The Lonesome October.

To—
Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker,
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury,
Robert Bloch, Albert Payson Terhune,
and the makers of a lot of old movies—
Thanks.

 Roger Zelazny, Dedication, A Night in the Lonesome October 

Perhaps it were best to take it day by day.

Snuff the Dog

I spent the month of October reading one book.

Well, I actually finished off four or five books, but I specifically set some time aside to read A Night In the Lonesome October, by science fiction and fantasy author Roger Zelazny. This was Zelazny's last book before his death in 1995, and apparently one of his top five favourite novels from his prolific writing career.

The book's chapters are simply the dates of the days of the month of October (along with an introduction), and as such, fans of the book have adopted the practice of reading the appropriate chapter on each day of the month.

The plot is simple: whenever the full moon falls upon October 31st, the wall between worlds grows thin, and:

 "...a number of the proper people are attracted to the proper place in the proper year on a night in the lonesome October when the moon shines full on Halloween and the way may be opened for the return of the Elder Gods to Earth, and of how some of these people would assist in the opening of the way for them while others would strive to keep the way closed."

The cast of characters (not all of whom are the proper people) is drawn from the standard genre dramatis personae, to the point where some of them go without names: the Count; the Good Doctor and his Experiment Man; the Great Detective, who spends a surprising amount of time in drag; Morris and MacCab (standing in for Burke and Hare); a druid: a vicar who is very much not Anglican; a mad Russian; Lawrence Talbot, who knows a thing or two about the full moon; and Jack, who apparently has quite a sharp knife and no longer lives in London.  Some of these characters would seek to open the way for the Elder Gods, and some to close it, and so the plot proceeds, day by day.

The story is narrated by Jack's watchdog Snuff - or at least Snuff is a dog at the time of the story, there's a brief comment that Snuff prefers beings a dog to "what I was before he summoned me and gave me this job." Snuff enjoys an unlikely friendship with Graymalk the cat, companion and familiar to Crazy Jill the Witch.

 It's a pleasantly light read, full of little jokes and little references to the history of the genre of horror in text and film, all delivered with Zelazny's usual poetic style and effortless skill - honestly, I can't help but think that it must have been a lot of fun to write, no wonder it was a favourite of Zelazny's.  Suitable illustration is provided by Gahan Wilson, one of the premier weird artists of the 20th century.

And, as you'd expect, at the end of the story, which comes with a cleverly unexpected twist, Jack and Jill run down a hill - and Snuff comes tumbling after.

- Sid

Worldcon: "CONFIRM HUMANITY"

I was a bit surprised to see that the World Science Fiction Society Seattle Worldcon newsletter mailing list demands proof that the subscriber is human - or at least, not a robot.  Personally, I would be delighted to discover that some of my fellow attendees were either robots or aliens.

- Sid

*Come to think of it, I've actually failed this test at least once...

Hugo.

I'm going to the Hugos!

Well, technically speaking I'm attending Worldcon, the annual World Science Fiction Convention, which is taking place in Seattle from August 13th to 17th of 2025 - but in my mind, I'm going to the Hugo Awards.  

In the process of researching a previous posting on the trials and tribulations being suffered by the Hugo Awards, I happened to notice that the 2025 Worldcon host city was Seattle, which is just a hop, step and a jump away from Vancouver.  As such, I decided to do a bit of a feasibility study on attending - given that plane tickets wouldn't be a factor in expenses.  

As it turned out, there's a reduced membership price for new attendees, which brought the price down to something somewhat reasonable, and I decided to go for it.  In addition, Seattle last hosted Worldcon in 1961, the year I was born, so there's a certain symmetry in attending its return to the Emerald City. 

I'm actually a bit giddy about it - it's like being a lifelong fan of the cinema who is not only going to the Oscars, but gets to vote on the winners as well. 

I've talked about the Hugo Awards - and the eponymous Hugo himself, Hugo Gernsback - in previous postings, but I haven't gone into a lot of detail about the process.

Worldcon is the original science fiction convention - the mother of all conventions, if you will.*  The first Worldcon took place in July of 1939, but the Hugos weren't part of the event until 1953, becoming an annual awards event in 1955.  I was surprised to learn that the official title of the awards is the Science Fiction Achievement Awards, I never knew them as anything other than the Hugos** - presumably I wasn't alone in this, as the awards were officially renamed as the Hugos in 1993. 

The Hugo voting process is a little odd. In order to vote, you need to be a member of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). But the WSFS doesn't really exist, it's just a mechanism for hosting Worldcons, and you become a member of the WSFS by buying a ticket to a Worldcon.

However, you don't have to attend to vote, and you can buy a cheaper non-attending membership which just lets you vote for the Hugo winners and choice of the hosting city two years hence. There's also a reduced price attending membership for new attendees, staff, and "individuals who would otherwise feel cost-constrained to attend the convention." In addition, if you buy your membership before January 31st, you also have the ability to make nominations for the awards. For anyone desiring to see a detailed breakdown of the process, I direct you to the Seattle Worldcon membership page for more information.

Suffice it to say that as a first time attendee who is very aware of the current exchange rate between USD and CAD, I opted for the reduced rate adult membership, which didn't seem to raise any red flags.

As a sign that the gods were smiling upon my trip, I also managed to find a downtown Seattle rental on VRBO that came in under a thousand dollars CAD for my six night stay - provided it's not a scam (it has ZERO reviews, never a good sign, but it's also a new listing) it's a great deal, not right in the back yard of the Seattle Convention Center but close enough to the Space Needle (and monorail) to make for a reasonable commute.

Note to self - pencil in a visit to the Infinite Worlds of Science Fiction at the MOPOP!

But wait - how does the Hugo awards ceremony work?  Is there a dinner?  If so, is it extra?  Do I need to wear a tux? Make a reservation?  Is it a cash bar? Fingers crossed for a robust FAQ...

But, for now, none of that matters - I'm going to the Hugos!

- Sid

* At this point, the shade of Sir Arthur C. Clarke appears to defend the first UK fan meeting, held in Leeds in 1937, in response to which American fans point to the 1936 Philadelphia fan meet-up with members of a New York group.  Regardless, Worldcon undeniably has the title of longest ongoing event, although there was a hiatus during World War II.  (And the 2020 event was done solely online due to COVID.)

**  Hey, trivia fans - apparently a fan named Bob Madle was the genius who suggested calling the new awards the Hugos.  Madle was also a founding member of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, which hosted the 1939 Worldcon after the dissolution of the International Scientific Association by Donald A. Wollheim in 1937 following the collapse of the Science Fiction League, Hugo Gernsback's Wonder Stories-based group.  (When you start digging around on the Internet, you can end up doing some very deep dives...)

Flashback Friday.

It's been 15 years since I posted about the Voyage In Time website, which offered subscribers the opportunity to travel in time for a mere $18 investment (which, over time, would presumably grow to incalculable value and pay for the trip in a time machine).  

I happened to randomly revisit that posting today (mostly because I was looking for the Robert E. Howard post that came after it, and I wondered why I was asking people to pull on my leg in the preceding post) and I'm sorry to say that the Voyage In Time website is no longer active, and I was not able to find anything that seemed to be related after a search in Google™.

However, let's hope for the best.  I see by the screen grab that I did at the time that one Eugen Weingarten had purchased 10 time travel certificates 18 days earlier, suggesting someone who was willing to share his time travel experience with a reasonably wide circle of friends, relatives or both.  Eugen, if you somehow find this posting, please, PLEASE let us know if the site closed down after the successful development of time travel and a trip to the birth of the universe with you and nine other people!

We eagerly await your reply.

- Sid