So, with all of the above in mind, I'm making my novel Exiles a free download (At least until the end of January). It's been completely revised and re-edited to (hopefully) address the worst excesses of my dyslexia and reduce the length of my charge sheet for crimes against grammar. I'm currently working a couple of new, unrelated, full-length stories, at least one of which should see the light of day later this year.
On a personal note the festive season ended on a high (or should it be a low?) with a family trip to the Peak District, the world's second most visited national park, to visit not one, but two, underground cave systems.
Speedwell Cavern featuring an underground boat trip through a 200-year-old lead mine to a natural maze of caves and tunnels. Ironically the mine was never viable as mine. The £14,000 invested in it only made a return of £4,000. A loss of around £4 million at today's prices.
Peak Cavern (AKA the Devils Arse), where families lived and worked for 400 years, making hemp ropes. These were used in the 250 lead mines that once dotted the area. It was also home to bandit know as Roger Rain. The Peak Districts answer to Robin Hood? He use to rob from the rich and host beggars banquets in the caves
Cavers have so far explored and mapped some 13 miles of the natural cave complex that links the two, carved out the limestone by underground rivers during the last ice age. The Limestone itself is formed from the remains of coral reefs that once lay submerged beneath a shallow tropical ocean some 350 million years ago.
The underground river that flows through the Devils Arse making the noises that give the cave its name is known as the River Styx. Apparently the local caving club run tours of this part of the system so it's possible to quite literally cross the River Styx and enter the underworld. One for the bucket perhaps?