A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER by Roger Zelazny
                     with illustrations by Gahan Wilson
                  AvoNova, ISBN 0-688-12508-5, 1993, $18.
                     A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		      Copyright 1993 Evelyn C. Leeper

     I read this immediately after reading Kim Newman's ANNO-DRACULA, and
two more different novels with a similar cast of characters are hard to
conceive.  ANNO-DRACULA had Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Moreau,
Dr. Jekyll, Jack the Ripper, and so on; A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER has
Count Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Frankenstein, Lawrence Talbot, Jack the
Ripper, and so on.  But where ANNO-DRACULA is a "realistic" novel of vampire
control of Victorian London, A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER is a bizarre
tale of a gathering in which some of the characters attempt to open a
"doorway" to allow the Elder Gods to come to our world, and others attempt
to keep the doorway closed.  And it's narrated by Jack the Ripper's dog.

     Unfortunately, I found it totally unengrossing.  All the business of
calculating the spot for the doorway seemed like padding, and most of the
rest did too.  Gahan Wilson is a very talented artist, but his illustrations
did nothing for the story.  The best thing about this book is probably James
Warhola's great cover illustration.  It's possible that reading this right
after ANNO-DRACULA had me in the wrong frame of mind for it (it didn't
"tickle the funnybone" the way the jacket promised at all), but I can't
recommend this book.

%T      A Night in the Lonesome October
%A      Roger Zelazny with illustrations by Gahan Wilson
%C      New York
%D      August 1993
%I      AvoNova
%O      hardback, US$18
%G      ISBN 0-688-12508-5
%P      280pp