Cave Dwellers

How would you feel about the prospect of living the rest of your life in a cave? There are a number of things that brought this question to my mind this week:

·         My husband has been sick since October; the only time he leaves the house is to go to another doctor's appointment. The house has windows, of course, but most of them have the blinds pulled shut. He has started to lament that he never leaves 'the cave' any more. He is too sick to do much more than sit in front of the tv most of the day, watching whatever he can find.

·         To keep him company, I sit in the evenings and watch whatever strikes his fancy that evening. Last night, we watched a documentary-type you tube episode about Martian colonists settling into Martian volcano flow tunnels, to protect them from a number of dangers that could happen on the Martian surface.

·         And finally, I recently read an article on the internet about a man in Turkey who was renovating his basement, took down a wall, and found himself at the end of a vast network of tunnels and chambers that had been carved into the rock thousands of years ago. Apparently, this vast underground village was started way back when, and was expanded over many generations. All the entrances were 'hidden' by boulders or vegetation, so you had to know how to get in. And there were stone doors in many of the tunnels that could be rolled shut to keep any invaders from getting in.

Personally, I find caves rather spooky, especially the dark parts. Even in the lit areas, it can be difficult to both watch your head so you don't plow into a section of low ceiling, and your feet, so you don't turn an ankle or lose your balance on the uneven floor. I also have this never-ending dread that the top of the mountain will fall in on me. I don't find them terribly comfortable places to be.

However, if I were a Martian colonist, I think I would prefer living in a cave in order to avoid:

·         Being fried by solar radiation.

·         Being frozen by the surface temperature.

·         Being exploded by lack of air pressure.

·         Being shredded by a dust storm.

·         Being hit by a crashing meteor.

Suddenly, living in a cave seems vastly preferable. Plus, the way the you tube episode showed it, the tunnel habitats would still be a collection of domes and fat, sausage-like tubes connected by a network of smaller tubes to enable people to get from one place to another. Even in the Martian tunnels, our habitats would need to be air-tight. There could be crop fields and parks, and your living quarters would look more like an apartment than a cave. I can imagine a 'native-born' Martian could spend their entire life inside the habitat, and never have to don a space suit to go out into the tunnel. Or to the surface of the planet, for that matter.

It definitely gives me food for thought. In case I ever decide to write a story about a Martian colony. Again. Because I wasn't thinking about building habitats in volcanic tunnels when I wrote my last story about colonizing Mars.

What do you think? Would you be up to living in a cave on Mars?

 

My First Book Festival, Part 3

Saturday. The big day.

My room was cold when I got up. I checked the thermostat. It was set for 74, but the actual temperature was 64. I checked the unit under the window, and it said it was set for heat, to the temperature of 64. I tried to bump it up to 74, but it immediately went back to 64. I didn't have time to mess with it. I went downstairs to get some breakfast. I chose some oatmeal, bacon and orange juice, since I don't drink coffee. The breakfast lounge was humming with people.

When it came time to go to the festival site, I had to scrape frost off all my car windows. Well, actually, I turned on the car, set the defrost to high and scraped the side windows. By the time I got that done, the windshield and rear windows were clear. I wasn't sure we still had an ice scraper in my car, so I had originally had visions of trying to clear my windows with a credit card. Thank goodness I didn't need to do that.

It was a 15-minute drive to the site, and then waiting in line to unload of about the same amount of time. An aide showed up with a cart, and I unloaded my 5 boxes. She went to park the cart in the lobby while I took my car to 'the grassy area' and walked back to the building. It was probably 8:45 or so when I got my books transferred to our table, and the aide came to take the cart away so it could be used again.

The festival opened to the public at 10 am, and I had our table all set up by 9:30, so I pulled out my phone and my square reader and tried to figure out how to use it. I couldn't get it to connect to the church's wifi, no matter how hard I tried. Consequently, every time I opened the square app, it had a bright red banner across the top saying I wasn't connected to the internet. I got up and consulted with a couple other authors to see if they were having problems, but they weren't.

In sheer desperation, I called one of my sons to see if he had any suggestions. And it was sheer desperation, because he doesn't use the square app, so he was making things up as he went along. Eventually, he and his wife were going out for breakfast, so I knew I was on my own with my problem. But something he said made me look in my settings, and my data connection wasn't turned on. I turned it on, and opened my square app... and I no longer had that bright red banner about not being connected to the internet.

I breathed a sigh of relief and tried to figure out how to navigate the square app. It was a lesson in frustration, because it seemed to open to a different page each time I opened it, leaving me with no idea where I was at in the app, and even less of an idea how to get where I wanted to go. Thankfully, I only needed to use it once that entire day. A young man wanted to buy 2 books, so I discounted the price. I got the amount put in the app, but when I ran his card through the reader... it didn't register, and therefore didn't charge him. But I didn't realize that until later.

I now have a new chore on my 'to do' list: Practice with the square app.

