Cavern of the Damned

Grant Coleman Adventures #1

by Russell James

Broke and desperate, paleontologist Grant Coleman gets the chance of a lifetime exploring a long-sealed cave, the fabled home of a gigantic creatures.

NPS Ranger McKinley Stinson discovers a rancher’s prize bull has been butchered by an airborne killer, and tracks the blood trail back to the re-opened cavern. But as she’s about to arrest the trespassers, the unstable roof collapses, trapping all.

Their only way out is at the cave system’s far end. But an eco-system of terrifying mega fauna stands between them and freedom. Death, double-crosses, and a slew of monstrous cave creatures take their toll as the group battles to what they pray is an exit.

Will anyone survive this cavern of the damned?

Genres: Horror, Adventure, Thriller, Fiction, Monsters, Science Fiction, Dinosaurs

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 22, 2017

About the author

Russell R. James was raised on Long Island, New York and spent too much time watching Chiller, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and Dark Shadows, despite his parents’ warnings. Bookshelves full of Stephen King and Edgar Allan Poe didn’t make things better. He graduated from Cornell University and the University of Central Florida.

After a tour flying helicopters with the U.S. Army, he now spins twisted tales best read in daylight.

His wife reads what he writes, rolls her eyes, and says “There is something seriously wrong with you.”

He has published the novels DARK INSPIRATION, SACRIFICE, BLACK MAGIC and DARK VENGEANCE, the compilations OUT OF TIME and TALES FROM BEYOND, as well as numerous short stories. He founded the Minnows Literary Group.

He and his wife share their home in sunny Florida with two cats.

Drop by the website to kill some time with some short stories.

Reviews

[Icy-Cobwebs-Crossing-SpaceTime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: CAVERN OF THE DAMNED by Russell James

Exciting creature horror with a huge dose of implacability leavened with hope and a strong helping of the endurance of the human spirit, CAVERN OF THE DAMNED introduces readers to an unopened, unmapped, cave system in Montana. Folks, this cave was blocked to good purpose. Unfortunately, greed is near unstoppable, and the combination of a Hollywood producer and a caver banned from Yellowstone for illegalities will get it open to exploration, with disastrous results. Sometimes it's best not to breach a barrier.

Author Russell James delivers heart-in-mouth unstoppable action and terror. If you love creature horror, paleontology, megafauna, and scares-a-minute, love this!

[Hunter Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cavern of the Damned is a wild ride through time that never lets up. If you grew up like me loving movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth, this book will make you feel like a kid again. James has written an excellent, in-depth cast of characters you can cheer on, as well as some world class bad guys you hope get stomped by the giant creatures in the cave. An excellent beach read for the summer!

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh fug. Everybody seemed to dig this one.

Except for me.

I completely lost interest a little over half way in but trudged on. I just didn’t care about any of the characters or anything that was happening. It read very elementary. Kind of like starter horror for kids with a wee more blood. Not sure it was intended that way. Maybe it was.

I don’t read things wrong anymore, so it can’t be me… 😉

1.5 Stars

[Marvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I am reading certain books, usually of the horror adventure variety, I sometimes engage on a little fantasy game. I pretend I am a B movie producer considering this particular property to make as a film. I envision myself as a Roger Corman. A Samuel Z Arkoff. A William Castle with 21st century gimmicks. It can’t be any book. It has to be one that sends my imagination wheeling, that is a little cheesy but not too much so, and has lots of creative B movie type thrills and spills. Let’s not forget it has to have some really great monsters.

Cavern of the Damned by Russell James is one of those books.

It has a lot of things I love. Forbidding caves. Oversized monsters,. Creepy bad guy. A hot capable heroine and a somewhat ordinary nerd hero in peril (but the girl already has a guy. We can work on that in the screenplay). Basically it takes me back to the pulps that I loved as a kid and, of course, to those B-movies. It doesn’t hurt that Russell James is in his horror novel element and one hell of a writer.

