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Study 016 - A Night in the Lonesome October - Part 4 (Patreon)

Published:
2022-10-27 20:43:05
Edited:
2022-10-28 13:19:19
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

We're closing out our visit to A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny!

Special thanks to our reader: Jason Rainbird!

TRANSYLVANIA KISSES, the new Pitch Black Manor EP, is available now for Gettin' Spooky on the Dance Floor!

And oh - did we mention our Merch Shop is live?

Next week: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin!

Comments

Mandy Reznor (She/It)

One of the fringe benefits of moving (because Alabama is not conducive to trans folk) is that my new job has me alone on my shift with a lot of downtime. Y'know what that means? That's right—Strange Studies at work, baybee!

Jason Denen

I missed the fact that the new "wolf" knew Snuff's name so the reveal that it was Sherlock was a surprise to me. But I interpreted his transformation as a temporary effect of the strange herbs he learned from Talbot.

Ben Gilbert

I never thought Sherlock was an actual werewolf. He was using Talbot’s herbs to effect a temporary transformation. I wondered about the wands being switched but just shrugged it off

OnomatoPoeFan

The Electric Six are definitely mad that they didn’t make “Gettin’ Spooky on the Dance Floor”.

HRPrice

… Was the Great Detective a werewolf, or was that simply a cleverly applied wolf-wig and dress? Fooled again by the world’s greatest detective!

Rob Gillie

First of all, I love that guitar on "Gettin' Spooky", and this fabulous tune is now a part of my Halloween playlist. I think that Jack and Jill knew the wands had been switched and went with it -- I'm basing this on Jill getting more reluctant to be on the openers' side but still feeling like she had to honor her commitment -- but then a friendly pack-rat gave her the out she wanted. I'm also basing it on wanting those two crazy kids Snuff and Greymalk to live together happily ever after, so I can handle a little possible implausibility if that's what it takes to get those two star-crossed lovers together.

Adequately Excellent Entertainment

Welp. I misinterpreted the bit last episode about how Snuff didn’t kill the Vicar was intentional, and upon actually reading for myself I see it was simply that he failed… so I immediately knew I was wrong. Particularly since the girl was like 13. The line “I’ll rub on her legs and purr. That usually makes people happy.” Made me laugh out loud.

Thomas Paynter

Wait a minute, in this world there are elder things, magic, vampires, werewolves and...also rats have human-level intelligence and the power of language? Snuff is something that was summoned to be Jack's familiar (maybe some sort of dog or wolf-spirit), the squirrel was given super-intelligence by the druid. But Buboe is just a random rat who happened along. Are all rats smart or just a few? Are all animals smart? After all, the squirrel didn't lose the power of language when he got his shadow back. When the game isn't going on, is this world full of all sorts of intelligent-animal hijinks? Is this a shared universe with Ratatouille, Wile E. Coyote, and those penguin movies?

The Esoteric Order of Gamers

HUZZAH! More than seven years a patron and I got my thankyou! Woo-hoo! Hold on - wait a minute - how could it possibly have happened on the *only* story in all that time I haven't liked? Surely a punishment for my foolish pride :) ... thanks for the mention lads!

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

The wand switch was a bit of a stinker after all the other cleverness. Honestly, it probably would have worked better as a last second reveal - perhaps the rat saying goodbye to Snuff and Greymalk. Snuff and Greymalk both admit they thought Jill had this in the bag. Both are very proud of their people. Buboe says, "No, you had it right. Jill had the better of Jack. It's just, I, er, switched the wands. I mean I thought that might help and I saw that maybe I could and so, well, I did. Goodbye!" It would have been just as cheezy. But a dessert cheese. Yummy.

Avlin Starfall

Wanted to point out, because it confused me for a bit. You all mention that Jill is a closer around the 13 minute mark, so that would make Jack an opener, which we know he isn't. Also, I wanted to mention, when the count turned out to be a closer and so a "good guy" it, you all touched on his reasoning because, without the world and humans, who is he going to feed on? So it doesn't exactly make him a good person, but when I heard it I thought of the line from Guardians of the Galaxy when Rocket asks Starlord why he wants to save the galaxy and Starlord says "Cause I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!"

