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.)
