Paul J. Steward
The cave walls were cool to the touch, like the hardened skin of a
cadaver lying in a dark morgue. The air was damp with a musty, pungent
odor, like that of a dungeon with earthen walls. The passage floor was
covered with deep, sticky mud, having the consistency of coagulated
blood. But the most menacing presence was the darkness. A dark so thick
and heavy you could cut it with a sharp knife. When God said, "let there
be light," he had reasons for not allowing it down here.
--Paul J. Steward, TALES OF DIRT, DANGER, AND DARKNESS
This was a horrid place where man should not trespass. The underground is
for the dead and buried, not the living.
--Paul J. Steward, TALES OF DIRT, DANGER, AND DARKNESS
One feels most alive when death is close at hand; I turned to find I was
alone, alone in this godforsaken world of eternal darkness.
--Paul J. Steward, TALES OF DIRT, DANGER, AND DARKNESS
Below is a stalag-MITE and above is a stalac-TITE. You can remember the
difference between them because, if you fall in a cave you MITE get
impaled on the ones below.
--Paul J. Steward, TALES OF DIRT, DANGER, AND DARKNESS
A cave is a living and breathing place, and must be treated as such. Who knows what unseen forces lie dormant in the strange world of darkness?
--Paul J. Steward, TALES OF DIRT, DANGER, AND DARKNESS
Nowhere else on Earth is there a place more awe-inspiring in beauty and
wonder, yet at the same time mysterious and foreboding as caves. Their
darkness has a way of seeping into our very soul, bringing on fears of
impending doom and chilling us to the bone.
--Paul J. Steward, TALES OF DIRT, DANGER, AND DARKNESS