Paul Steward, of the Central New Jersey Grotto, is in definite need of some psychological help and this book proves it. Tales of . . . is a collection of short stories written by Paul, all fiction (I hope!), and all about caves and cavers.

There are a total of twenty-six stories, and I’ll bet someone dies in at least half of them. Not that the whole book is morbid, but it definitely has its share. On the lighter side, there are several stories that hit on the electric/carbide debate, a favorite theme of Paul’s. There are even spoofs of Batman and Stephen King.

Paul has a writing style that refuses to let go of the reader. The stories are just short enough that the end of each story begs the reader to “read just one more” before hitting the sack. (Like you can sleep after reading some of Paul’s more darker pieces.) It is 120 pages of easy reading. So easy that Dave Milhollin read the whole thing on the way back from Bustamante.

While it is easy and enjoyable to read, and much of it is comical, there is definitely a dark side. From aliens transforming cavers into mindless blobs, to grisly deaths, to live entombment’s, to deadly shoot-outs, Paul has a story about anything you can imagine that can happen in a cave. In spite of this, I recommend it, if the darkness doesn’t scare you off. Chad says “read it, but only during daylight hours.”