Skata only has one goal in life—to seek out the vampire who turned his wife and kill it. When he finally tracks the vampire to the small nowhere town of Salvation, South Carolina, he realizes he has stepped foot into something bigger than himself. He’s going to need help—and that help may come in many forms. Between the vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, and an unusual preacher, Skata may be in over his head.

It is my privilege to be part of introducing Dark is the Night to the world! The above is the summary of a novel written by a very dear friend of mine, Mirriam Neal. It is being published this week and will be available on Amazon by Friday (the 25th)! (Links coming soon!)

To give you a little insight into the author …

MIRRIAM NEAL is an author frequently masquerading as an artist. When she’s not scrubbing paint off her hands, she’s thinking about writing (actually, if she’s being honest, she’s always thinking about writing). A discovery writer, she tends to start novels and figure them out as she goes along and likes to work on several books at the same time—while drinking black coffee.
She’s a sucker for monsters, unlikely friendships, redemption arcs, and underdog protagonists.
When not painting fantasy art or writing genre-bending novels, she likes to argue the existence of Bigfoot, rave about Guillermo del Toro, and write passionate defenses of misunderstood characters.
To learn more about her fiction and art, visit her website: https://mirriamneal.com/, where you can find a full list of all her social medias, or join the Citadel Fiction newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/b1h5v9

And now that you can check out the rest of Mirriam’s work and her blog, back to the novel!

I’ve had the great advantage of having read this novel already, multiple times in fact because I really did enjoy it that much! So I’m hoping I can use a little of my knowledge to impart how wonderful this book really is.

Mirriam Neal’s Dark is the Night is easily one of my favorite novels. The stunning cleverness of the plot, the life breathed into the characters with each word, the whole town of Salvation is alive on the page. I am definitely a sucker for character driven stories and this story is the home of so many characters that have become close to my heart. They’re supremely well written, each unique and alive in their own way.

Nearly every character in this novel has absolutely stolen my heart. Upon reading Dark is the Night for the first time, it felt as though I was meeting tangible people, not just characters on a page. And now, having reread it multiple times, they feel like old friends. Finding strong, well-written characters isn’t always easy, but Mirriam seems to create them with no trouble at all.

Furthermore, on the subject of characters, Mirriam is a master at writing dialogue. The dynamic of the characters alone would make this novel worth reading, to not even mention the cleverness of the plot! Each one has a distinct voice which comes through with astonishing strength through their speech. I can practically hear each character’s voice in my ears as I read, which is one of the things that makes this novel so wonderful.

In particular, keep an eye out for Angel, who you’ll meet fairly quickly into the novel. He’s complex, snarky, and my absolute favorite character in this story. Truthfully, he’s one of my favorite characters ever. I’m sure you’ll come to love him as much as I do.

But the characters aren’t the only attraction of this book.

Mirriam has done something else I’ve seldom seen accomplished at all, much less done well.

She’s managed to bring together both the Christian and Supernatural fiction genres into one and has done so with impressive dexterity. Moreover, as someone who previously kept my distance from the Supernatural fiction genre because of its frequent conflict with Christian doctrine or values, I’m especially impressed with Dark is the Night. 

It manages to give you a Christian outlook and message at many points throughout the novel without becoming a sermon. I think this is a crucial need in the genre of Christian fiction and Mirriam has done this perfectly.

Her style allows Christian readers to enjoy a novel containing supernatural creatures without sacrificing or transgressing any of their values, rather, quite the opposite. As I said before, she has a strong grasp of how to put Christian principles into her work without being heavy-handed in the slightest.

Overall, this book is a classic and I hope it you come to love it as much as I do!