I know what you mean there... I've given up on background images myself, because I could never get the balance right (or make the image scale how I wanted it to...) I like the duality of the two colours, but be careful mixing your 'link' font too much. I had to mouse-over a few places to see if it was a link or font colours.
That said, I'm actually really curious how far this can go! This dark retelling of a familiar tale has a marvellous atmosphere!