[For the October 25th highlight, click here.]

October 26th

The latest entry in Snuff’s narrative begins with the admission, “It was a slow day.” Snuff doesn’t even have any official rounds to make, so he decides “to prowl the woods, to keep the old instincts in shape.” Along the way, he senses someone following him: the prowler that the ward-screen previously detected snooping around outside Jack’s residence. After the man comments about all the peculiarity in the area, Snuff warns him about the upcoming Halloween upheaval: “Weird stuff” is set to transpire at month’s end. “A little specialized craziness. Stay away from any human gatherings that night.” But I’ll select the final paragraph of this short, change-of-pace chapter of Zelazny’s novel as the October 26th highlight: “Overhead, growing in strength, the older, wiser moon paced me. I’d give her a run for her silver.” The clever wordplay and poetic imagery presented by these closing lines serves as a reminder that for all its famous-monster references, the novel really proves so enjoyable because of Zelazny’s stellar prose.