Talk about a long time coming.

More than 25 years ago, while I was still in college, I had an idea for a story of some kind: two thieves who, by happenstance, happen to rob the same house at the same time.

It was an amusing scenario, and I had a few of the details filled in, but I didn’t have a full blown story I wanted to tell. It needed a hook. I didn’t have one.

The story was never far from my thoughts — I knew I wanted to do something with it — but there it lived, furtively, quietly, in a drawer, and lingering like an ancient mist in the back of my mind.

Enter Crazy 8 Press.

Enter Tales of the Crimson Keep.

The Keep has wizards and ghouls. Magic and spells. Secrets. And, of course, the Keep itself.

In a flash the story that had been percolating for all those years finally had an elixir. I was able to conjure the tale. The hook was provided for me.

And so I bring you “Thief in the Night”.

The core is still there, two thieves with the same target. But this tale being part of an anthology filled with magic, demons… and danger… their night of burglary in no way ends the way either of them had in mind.

But that’s the thing about being a thief. No matter how much you plan and plot, you aren’t the only thing that goes bump in the night.

Enjoy.

Tales of the Crimson Keep the Newly Renovated edition will be out later this month.