October in the Chair

“October in the Chair” by Neil Gaiman is a supernatural short story published in his 2006 collection Fragile Things. The story won the 2003 Locus Award for Best Short Story, and the collection won the 2007 Locus Award for Best Collection. Along with earning these awards, Gaiman is a widely read, critically acclaimed author of comics, short stories, novels, and screenplays, mostly in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres.

This guide refers to the story as it appears in the 2010 Harper (an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) edition of Fragile Things.

The story opens with the anthropomorphized months of the year gathering around a fire to tell stories. Gaiman presents this as a frequent family tradition in which the sibling who corresponds to the current month occupies the chair and acts as speaker and leader. In “October in the Chair,” it is October’s responsibility to head the meeting. 

Many of the months are introduced through small talk and snarky comments as they snack on sausages and drink hot apple cider. September begins the storytelling with a tale about a chef with an intense love of wine, but August soon interrupts and reminds the group that September told this story years ago, which is a violation of the rules.