Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion

Carpe Baculum: A Night in the Lonesome October (1993) by Roger Zelazny, illustrated by Gahan Wilson
post by Fletcher Vredenburgh



LINK: https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2021/...

Blurb from Fletcher Vredenburgh:

I did not buy this book based on the cover. I did, however, buy it based on the illustration for the first chapter. I like Roger Zelazny well enough, but Gahan Wilson illustrations can get me to buy almost anything.

Still, when I first bought A Night in the Lonesome October (taken from a line in “Ulalume” by Poe), a comic horror novel that brings together more classic monsters and villains than all the Universal monsters movies put together, I did not expect it to become one of my favorite books. Written by Roger Zelazny and illustrated by Gahan Wilson, if you’ve missed it, just go buy it. Nothing I could write is sufficient to convey the utter dark delight that is the book.

This book has been my chosen October read since 2013. It has 31 chapters (not counting the prologue) so I start on October 1st and then enjoy a bite-sized bit of dark delight every day of the month.

Also, it contains a surprising amount of pathos for what is in large part an extended satire of Universal Monster movies, Weird fiction and Victorian literature.

And as you note -- Gahan Wilson's illustrations MAKE the book.

[Name Redacted] wrote: "This book has been my chosen October read since 2013. It has 31 chapters (not counting the prologue) so I start on October 1st and then enjoy a bite-sized bit of dark delight every day of the month..."

Wow. I had never heard of it... and now it seems to have a cult following.

I love the ritual of chapter/day. Cool.