Knights in Shadow

The transformation from comic to novel

Despite being written with AI, the first Midnight’s War novel, OUT OF THE SHADOWS, has been very well-received by the readers. Its 34 ratings average 4.7 out of 5, which is exceptional for any novel, particularly vampire fiction cranked out in matter of months.

Customers find the book to be a great read with an excellent story, and one customer notes it serves as an interesting prequel to the Midnight War comics. The book maintains a good pace throughout.

So, in addition to working on the sequel, I’ve also set the challenge of converting the Midnight’s War comic to a novel to Claude 4.5 Sonnet. This should go even faster than producing a novel from scratch since the basic story and the characters are already established. However, a novel contains considerably more detail than a short story or a comic book, so the challenge is to provide that additional detail in a way that adds to the story rather than detracts from it.

This is a real challenge, as anyone who has ever read the short story Ender’s Game as well as the novel of the same name inspired by it. The novel is good, and it is worth reading, but it doesn’t rise to the level of one of the truly great science fiction short story.

So, here is the opening scene from the comic as translated into prose.

The Great Concord was established to protect Man from Vampire. But vampires are not the only predators known to prey upon man.

Monica Clairmont knew better than to be out on the streets this late, but the vials she carried in her purse had to be delivered tonight. She kept her stride quick and purposeful as the streetlights of Sargon City cast pools of sickly yellow across the pavement. Her heels clicked too loudly in the empty street. She wanted to run, but she knew that running would only make her look like prey.

And right now, she felt very much like it.

The sensation started as an itch between her shoulder blades, the primitive awareness that something nearby was watching her. She resisted the urge to look back, to actually turn her head around, but her eyes strained at the corners of her peripheral vision, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was behind her. There. As she turned a corner, she caught a glimpse of two shapes in the distance, keeping pace with her. Two men. Dark suits.

And moving with the fluid confidence of men who knew they owned the night.

If they were men.

They weren’t thugs or muggers. But they might be something much, much worse.

Her heart hammered against her ribs. The purse felt heavy against her side, weighted down with its dangerous cargo. She should have taken a cab. She should have waited until morning. There were a thousand things she could have, and should have, done differently. But the blood wasn’t safe where it was, and the courier network was growing thin. There had been too many disappearances. And too many questions were being already asked in the wrong places.

Not for the first time, she found herself wishing she hadn’t volunteered.

The footsteps behind her grew louder.

Monica forced herself to keep walking at the same pace. Any change in her behavior now would signal her awareness of them, and her fear. The predators behind her would sense any weakness like sharks scenting blood in the water. She passed a shuttered storefront, the metal security gate covered in graffiti she didn’t bother reading. Another twenty yards and she could turn the corner onto Fifth Avenue. There would be more lights there. Maybe there would be a late-night deli still open. Maybe a bar. Maybe eyewitnesses who might dissuade them.

Maybe.

Please, God, let there be someone around!

But her prayer went unanswered.

“Will you have a look at that! She looks like a party-to-go on high heels.”

The voice cut through the night air like a knife. Young, male, dripping with contempt and amusement in equal parts. It was close enough that she could make out his words clearly.

“Don’t be stupid! Lucius will have your head this time if you get him fined again.”

The second voice was different. More cultured. More intelligent. Somehow that frightened her even more.