Dark Night, Black Horse is based on a true story told me by a friend who breeds Pura Raza Español horses in Coín. In the first year of the Spanish Civil War, Nationalist troops came to requisition his grandfather Diego’s favourite black stallion. Diego’s son, aged about eight at the time, then goes down to the town square where all the requisitioned horses, mules and donkeys have been gathered and ‘steals’ the horse back for his father. There is more to the story than this but I can’t say more without giving the game away before you read it.
Diego Martín was a contrabandista: in those days, duty was paid on basic goods such as flour, oil and chickpeas when they were brought into a pueblo, but Diego had a way of circumventing these taxes. He also ran a side-line in American tobacco. His son (aged 8) was actually put in prison for selling it.
After piecing together the various elements of the black horse incident and Diego’s background, I created the story Dark Night, Black Horse. You can read the opening pages on my web page: http://www.jgharlond.name and/or you can find it on Amazon.
Dark Night, Black Horse by J.G. Harlond
Amazon.es (España)