A Night in the Lonesome October / Roger Zelazny

A night in the lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. 280 p.

I read this every October because it's just so much fun. Narrated by Snuff, a watchdog--among other things--who is involved in the Game with his master, Jack, a gentleman with a big knife who hangs around Victorian Soho. They're closers, working against the openers who want to open the world to invasion by the Lovecraftian Elder Gods. Each chapter is one day in the month, so we see the slow evolution of the Game and its players--the Count, the Good Doctor, the Great Detective, and others. Snuff mostly interacts with the players' familiars, though; a cat, a bat, a snake, a squirrel, etc. Zelazny was clearly having fun with this, including some entertaining wordplay, and I smile the whole way through every time I read it. I know some people who read one chapter a day in October, matching the chapter heads, but once I start I can't restrain myself and have to read the whole thing. Maybe next year.