"A Night in the Lonesome October" Daily Read 2026

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

Welcome everyone to October, and therefore to our daily read of Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October.

The novel has been been a Book of the Month in 2019 and a daily read multiple times. Here are the links:

Official discussions: First impressions | Final thoughts.
Daily read in 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2025.

All of which means that I'm probably the only group member who hasn't read the book even once. Chapters are dated October 1st through 31st plus a Prologue, so we'll be reading one a day over the course of the month. Please join us as I guide you blind in this adventure involving Lovecraftian Elder Gods, disrespect for said elders, and a few hapless humans. Luckily, we're in good paws.

[Nicol]

This has become an October tradition for me! I am excited to start. Snuff is my favorite.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

I can see how it might easily become a cherished tradition.
Besides, the novel ins't very long and wouldn't be demanding as a daily read (said he much too soon...)

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

Prologue

A brilliant teaser. The humour is immediately pitch perfect, and a clear ancestor in tone to other writers for their own Lovecraftian spoofs. I'd call it British, but I'd be wrong.
The fact that Snuff has been summoned, and the fear he instills in other watchdogs, suggests he's something more. Which makes the off-handed attitude of the graveyard watchdog all the more charming.

[Nicol]

Alistair wrote: "I can see how it might easily become a cherished tradition.
Besides, the novel ins't very long and wouldn't be demanding as a daily read (said he much too soon...)"

The chapters are very short at the beginning but towards the end plan for longer parts. I remember the first time I joined the BR we were guessing who was who in the picture. What format are you reading?

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

Ebook!
And I did take a look at the index.

October 1
Snuff doing the round of the various Things Not on the Doorstep. I couldn't help thinking that nowadays he'd be answering back to different versions of Alexa swearing at him. "I do not know what I would do if they all tried to get out at the same time", he's said.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

@Alistair!
This is your first time!! I am so happy for you and dying for all your thoughts.

[Melanie, the neutral party]

Prologue It's strange, but starting this book again every year is like a warm blanket (even though the topic is not warm). I just love this puppy narrator.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

Melanie wrote: "@Alistair!
This is your first time!! I am so happy for you and dying for all your thoughts."

It is actually my first Zelazny!
I know he's well regarded for the Chronicles of Amber series as well.

[Nicol]

The only other Zelazny book I’ve read is Lord of Light but I didn’t care for it, I gave it 1 stars so I must have had strong feelings of dislike but I don’t even remember it now 😂.

[Nicol]

A strange hound and a strange cat!

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

Speaking of whom. I haven't forsaken you! Not yet.

October 2
Strange indeed. And most peculiar. And so it has begun.

Nicol wrote: "The only other Zelazny book I’ve read is Lord of Light but I didn’t care for it, I gave it 1 star."

You're not alone among my contacts, but it has a high average rating. A strange mix of sci-fi and mythology, apparently?

[Nicol]

Openers & closers?? Players?? Ingredients?? Snuff’s life more complicated! Alistair, any predictions, suspicions or guesses as a first time reader?

[Ellen]

Missed starting on the first but now caught up. Good to see Snuff and Graymalk again. I enjoy Zelazny's wry humor.
This is my favorite Zelazny book. Lord of Light was okay. I've read the series The Chronicles of Amber. Some of those I liked better than others. Nine Princes in Amber is on the bookshelf and I liked it least of the 10 book series.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

I suppose he improved with time and practice? It wouldn't be unusual.
Welcome! Join the Game. Sorry for missing yesterday's post, but I was travelling.

October 3 & 4
Yet more mysteries. Jack and Snuff go out at night, to look for ingredients. Others do as well, and they keep track of who's 'ahead'. They work in couples: a human and what appear to be their familiar. And perhaps it's time for a list:

Snuff (hound) ― Jack
Graymalk (cat) ― Crazy Jill
Nightwind (owl) ― Morris and McCab
Needle (other bird of prey?) ― the Count
Quicklime (black snake) ― the mad monk Rastov
Cheeter (squirrel) ― the old man who lives up the road

Openers and closers? "Impolite! Impolite to ask!" Better leave it at that. They're all mad, anyway. Intriguingly, the animals are adversaries, yet in the Game they enjoy each other's company, to a degree.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

October 5
(my mother's birthday)

Snuff does rounds both indoor and outdoor. The animals (it seems inappropriate to call them pets) openly speak about an "us" and "the big event". Druidism is also mentioned explicitly. We learn the old man's name is Owen, and that there's another player, the Good Doctor. The single prints outside Jack's house become even more mysterious.

Yesterday I looked up Zelazny's bibliography and learnt this was his last novel. Somehow that's not surprising: things is clearly an old master with nothing left to prove, having fun.

[Ellen]

Hope your Mom has a good birthday Alistair.

To go with the Good Doctor is the small hunched man that is raiding graveyards and delivering his gleanings to him. The lights and sounds coming from the farmhouse is also interesting.

