A few years ago, I was asked to write a book about caves. I wrote an outline and submitted it to the editor who requested the book. In a short time, the outline was approved, and I received an advance which I used to research the book.

I visited many caves around the United States. I toured some spectacular caves in the west (Carlsbad Caverns and Ice Caves in New Mexico, Lehman Caves in Nevada's Great Basin National Park, Oregon Caves National Monument, and South Dakota's Jewel Cave and Wind Cave) as well as some further east (Kentucky's Mammoth Cave and Arkansas's Blanchard Springs Caverns among others). One highlight of my research was a trip through a wild cave (Cave of the Winds in Manitou Springs, Colorado). 

But my most vivid memories concern a research trip I took to France where I was able to visit many caves inhabited (part of the year, anyway) by early people: Rouffignac, Peche-Merle, and Lascaux (which is closed to everyone except researchers). I was fortunate enough to be allowed inside on a special tour with five other researchers.

I worked very hard on the book for a number of years. Sometimes, though, an editor or a publisher can change her mind. And that's what happened. Without warning or explanation, I was told that the publisher was canceling my contract for the book. I would be allowed to keep my advance, but the publisher had decided against publishing the book.

Caves are a tough sell in the world of publishing. Rather than allow my hard work to go to waste, I have decided to share some of the stories from that book with my on-line readers:

 

Cave Story 1 (Cave of the Glowing Skulls, the discovery of a Honduras cave filled with human bones)

Cave Story 2 (Floyd Collins: Trapped in Sand Cave, one of the biggest and most tragic cave adventures ever reported)

Cave Story 3 (The Hidden Treasure of Lascaux Cave, a visit to one of the most important treasures ever found in the world and now closed to most people)

Cave Story 4 (Six Months Alone in Midnight Cave, one of the most unusual--and longest--cave stays ever recorded) 

Cave Story 5 (The Massacre at Dunmore Cave, the Irish site of a possible Viking massacre)