Jim Cannon

What a ride! So glad you guys covered this book. Its one of my favorites, and you seemed to enjoy it almost as much as I did. I could recommend a lot of other Zelazny stories, not that you're in a rush to cover him again, but the one I will bring up is "Damnation Alley," a sort of post-apocalyptic Cannonball Run or Balto's story. It was made into a film in 1977, but was naturally overshadowed by that other sci-fi property of that year. But! The film did inspire parts of the Fallout video game, so it has some pop culture legs.

Robert Curtin

Sacred Pocket Sand nearly killed Dracula! That Pocket Sand is dangerous!! Thank goodness for Experiment Man!

Jason Thompson

So that’s what this novel is about!…. I have to say I wasn’t that impressed, very injokey but I wasn’t emotionally engaged. OTOH “Getting Spooky on the Dance Floor” is 🔥🔥🔥

Eldritch Golem (JPM)

Really enjoyed your coverage of this novel which remains as favorite of mine. I had forgotten about the reference to Jack being Cain from the Bible. The idea of Cain having an canine companion is a bit of old Jewish folklore which says that when God marked Cain for having committed the first murder the mark was a dog - Ancient Near Eastern culture not being as inclined to dogs as we are today. I also previously made a comment about my thoughts about the use of Jack the Ripper in fiction, and at that time I refrained from commenting on Chad argument about Dracula, but since he said it again I just have to point out that Stoker's Count Dracula is NOT the historical Vlad Dracula. Stoker never says this. Rather this is a later claim that originates with the popular and heavly influential but historically unsound 1972 book In Search of Dracula by Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally. I feel certain that Ken Hite mentioned this in one of your Dracula episodes. That all being said I think Chad's broader point about the use of historical characters in speculative fiction is still valid.

Alex Liggett

'Experiment Man' sounds like one of those unlicensed costumes, a la 'Adult Bat Hero' and 'Blue Speed Mouse'.

Joshua Weiss

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jack, and just who he is supposed to be. Here’s what we know about him: 1) He has played this game multiple times, meaning he is either very long-lived or immortal. 2) He can summon and bind non-Earthly creatures. 3) He travels with an amiable companion. 4) He fights against the forced of chaos and madness, as well as those who serve them. 5) He does so using magical aritfacts, 6) Including a cursed, rune-inscribed blade, 7) which gives Jack his power, but requires human sacrifice to do so. So we can conclude that “jack” is actually Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone. I’d like my No Prize now.

Jeremy Impson

You know, I'm starting to think maybe this "Jason wears a different elaborate costume to weekly D&D" is a bit that Chris is doing.

Rafe Ball

Chris and Chad, you guys and Jason must all be Closers because you’ve killed it this month with your coverage of A Night in the Lonesome October! I guess you get the coffee :-)

UltharMeow

“… which means the game is officially underway.” Don’t you mean, “the game’s afoot”?

Doc Singles

I love The Chronicles of Amber, I love Halloween, and after listening to part 2 of A Night in the Lonesome October I had to read the book before listening any further! I enjoyed it very much, and it felt like a miniature version of The Chronicles of Amber: there was a Pattern, there were players with ambiguous alliances and motives to be teased out, intrigue, plots and counter-plots. I need to read more Zelazny!

ponyfhtagn

*gasp* my patreon name finally came up and it was the concluding episode of the story I most wanted you to cover :D Best Halloween ever! Thanks guys.

Alison Scott

Useless, random fact: Snuff is the name of a dog that appears, to no particular purpose, in George Eliot's 1861 novel, Silas Marner.

Ryan Thomas

Chad and Chris, your shared knowledge of Arnold Schwarzenegger's milestone Dracula film is at the upper IMDb level of mastery. Could there be any truer tribute to this Count Arnold love than Chad naming his band after the film set's pitch black manor? Today Chad really thrilled me with an unexpected classic quote, though admittedly there are so many. My quick burst of responsive glee, brightly pitched in manner, likely woke the (un)dead. Listening fatefully when I can, Ryan from Alaska.

Andrew Brown

At first I was not "thrilled" with this story, but now I'm sold and have bought the Kindle version. I think very few people can pull off a pastiche (OMG enough with revisionist Holmes already, write your own damn stories) well; "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was one of them. But it can quickly turn wrong. This sounds like it was handled well.

Mark Brett

I assumed that the plants Talbot and Holmes were researching were a nod to the plant from the 1935 Werewolf of London film. In that, two rival werewolves fight over the blooms of this rare plant, which can temporarily stop the transformation.

Grackles

Merch! Lying Vincent Price! Huzzah!