I owe Nathan Shumate an apology. He was kind enough to give me an advance copy of the first of his Avalon & Company novels, The Demon Cross. Naturally, I dropped the ball. So, one of the inaugural posts of this blog’s relaunch will attempt to rectify that oversight.

Nathan popped up on my radar at his Pulp of the Day site. I consider myself a dilettante of the highest caliber when it comes to things pulp-ish and noir; which means I loved it! Every day, he gives us one cover from an old pulp magazine or novel and invites us to come up with captions. There’s even a contest. It’s a lot of fun! You may be wondering what this has to do with his novel. Patience, I’m getting there.

I read The Demon Cross in one evening. I hadn’t planned on completing it that fast, I just found I couldn’t put it down. It was a short and quick; novella length and just enough to whet my appetite. Was it tautly written? Yes. Was it fast-paced? You bet! Was it a fun read? Absolutely! Nazis, demons, lost books of power! So, what was the problem?

Welcome to the relaunch of “A Dark & Stormy Night”. It was time to give the place a makeover. It’s been over a year since I posted an entry, so I figured I’d better repurpose the page or return the storage so someone else could make better use of it.

I’m going to be adding bits and pieces as I go along in addition to (at least) weekly posts. A buddy of mine got to give me an “I told you so” after my initial effort petered out. I think that was in large part due to the lack of anything remotely resembling a plan. To prevent him from being able to snicker up his sleeve at me again, I’m going to try something a little bit different.

I’ve had a project languishing in the weeds for about two years now. It’s been a challenge trying to find motivation, inspiration and plain old perspiration to complete the work. I think I’ve found my muse or rather, a helpful convergence of things that have rekindled and sparked my interest.