It was not a tremendously busy day. They had 150 authors in attendance. They may or may not have had that many people come in and shop. Our table was in the 'science fiction' section, but there were no signs to indicate what section had what kind of books. When customers were scarce, I pulled myself away from our table to go network with other authors. That was actually kind of fun. I always started the conversation the same way; "What type of books do you write?"

And I talked to people who walked by, usually starting with, "What type of book do you like to read?" Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but at least I wasn't just sitting there like a bump on a log. My husband would have been proud of me.

About 4:45, they announced it was time to start packing up what books we had left and leave. I hadn't sold that many books, and I was trying to pack them away in the same boxes they came in, so it was about 5:30 before I found a cart, loaded up my boxes and went to get my car. A helpful person saw me pushing the cart towards my car, and helped me transfer the boxes into the trunk. She was very helpful, and upon hearing where I was from, she got my phone number and sent me the contact information for the 'book festival' being held in Orlando. I thanked her profusely and went back to the hotel.

All I'd had for 'lunch' was some pumpkin seeds and a bottle of pop I had bought from the hotel before I had left that morning. There were supposed to be food trucks at the festival site for most of the day, but they never announced that they had arrived, and I didn't have my husband there to watch the table, so I ate my seeds and was glad to have them. By the time I got back to the hotel, nearly 6 pm, I was hungry, so I went to bar and ordered loaded nachoes and a piece of cheesecake. I should have forgotten about the cheesecake, because there were enough nachoes on that plate to feed 2 of me. But I finished most of them, and the cheesecake, then I went to my room and watched tv to let my nerves settle down.

The whole experience had been so-o-o-o far outside my comfort zone! Even going for supper was uncomfortable, because I was by myself, the bar was busy and noisy. I was pretty desperate for some solitude by the time I reached my room.

The room was still cold. I had neglected to bring a jacket or sweater with me, so I climbed into bed and watched tv.

At one point, my youngest son called me. He had signed up for an online class on IT, one that would 'probably' take him 6 months to finish. He had finished it in 3 weeks, and he wanted to crow a little bit about it. I understood the feeling, I wanted to crow a little too, about how well I had handled the book festival. So we talked a little bit, and then I promised to call him back on Sunday afternoon, after I got home.

So, about 11 (I'm usually up until midnight), I turned off the tv and the lights, pulled the blankets up to my ears to keep the chill air away, and went to sleep.

My First Book Festival, Part 2

So there it was, Friday, and at some point, I needed to leave for the 1 ½ to 2 hour drive to Gainesville. At first, I thought I’d leave at 1 pm. I put my 5 small boxes of books in the trunk of my car. I put my suitcase in the back seat. I filled a grocery sack with snacks and a 6-pack cooler with drinks, and about 2 o’clock, I stopped procrastinating and pulled out of the driveway.

After I filled the tank, I meandered through some back roads to get to the turnpike. Before I got on that, I had to stop and find my sunpass box, which had popped off the windshield. I tried to get it to stick to the windshield, but it kept popping off, so I placed it on the dashboard and hoped it would work. When I took the entrance to the turnpike, the machines recognized my sunpass, so I breathed a sigh of relief. It wouldn’t have been a disaster if it hadn’t recognized my sunpass, but it would have been more expensive.

I reached the service plaza on the turnpike and pulled in for a few minutes. I very seldom drive on highways anymore, and had been having problems keeping my speed fairly consistent. The speed limit was 70, and it seemed the fastest I was comfortable going was 60, and even that wasn’t consistent. After about 10 minutes, I got on the road again.

About an hour later, I pulled off at a rest stop to eat a little snack and drink some pop. My speed still wasn’t very consistent, but at least it was fluctuating between 60 and 70. Again, after about 10 minutes, I got back on the road.

I was still having trouble keeping my speed steady, but now I kept finding it veering toward 80. And then we approached the Gainesville exits, and the right hand lane, where I was, came to a dead stop, as the exit lane was backed up that far. Having come to a stop, traffic was heavy enough that I could not pull over into the next lane to continue. Eventually, the exit lane moved forward enough that I could move past the exit and continue on my way.

The Gainesville exit I need was the most northern one, naturally, since I was coming from the south. But I found it, successfully got off, and drove right by the street leading to the hotel. I had to turn around and come back to it. The hotel was busy with people checking in, but I got checked in with no problem, and got my stuff up to my room.

Now the nerves really started to bother me, thinking about that 'meet and greet' I was supposed to go to from 7 to 9. I got myself ready by 7, memorized the route to the site, and took off. It was dark, since it was the end of January, and I was trying to keep an eye on the street names so I didn't miss my turns. I did not keep up with the speed limit, and thankfully, I did not need to change lanes. I thought there would be signs on the church campus to direct us to the correct building, but there weren't. I parked my car and headed for the building that had lights on.

