A Night in the Lonesome October
Zelazny manages to cleverly combine Jack (the Ripper), Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Frankenstein, and Dracula together with witches, werewolves, druids and many others in this amusing tale of an approaching confrontation that, on the Halloween of a full-moon, will change the cosmic balance of power between good and evil. Told through the eyes of Snuff, Jack's guard dog, who performs magical calculations in addition to accompanying his master on collecting expeditions into 19th century London. Twists and turns of magical espionage and adventure unfold as this unforgettable tale plays out over the course of 31 lonesome nights in October
Stats for nerds
1recommend
3mentions
2people
2015–2023years
33% recommend67% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Oh man, Literature Map looks really great for finding recs.
That said, I do think book-level might be much more valuable. My first thought for this was Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. I haven't read anything else by him yet because my brother informs me his other stuff is entirely different. Looking at Goodreads, I think that qualifies as far from his biggest hit. Is it "more profound?"? Doubtful, but seems likely that you shouldn't group it with his others. I want recommendations based on the book I like, not the author I mostly might-not.
A better example might be how Stephenie Meyer wrote the extremely popular Twilight books, and also The Host which is much less well-known, and better in many respects. Probably qualifies as more profound, too—it's told from the perspective of a parasitic alien. Picture the Yeerks from Animorphs if you read those.)
- I'm making a board game based on A Night In The Lonesome October. If we define success as "it's good enough that I try to get the rights to the material and am able to and sell it commercially and it does well", that'd be nice but it's not the point. If we define success as "I have fun with some friends and family" then I definitely care whether it succeeds or not.
- Off the top of my head: reread "The Left Hand Of Darkness", "The Mythical Man-Month", and the end of "A Mote In God's Eye"; read "A Night In The Lonesome October".
All worth reading, the last probably the least enduring.
