’s a wonderful read as you watch the characters on a lunatic scavenger hunt and as you try to guess which are aligned with order and which with chaos. And it’s still fun when you reread it and already know who is on who’s side.
A night in the Lonesome October is certainly not a work with extensive character development and a complex plot that will make any “best book of all time” list by any means, but it is a relaxing and enjoyable story… I have made it a tradition to read a chapter each night each year in October (the book is cleverly organized into 31 chapters, each covering one day in October leading up Halloween)
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