I had the right building, as evidenced by the Sunshine State Book Festival sign that stood outside the doors, but I hadn't seen that from the road or parking lot. I walked inside, and found there was some confusion going on at the registration table, where we were to claim our name badges. The registration person had stepped away for some reason, and 3 or 4 people (myself included) were going through the badges, trying to find ours. Instead of being arranged alphabetically, they were arranged by table number. I found the badge for Table 45, but it wasn't my name on it. When the registration person got back, I asked if possibly my table number was 145, and sure enough, there my name was. Which meant John's name badge was 146.

I wandered into the large inner room, where lots of tables and chairs were set up, just like for a dealer's room. I found my way to the refreshments, and realized I hadn't bothered to eat any supper. Not that there was an awful lot to choose from. There were a few pinwheel sandwiches, but I didn't know what was in them, so I skipped those. I selected a couple cookies, a few pieces of vegetables, fruit and cheese, and a glass of lemonade to drink, since I don't drink coffee.

I had worn one of my MoonPhaze shirts, with the MoonPhaze logo on the back, and 'Author' on the front. I received 3 or 4 comments on that shirt, all thinking it was a good idea. One lady said she had done something similar, but had put the front of her book on her shirt, which is also a good idea. Most of the authors were already gathered in small groups, talking, but several paused to exchange pleasantries as they wandered from 1 group to another.

After I finished my refreshments, I noticed a man sitting at a table alone, staring at his phone. So I decided to REALLY step outside my comfort zone and start talking to him. Turns out he's not an author, he's a computer geek, but he was there to support his wife, who is an author. Pretty soon, our little group of 2 people grew to 5 people, and we were having a nice little chat about nothing in particular. About that time, the organizers announced it was time for us to leave, so we all said good-bye and I went out to my car.

Having memorized the route to get there, I only had to follow it backwards to get to the hotel. That only took me 15 minutes, but I didn't feel like going to the sports bar restaurant attached to the hotel for supper, so I just ate some more of my snacks in my room before climbing into bed. I had to get up early in the morning to have breakfast and get to the site by 8:00.

My First Book Festival, Part 1

I had been looking forward to this for months. Months, I tell you! I had paid for memberships in the writer’s organization that organized the Sunshine State Book Festival in Gainesville FL, and then, I paid for and reserved a full table at their book festival, held on Jan 28, 2023. I read all their emails, trying to figure out how this would be different from having a table at a Midwest sf convention, either literary or media. Because that was where I had sharpened my teeth, so to speak, trying to sell our books.

It would only be 1 day long, not like those Midwest cons, which were almost always 3 days long. Okay, okay, there would be a ‘Meet and Greet’ for 2 hours on Friday night, which might be analogous to a sf con’s con suite on Friday night, but it was only for 2 hours. Surely I could manage that, couldn’t I? Let’s face it, when it comes to sitting and not speaking to anyone, I was one of the best.

Saturday would be the actual book festival. It would be one big dealer’s room, to compare it to sf cons, with each author getting half a table from which to sell their books. There would be no wall of t-shirts, games, or other things being sold, only books. I’ve done 3 and even 5 days sitting behind a table and trying to sell things, so 1 day can’t be too bad. I could do that. Besides, my husband, who is a natural talker, would be there to start conversations and hopefully whet the appetite of potential customers for the books we were selling. Piece of cake.

There would also be ‘panels’, although in the case of this book festival, they were a limited number of readings scheduled throughout the day. I put both our names in as willing to read, but neither of us was selected. Well, pooh. But really, was there a difference between not being selected to read and giving a reading to an empty room?

So I was ready, at least mentally, to go and see how many books we could sell.

And then things kind of fell apart. Or seemed to.

The writer’s group suggested bringing 10 copies of each book to sell. I normally only take 5 or 6 copies each when I go to a convention. But I dutifully set about packing up 10 copies each… only to find I had several books that I didn’t have 10 copies of. With less than a week before the festival, I didn’t have time to order any more. I’d just have to deal with the numbers I had.

I had recently upgraded my old android phone to an old iphone, and I suddenly discovered my square card reader would not plug into my apple phone. Luckily, my son came to my rescue, ordered a new card reader that would plug into my apple from Amazon, which delivered it on Sunday. One disaster averted.

My husband was sick with a sinus infection, which he’d been waiting for 2 months to see the sinus specialist, so he was getting pretty blasted sick. I didn’t want to leave him alone for 2 ½ days, so we planned on him going to Gainsville with me, but staying in the hotel room if he wasn’t up to going to the festival. Another disaster averted.

Or was it? He managed to sleep pretty decently the day before I was to drive to Gainesville, and decided he would just stay home while I went. I wasn’t exactly happy with that plan, but the alternative was that I stayed home with him, which would be throwing away all the money I had spent on this endeavor. So I filled the frig up with food that required little work to get ready to eat. And when it came time to drive off, I went. Maybe next year, I can get him to come with me.