explorer / books · 1995
A Night in the Lonesome October
Published 1993 by AvoNova / William Morrow · 280 pages
Nebula · 1995
FinalistOn the ballot with
This book is recorded on the Nebula ballot only. Each row shows the full Best Novel ballot for that award and ceremony year. Winners appear first.
Roger Zelazny on these ballots
8 award entries · 6 books · 2 wins · 1966–1995
Synopsis
Narrated in nightly diary entries through October by Snuff, the watchdog companion of a knife-wielding man called Jack, the novel follows a secret occult competition known as the Game. When a full moon falls on Halloween, assembled players drawn from Victorian gothic legend — among them Dracula, Frankenstein, a witch, a druid, and a Great Detective — maneuver as openers or closers to either unlock or hold shut a gateway for Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. Snuff and the other players' animal familiars spy, scheme, and form shifting alliances as the body count mounts toward the climactic rite.
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