[Nicol]

The killing in town they discuss - who was it both the victim and the villain? I completely forgot about this murder! (view spoiler)[ I don’t think we ever find out who was killed in town right? Was it our later werewolf friend or someone else? (hide spoiler)]

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

Ok, I see where you're going.
A small hunched man and a doctor point to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; the fact that they exist simultaneously could imply Jekyll's literary antecedent, Dr Frankenstein, who would need the lightning storm for his Galvanic experiments. Snuff's human reminds me of jumpin' Jack Flash, but that might be simply my Rolling Stones mania.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

As for the others, we all know who the Count is going to be, in a Gothic scenario. His flying animal, then, should be a bat. The 'mad monk' Raskov seem to point to Rasputin. If he's a deeper reference to Russian literature, that could fly over my head.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

October 6
It was to be expected, once Snuff mentioned drawing lines between the players' abodes, that the result would have been a diagram. And we discover that Needle is actually a bat. At this point I guess I should start looking for Lovecraftian references, except I still haven't read some of his best known stories and in all likelihood won't, for the time being.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

October 7
(my father's birthday)

I believe this is the first time Snuff's talked to a human. More players, and maybe it's time for an update.

Snuff (hound) ― Jack
Needle (bat) ― the Count
Graymalk (cat) ― Crazy Jill
Cheeter (squirrel) ― old man Owen
Bubo (black rat) ― The Good Doctor
Nightwind (owl) ― Morris and McCab
Quicklime (black snake) ― the mad monk Rastov
? (?) ― the Great Detective

[Ellen]

I like how Snuff "inadvertently tripped" the Great Detective's companion "whose limp has lessened his ability to avoid onrushing canines". LOL! Accidentally on purpose and he's limping because someone nipped his leg in chapter 3. I love Snuff.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

It was pretty clear that Zelazny was omitting information there, and letting the reader fill in. It's obvious who the Great Detective's 'other' is. He limps in the originals, doesn't he. I don't know why I didn't come to the conclusion earlier. I probably didn't want to jump to conclusions too early. Thanks for the tip!

I see I'm also not the only one thinking that Morris and McCab might be a reference to Burke and Hare.

October 8 & 9
The chapters are becoming slightly longer, and things are happening. The Druid attempts to poison Snuff, While McCab tries to drown Graymalk. Larry Talbot appears, and confesses to be 'very much' a moongazer. I did a search... and didn't come up empty. Lawrence Stewart Talbot, alias...



In other news, tonight i finished Dandelion Wine. Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Halloween Tree are next. Hopefully I'll have finished both as A Night in the Lonesome October winds to a close.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

October 10
The story inches forward. It's peculiar and unusual that it's being told from Snuff's perspective.

I wonder whether I should start looking for Lovecraftian references; but I've yet to read many of H.P.'s best known stories. The Good Doctor is clearly Victor F. of Geneva; his experiments with Galvanism have become cliché in the near-century since Boris Karloff. The Count changes from bat to human form, and isn't the only shapeshifter; but Larry is my gazing at a flower on this night. Is this a reference that's escaping me?

[Ellen]

The flower could be (view spoiler)[ a Mariphasa which in the 1935 movie Werewolf of London was a temporary antidote for "werewolfery" (or "lycanthrophobia" (hide spoiler)].
Finished chapter 11 which has Snuff continuing his acting career.
Along with the book I am also reading Jim's daily notes from the 2019 daily discussion. He was the guest guide for that reading.

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

I've been avoiding previous discussion because of potential spoilers, but also because I didn't want to be influenced in my reactions during this daily read. I guess it would be stimulating to read the previous ones, though. Meanwhile...

October 11
The threat level among players is definitely rising, with 'the Great Detective and his companion' trying to detect where Snuff and Jack live, and Snuff leading them to Morris and MacCab's instead. Should I also track Snuff's mental map?

[Anna]

Alistair wrote: "I've been avoiding previous discussion because of potential spoilers"

There are no spoilers if you don't read ahead of the current day's date! For example, any chat about day 12 will start on October 12th 2019. The 2019 daily read was excellent and there is a lot of good discussion!

But absolutely do what you feel is best for you! ^_^

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

Hi Anna!
I've taken a look at the discussion and seen it has hundreds of posts. You've also been better organised at the outset than I've been; but as I said, I went into this blind. I'll read along in the threads as well from now on.

[Anna]

Blind is the only way to read this for the first time! You can always go back to it later, but it is fun to speculate as it’s happening :)

[Anna]

(I glanced at the 2019 thread and one person seems to have deleted all of his posts, so the Notes links no longer work. Well all in-thread links will be invalid. I’m not gonna edit, I suggest keeping the thread open and reading one day at a time.)

[Alistair, chronically anachronistic]

Oh crap.
I believe that happens when somebody deletes their profile.