Roger Brucker is a gifted author, a marvelous gentleman who I'm proud to call a friend. He was a close friend of our late kinsman, Tank Gorin who owned Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville TN. I first met Roger back in 1991 at the 50th anniversary of Mammoth Cave being named a national park and he and the historian there were the gentlemen responsible for arranging for my daughters and me to take a private tour of the cave where people have not trodden on tour for 30 some years. We were taken to Gorin's Dome and the Bottomless Pit - a thrill believe me and a hard trip, many times on hands and knees with just the lanterns on our hard hats to guide the way. Roger has written several non-fiction books dealing with Mammoth Cave - "The Longest Cave" and "The Cave Beyond" (the story of the world-famous Floyd Collins entrapment in Sand Cave) and others. About two years ago, I re-met Roger at a symposium at the Cave where I was speaking. He showed me the rough draft of "Grand, Gloomy, and Peculiar" - although the book was not yet named and he was seeking a publisher. At a program of our historical society this evening, Chuck DeCroix, a historian/ranger and long-time friend told me that the book was due for release in a month or so. And, in the parts I scanned from his master copy that evening - the Gorin family plays a big role. I didn't get to read in depth but I think he treated Franklin Gorin, owner, in a nice way! Stephen Bishop was a world-famous cave explorer and tour guide owned by Franklin Gorin who bought him from a Bishop family in Glasgow and took him to the cave. At 17 years of age, he rapidly became the darling of the tour guides - among the ladies - and greatly impressed the gentlemen too. He drew the oldest known map of Mammoth Cave and discovered Gorin's Dome and thousands of other sites within the now 300 plus miles of the cave. Stephen was educated by Franklin; spoke 3 languages, was a mulatto who claimed French background too (never proven). Franklin granted him his freedom when he sold the cave to the Croghan family, but Stephen wanted to stay with the cave. He had married, had children. He was freed by Croghan, remained at the cave and died one year after he became free. He worked longer in order to gain the freedom of his wife (owned by someone else) and children. This book is a novel but based on every bit of historical information Roger could have. We conferred on several items in the book. I thought some of you might be interested in the book. I went on Amazon.com and they will send me an email when the book is published - it's paperback and I don't know the cost. I can't wait! Sandi Col. Sandi Gorin - GORIN worldconnect website: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/~sgorin