Tag: William Meikle

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

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October 19th

The pace is picking up. The ‘things’ in the house are getting restless; and the ones in the mirror are congregating around a flaw in the glass that Snuff knows will bear close watching.

Snuff enters a mutual agreement with Quicklime, the snake that is the Mad Monk’s familiar, to try to make sense of the pattern that is emerging. They visit the Count’s place to make sure he is still there, and he is, sleeping, but Snuff knows that if the count moves about the center will keep shifting. We are also given the fact that in some partnerships it is the player that calculates the pattern, in others it is the familiar.

Gypsies arrive, it is assumed, to protect the Count and hide his comings and goings, further confusing Snuff’s calculations. If both the vicar and Talbot are players, the old manse wil be the center for the Halloween ritual. The manse has a new resident, a woman called Linda Enderby who seems to be friends with Larry Talbot and who smells to Snuff like the great detective. Enderby is making a point of visiting all the players in this new guise.

Another fact arises; Graymalk has discovered that the vicar knew about the dead policeman all along, and was hoping that Jack would be blamed when the body was discovered.

Is the vicar the killer? Are his ceremonies in praise of the Elder Gods a clue as to the nature of the ritual we are leading up to? Are the Great Detective and Larry Talbot in cahoots? All these questions are more could be answered in the next episode of this monster mash

Another lovely Gahan Wilson illo today, of the Count, very Lugosi-like, asleep in his coffin.

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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.

Website

• 

• 

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.

William’s Halloween Giveaway

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

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October 18th

Snuff is making a final attempt to get the body to the river and it’s not going well. He is disturbed by a newcomer, another dog he thinks, then realises it is a great grey wolf. He is astounded when the wolf identifies itself as Larry Talbot. Talbot is a werewolf, but he can change volutarily, with the help pf botanics, at any time, except at the full moon, when he is berserker. Talbot helps Snuff finally dispose of the body in the river, then takes Snuff tothe local church. The vicar and parishioners are in residence…performing a satanic ritual. This changes things for Snuff…if the vicar is a player, he needs to be incorporated into the mental map to determine the center. And if Talbot is a player, so too does he. Then there’s the complication if it’s only one or the other of them.

Talbot and Snuff come to an agreement about mutual aid. Talbot is unsure as to his own place in the game, as he will be berserker on the full moon of Halloween, a wild card in proceedings.

Snuff seeks out Greymalk but the cat confesses to be as confused about the calculations as Snuff is himself.

Snuff takes himself off for a think in a spot that might, or might not, be the center depending on who is or isn’t a player and, after some ruminations, and peeing on old stones, realises he’s got it figured, or at least might have, if Talbot and the Vicar are both players. There’s an old manse that needs investigation on the morrow.

Today was another one where we were given a lot of info through conversations. Zelazny never overdoes it. He slips in jokes and witticisms to sugar coat things, and never gives us everything, just enough to keep us interested

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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.

Website

• 

• 

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.

William’s Halloween Giveaway

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 17th

It is the time of the new moon, and Snuff is feeling reflective. The openers and closers will soon reveal themselves and cooperation between the players will not be so forthcoming. But there is time for one last act together. Snuff and Jack visit a lonely isolated graveyard for some dry ‘materials’. They find that many of the other players have had the same idea, and there is some wonderful comic banter back and forth as they toss body parts around between them dependent on their needs. Snuff meets the graveyard dog, who is not happy at the mess that will be left but seems resigned to it in the way old dogs can put up with almost anything.

Snuff catches a known scent. An old wizened caretaker leaning on a spade is neither old nor wizened but is the Great Detective, keeping an eye on proceedings. Snuff and Jack slip past him in the shadows and make their way home.

Before resting Snuff has to return to the dead policeman’s body and drag it a bit closer towards the river.

The new moon appears to be like a starting pistol, galvanizing the players. As the Great Detective has been making himself involved more and more I’m looking forward to seeing if he can put a spanner in the works of the Monster Squad’s plans and machinations.

I realized I haven’t mentioned the illustrations. I’m reading this in the hardcover edition with Gahan Wilson illustrations, and they illuminate the text with his wonderful droll characterizations. The one today of a moon with body parts passing across the surface as they are thrown from player to player is delightfully macabre and a particularly fine example.

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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.

Website

• 

• 

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.

William’s Halloween Giveaway

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 16th

After checking on the ‘things’, and rebuffing the one in the basement which now looks like a very alluring Afghan hound, Snuff makes a morning attempt to move the body but is too exhausted. Besides, bits of the body have been eaten during the night, and other bits are dropping off as he moves it. He hides it away and heads home for more rest.

He finds Jack in conversation with Larry Talbot. They have both been questioned by the police that morning, but Jack appears to be more interested in finding out what Mr. Talbot’s ‘game’ is, as he doesn’t have a familiar and doesn’t appear to be gathering materials or preparing any rituals. Talbot pleads innocence, saying only that he knows what he is doing, but Jack is not so sure.

A later conversation with Greymalk informs Snuff that all of the players have been interviewed by the police, with the angry Vicar present as ‘witness’. Jill has escaped being probed by doing her ‘away with the fairies’ routine, the mad monk’s command of English suddenly deserted him, and the Good Doctor pulled out his ‘I am above all this common nonsense’ shtick, all of which has left the authorities little further forward. They are, however, determined to find the lost policeman, so Snuff has to go back to trying to drag the body away. It’s in boggy ground now, and proving to be terribly hard going.

An end of the day chat with Graymalk sees her and Snuff reinforcing their friendship ‘despite what is to come’. Are Jack and Jill on different sides? And which is the closer, which the opener? We still have more questions than answers, and this small patch of English countryside is getting very busy. Rather than Herculean, Snuff’s attempts to hide the body appear almost Sisyphean. Is his struggle going to prove futile in the end after all?

---

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.

Website

• 

• 

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.

William’s Halloween Giveaway

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 15th

Snuff continues his attempt to drag the body to hiding, being hampered both by the vicar and his new, crossbow-wielding recruits, and by a new police presence in the area, consisting of an Inspector, constables, and the Great Detective snooping around. Holmes seems particularly interested in the Good Doctor, and Snuff is happy that Jack isn’t a point of focus…yet.

He has to halt in his dragging for rest and recuperation and the day starts to close with him still far from the river and having to hide the body again in order to go into the city with Jack.

They find London a busy place. Not only are the police out in force but the players of the game appear to have chosen this night to party and many of them are in a state of inebriation. The Great Detective is also on the watch, disguised as a street vendor although Snuff quickly sniffs him out. All the noise and bluster and attention makes Jack’s activities more difficult to pull off. He has a successful hunt for wet ‘materials’ but is almost captured, and only evades the police with the aid of Larry Talbot who provides them with an opportune bolthole…and something with which to contain the blood.

So, one last party as the game grows near, with players letting their hair down. The long day ends with Snuff, exhausted, dragging the dead policeman a wee bit closer to the river. This is turning into a Herculean effort and shows us the lengths Snuff will go to to protect his master. He truly is a good boy, even if he is blind to the fact that his master is clearly a monster. Or maybe he’s not really blind. Is Snuff as reliable a narrator as we’ve been believing so far, or is he perhaps hiding something in his telling of the tale? I’m beginning to suspect the latter, although Zelazny has done such a good job of making us like Snuff it would be a bitter pill to have to swallow.

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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.

Website

• 

• 

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.

William’s Halloween Giveaway