A Night in the Lonesome October

is Roger Zelazny’s homage to gothic horror and early horror movies. It is at once delightful, humorous, poetic, and gleefully dark. Whenever a full moon falls on All Hallow’s Eve, the conditions are such that a gate may be opened to allow the Elder Gods to return from the Nether Regions to which they have been banished.

Snuff, a preternatural guard dog, and his owner Jack the Ripper, are closers—that is, they and others of their persuasion arrive in the time and place where the gate might open, in order to prevent the Elder God’s return. Each chapter encompasses a single day in the month of October. Many of Zelazny’s fans read a single chapter each night every October.

Wonderfully illustrated with 32 Gahan Wilson Illustrations, this cult classic is a delightful and macabre fast-paced romp. Without a doubt, one of Zelazny’s best.