A Night in the Lonesome October

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Matt Godfrey

Loyally accompanying a mysterious knife-wielding gentleman named Jack on his midnight rounds through the murky streets of London, good dog Snuff is busy helping his master collect the grisly ingredients needed for an unearthly rite that will take place not long after the death of the moon. But Snuff and his master are not alone. All manner of participants, both human and not, are gathering with their ancient tools and their animal familiars in preparation for the dread night. It is brave, devoted Snuff who must calculate the patterns of the Game and keep track of the Players—the witch, the mad monk, the vengeful vicar, the Count who sleeps by day, the Good Doctor and the hulking Experiment Man he fashioned from human body parts, and a wild-card American named Larry Talbot—all the while keeping Things at bay and staying a leap ahead of the Great Detective, who knows quite a bit more than he lets on.

Boldly original and wildly entertaining, A Night in the Lonesome October is a darkly sparkling gem, an amalgam of horror, humor, mystery, and fantasy. First published in 1993, it was Zelazny’s last book prior to his untimely death. Many consider it the best of the fantasy master’s novels. It has inspired many fans to read it every year in October, a chapter a day, and served as inspiration for Neil Gaiman’s brilliant story “Only the End of the World Again.”

©2022 Roger Zelazny (P)2022 Recorded Books

Excellent

Zelazny’s horror mystery Halloween masterpiece. The voice acting is great too. A long time favorite of mine.

Extremely cleaver and entertaining

A rare literary gem.
A book that has meaning among so many mediocre genre novels.
Recommend.

Seemed a little predictable

This story was entertaining in a low key kind of way, but it was a little predictable and anticlimactic. The interaction of the various animal characters was very conversational. However, the end was heavily foreshadowed and frankly not that exciting. There was a lot of being vague who the various characters in the story were based on, but it fairly rapidly became pretty apparent. The reader was excellent, though, and gave very characteristic voices to the individual animals.

Modern classic for Halloween

Perfect short and well paced Halloween take. Not very scary, but the mood is perfect. I can also feel how much fun he has writing it.

Fun listen and a neat perspective

I hadn't heard a story told from this point of view before. It was fun.

High stakes plot with (cozy?) low stakes feel!

Great story by Zelazny that brings together some classic characters (Jack the Ripper, Dracula, the Wolf Man, Sherlock Holmes) in a tale about a confrontation over bringing back the Old Gods and ushering in a new (good? Bad? Horrible?!?) era…all told from the perspective of a dog and focusing on the interactions of all the “main characters” animal familiars. Great read!

Finally on Audible!

I absolutely adore this book, and I listen to it every October. It has become a cherished tradition.

I'm overjoyed that it's finally available on Audible. Before that, if you wanted in audiobook format, you had to hunt down a rare (and expensive) CD copy, read by Roger Zelazny himself. He did a fine job, but he was not a professional narrator, and the audio quality was pretty rough.

That's all over now -- we get a crisp, clear recording by a talented narrator. Matt Godfrey breathes life into the different characters, and he's easy to listen to.

I have zero complaints about this book, but I do have some complaints about the description, which I think gives far too much away. Part of what is so amazing about this book is the way that the mystery unfolds as the story progresses. As the reader/listener, you start out in the dark, and slowly learn about "the game," who is involved, and how everything works.

The thing is, it's a difficult book to describe without spoiling things. If I were to do it, I'd describe it by paraphrasing a passage from the book, thusly:

"A few times a century, on a night in the lonesome October, when the moon shines full on Halloween, the way may be opened for the return of the Elder Gods to Earth. Some people will assist in the opening of the way for them, while others will strive to keep the way closed. For ages, the closers have won... Often, just barely. And there are stories of a shadowy man, half mad, a killer, a wanderer -- and his dog -- who always show up to attempt the closing."

This book is a masterpiece, and this recording does it justice.

Great story, great narration!

I started reading Zelazny with This Immortal and Lord of Light in the sixties, but somehow I never got around to this little gem. I’m so glad I finally read it. The narrator did an excellent job with the character voices.

Great Story

I felt my imagination growing with every word. My minds eye actually creating the characters and all their adventures.

Captured ambiance.

Loved the narration! Fabulously gave voices to the many peopled-creatured world. Segmented by the month of October instead of chapters.