In 1981, several cavers
combined their money, knowledge, and their love of books to
form a non-profit press devoted to the publishing of cave
and karst related material. Cave Books, an affiliate of the
Cave Research Foundation was formed to do just that. Who
better to publish books about caves then cavers? Twenty
years later, and with twenty-six books, various maps, and
numerous CRF Annual Reports in print, Cave Books is still
going strong.
Our first book was
The
Grand Kentucky Junction.
A companion to The
Longest Cave, this
book provides an intimate glimpse into the personal thoughts
of the seven cavers who made the connection of the Flint
Ridge Cave System to Mammoth Cave. Since that first book,
Cave Books has gone on to become the largest publisher of
cave and karst books in the world. Several of our books are
reprints of cave adventure classics. Some of our latest
books include Deep
Secrets: The Discovery and Exploration of Lechuguilla
Cave,
Emergence,
a novel; a revised edition of The
Darkness Beckons,
and our latest book The
Life and Death of Floyd Collins.
Coming soon is a spooky book written by Colleen O'Connor,
Scary
Stories of Mammoth Cave.
Other books in progress are an Introduction
to Speleology by
Arthur Palmer and Kathleen Lavoie, and another book by
Colleen O'Connor Olson entitled Prehistoric
Cavers of Mammoth Cave.
We recently printed
our first mail order catalog, increased our presence with
on-line book dealers, and now have our own web page
<www.cavebooks.com>. Publishing books is not a cheap
venture. To keep costs down and prices low, Cave Books
depends entirely on a staff of volunteers. At present, Cave
Books staff consists of Roger McClure, Publisher; Richard
Watson, Editor; Paul Steward, Promotions; Pete Lindsley, Web
Design; and David Hanson, Sales. Over the years a host of
other people such as Tom Brucker have helped immensely with
editing, book design and layout, promotion, distribution,
and sales. Karen Lindsley, Pete Lindsley, and Bill Mixon
have contributed greatly by doing page and book makeup for
the press.
Like all small
presses, we depend on our authors to help with the sales of
their books. That means doing book signings, talking to
bookstore owners, calling local newspapers, giving talks,
slide shows, and promoting their books as much as possible.
Speleovenders and the NSS have also helped greatly with our
success by selling, advertising, and reviewing our books.
Yet, with all this help and success, Cave Books would be
nothing without the authors writing the books.
In 1991 Red Watson
made a plea for manuscripts in the NSS News. Since that time
Cave Books has published only six new books. So, where are
all the authors? It is not for lack of material. There are
22 caves over 20 miles long in the USA. Of the 22, books
about their exploration have been written about only 5 of
them. Scott Hollow Cave in West Virginia is over 27 miles
long. Its discovery and exploration is a caver's dream come
true. Fisher Ridge Cave in Kentucky just broke the 100-mile
mark and is poised to connect to Mammoth Cave. The
Jewel
Cave Adventure
covers 50 miles of exploration. What about the 77 miles
added since then? Wind Cave recently broke the 100-mile
mark. Where is that book? How about some of you old-time
explorers out there? Don't you think it's about time to
start writing it down? Any cave guides out there with a book
full of funny stories? There are adventures in caving
happening all over North America, but the sad fact is
American cavers are not writing books. Sure there are a few,
but for the most part the stories of the exploration of our
caves is not being documented and will be lost in
time.
There are 94
commercial caves listed on the National Caves Association
web page. Books have been written about only a few of these
caves. Our latest book is Scary
Stories of Mammoth Cave.
Is Mammoth the only cave in the country that has scary
stories in its history? Our book Guide to the Surface Trails
of Mammoth Cave is very popular. Are there no commercial
caves with surface trails left to write about? Books like
these contribute greatly to educate and interest the general
public in karst and caves, but someone has to write them.
Okay, so you don't
think you can write a book? How about translating a few
books into English. There are some great adventure books
from Optimisticeskaja in the Ukraine, the second longest
cave in the world, or Holloch in Switzerland, the fourth
longest cave in the world, and the several caves that have
been the deepest in the world during the last 25
years.
There are always a
few books that need updating. Anyone want to write a
complete new edition of the Atlas:
Great Caves of the World?
How about a companion volume to A
Guide to Speleological Literature of the English
Language that covers
fiction and poetry about caves? I'd love to see a book of
caving cartoons. How about it Mike Hood, Andy Fluke, Jerry
Wallace? What are you waiting for? Cave Books has had
several proposals to edit a book of cave cartoons, but no
one has ever carried through.
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