In Cavern of the Damned we meet Grant Coleman, a laid off paleontologist wondering how he is going to meet next month’s rent. He is lured into a film project with a shady documentary maker that will take him to caves in Montana with pictographs of giant bats at the entrance. Park ranger McKinley Stinson follows the explosions caused when the film maker attempts to open the passageway into the cave and is about to arrest everyone when the entrance collapses and traps them inside. They must find a way out and that takes them deeper into uncharted underground territory filled with deadly monsters and complicated by doubling dealing bad guys. There are scares of both the creature and man-made variety and bets will be taken on who will survive. Then there is Mckinley’s hot lumberjack fiancé who is determined to rescue her despite a killer blizzard raging outside. The thrills are plenty and the science is slight but not stretched to the point of silliness, well, some silliness. The monsters do really exist in caves but is a smaller pint-sized capacity. And the idea of North American Neanderthals? OK. That’s a real stretch but an author can have some fun as long as the reader has fun too.

I think Mr. James will forgive me if I say this is not literature with a capital L. This is pulp but really good pulp. It is the kind that induces thrills, stretches the imagination and makes you root for the good guys. It is the type of adventure pulp that makes me glad there are hints of a sequel. It is the kind of adventure that makes movies in your mind. Cavern of the Damned is one fun read. Let’s call it my recommended mid-summer read for the horror and adventure loving kid inside you.

[Kaisersoze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, fun, light-hearted read with decent characters. It's a little padded out with the boyfriend side story, but otherwise the main storyline following the group trapped in the cave - complete with an against type lead - is engaging, exciting and hard to fault.

Highly recommended.

4 Stings You'd Want to Avoid for Cavern of the Damned.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can’t go wrong with this one, I mean come on, a true throw back to the Creature Features! Giant creatures hidden away for who knows how long! Enter modern man…what could go wrong?

[thebonebreaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy stories about deep cave systems and giant-sized creatures, this book provides a fun adventure with memorable characters.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Monsters in the Clouds it was fun to back up and read this book and see where it all started. My full review can be read here ---> https://wp.me/p5t5Tf-1Br

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD TRASH HORROR CREATURE MONSTER BOOK!!!!
That would make such a good movie.

It's fast paced and very well written (for a trash horror book, like - the author obviously knows how to use synonyms ... not like Meikle, who cant). It starts with a misunderstanding, as Grant - a paleontology professor who lost his jobs - thought he signed up for a docmentary movie about a new cave with old bones.
Ends up it's a reality flick with the tits bigger than brain blondie as moderator and a lot of dynamite and questionable decisions. That ends with them all getting caved in the monster scorpion and bat cave. And then the killing starts.

It was really good - the humor and snarky remarks are funny, and (and that made me gasp) the female ranger from the yellowstone park who got caved in with them, is SUCH A GOOD CHARACTER. She is calm and has a brain and is just all i want to have in a female book char. That took me by surprise - most females are annoying shits.

Only negative... or "negative" is, that the deaths were pretty... short written. I would have loved a bit more gore :D but thats just me.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I had no sooner finished saying that small creatures scare me more than large ones and then Russell James had to go and show me that enormous creatures and monsters can be just as scary too! It's been a long time since I've read a story that had such interesting characters and creatures. I'm hoping the hint at another adventure means there's another book in the works because James does great capturing things in such a way that it's both believable and horrifying.

[Sudasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much better than what I expected, especially for a Kindle Unlimited recommendation! A quick and entertaining read, with a protagonist that is not the usual chiseled and sexy lead, Dr. Grant Coleman has more brains than brawn and that is what saves him in the end. On to the second book in the series!

[Jennifer Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for a quick read. Very descriptive, unexpected twists and turns. Perfect for a reading slump.

[DaftScholar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Creature feature. Totally convertible into a movie

[The Smoog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced and easy to read. It’s not the most cerebral story you’ll ever pick up, but it’s full of monsters, so that’s okay by me!

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun creature feature that was entertaining with all the weird LARGE creatures in the cave, I liked Grant and McKinley, and the plot-line. The weakest part was the second storyline that actually dragged down the story needlessly. Still fun reading.

[Paul (Life In The Slow Lane) · Rating 2 out of 5]

To the Batcave, Robin.

Err...I don't think so, