A Night in the Lonesome October —
All is not what it seems…
In the murky London gloom, a knife-wielding gentleman named Jack prowls the midnight streets with his faithful watchdog Snuff – gathering together the grisly ingredients they will need for an upcoming ancient and unearthly rite. For soon after the death of the moon, black magic will summon the Elder Gods back into the world. And all manner of Players, both human and undead, are preparing to participate.
Some have come to open the gates. Some have come to slam them shut.
And now the dread night approaches – so let the Game begin.
Author: Roger Zelazny
Illustrator: Gahan Wilson
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Gaslamp
Publisher: Avon Books
Publication Date: September 1, 1994
Pages: 280
October 28th
Snuff’s calculations are done. The central point is the same hill and tumbled old stones where he and Graymalk were transported to the Dreamworld. Not exactly a surprise, but it appears Snuff is the first of the calculators to figure it out.
He has a long talk with Bobo which serves as some more exposition about the nature of the game, discovering that Bobo has been paying more attention than most of the actual familiars. The game is ancient, and is indeed a battle to open, or close, the way for the coming of the Old Gods of Chaos. We also hear of a legend, of a wild man and his dog who are always there at the end.
At the end of the day Jack and Snuff reminisce about previous games they have played.
Just how old are Jack and Snuff? And how many games have they played. There was a mention sneaked in of Cain and Abel. Is that Jack’s curse? Is he the original murderer, cursed forever to weild a blade? Or have I just watched too many episodes of Supernatural? There was another allusion to a man on a hill and a last supper. is there a Judas lurking somewhere?
Whatever the case, this chapter was a short one, just to remind us of players and stakes and bring us back to the point of it all before the climax. But Snuff has made a pledge to stay friends with Graymalk whatever happens, and I suspect nothing will ever break his bond with Jack.
Three days to go, and all to play for.
Boo-graphy:
William Meikle is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with more than thirty novels published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries.
He has books available from a variety of publishers including Dark Regions Press, Crossroad Press and Severed Press, and his work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and magazines.
He lives in Newfoundland with whales, bald eagles and icebergs for company.
When he’s not writing he drinks beer, plays guitar, and dreams of fortune and glory.
The Green & the Black —
A small group of industrial archaeologists head into the center of Newfoundland, investigating a rumor of a lost prospecting team of Irish miners in the late Nineteenth century.
They find the remains of a mining operation, and a journal and papers detailing the extent of the miners’ activities. But there is something else on the site, something older than the miners, as old as the rock itself.
Soon the archaeologists are coming under assault, from a strange infection that spreads like wildfire through mind and body, one that doctors seem powerless to define let alone control.
The survivors only have one option. They must return to the mine, and face what waits for them, down in the deep dark places, where the green meets the black.
Meghan's House of Books 