The literary works involved all have one or more of the words "dark", "black" or "night" in the title. By coincidence, the initial letters of the first nine answers spell out a familiar word.

Confused? See if you can pick out the musicians who are left-handed or played left-handed, from the following bands.

There are fourteen steps between two words derived from this Author Challenge title. Drop a letter and, if necessary, rearrange the remaining letters to get the next answer. Do this down to one letter, then back up again.