Mon 6 Apr 2015
A Review by Barry Gardner: ROGER ZELAZNY – A Night in the Lonesome October.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[7] Comments
ROGER ZELAZNY – A Night in the Lonesome October. William Morrow, hardcover, 1993; paperback, 1994. Chicago Review Press,softcover, 2014. Illustrated by Gahan Wilson.
If I were to play the “one author for a desert island” game with science fiction, Roger Zelazny would certainly be one of the finalists, and several of his books would find their way onto any 100 best list I made.
Most critical opinion would have it that his work has been essentially trivial for the last decade, or longer. I wouldn’t argue the point, but would argue that even trivial Zelazny is of a quality of readability matched by relatively few writing in the field today.
This is about a diverse group of characters who gather in England for a recurring contest between two factions: one who wants to open a gate so that the Elder Gods can return, one who wants to bar it. The tale is told from the viewpoint of the familiar of one of the “closers,” a dog (of a sort) named Snuff. Without giving away too much of the plot, I’ll simply say that many of the players will be familiar.
This is very much a Zelazny book in terms of style and obscurity, and by obscurity I mean that he never tells you as much about the characters and setting as you’d like to Know. Wilson’s many illustrations are as appealingly macabre as you’d expect, and add greatly to the book.
This isn’t a work of substance. However, it’s pleasant if ephemeral, and it’s Zelazny, and that’ll do in a pinch.
April 6th, 2015 at 8:45 pm
As it turned out, this was Zelazny’s last book. He died in 1995. Barry hinted at the identity of some of the characters in the book, and perhaps you can make some of them out in the cover image of the paperback edition shown.
If you’d like more than a hint, check out the Wikipedia page for the novel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_in_the_Lonesome_October
April 6th, 2015 at 10:30 pm
I’m very fond of this one and have printed my review of it twice on my blog. Here’s a link for the curious:
http://billcrider.blogspot.com/2014/10/ffb-night-in-lonesome-october-roger.html
April 6th, 2015 at 10:46 pm
I’ve had a copy of the paperback edition for over 20 years now, and Ive never opened the book. Between you and Barry, Bill, it sounds as though I made a mistake, and a big one.
I guess I’d soured rather badly on Zelazny at this time of his career. Back when he started writing in the mid-60s, I was blown away by his work, but as a lot of people were, I was disappointed in how little he seemed to build on that fabulous start.
April 7th, 2015 at 1:52 pm
If I had to pick my top twenty science fiction shorts of all time at least four of them would be penned by Zelazny. He could go from rousing pulp, to near poetic, to complex and intriguing on the turn of a dime, equally at home in hard SF or high fantasy.
That said not every book lived up to its premise or promise. And, Steve, like you, by this time I had soured on his work for some time. I still treasured the early work, but outside of the occasional short he seemed to be out of steam and or bereft of interest in his work. Amber went on much longer than was good for him or the series.
That said I can think of three or four shorts I consider masterpieces and I only grant Heinlein two and Asimov one.
April 7th, 2015 at 2:41 pm
I’d given up on Zelazny by the time of this book, but I still read most of them. Except for the Amber series, which I quit after 3 books.
April 7th, 2015 at 6:57 pm
I never got three books into the Amber series. It didn’t interest me at all. Maybe three paragraphs.
I know Amber is what made Zelazny rich and famous, but I had such a poor attitude toward fantasy at the time, especially never-ending sagas, that I felt very frustrated with what he was doing. He was writing well below his abilities, as far as I was concerned. It became very easy for me to on to other authors, and I did.
April 7th, 2015 at 8:29 pm
The first of the Amber books, NINE PRINCES IN AMBER was intriguing, but quickly deteriorated into endless variations on the same three chords, a bit like country western music.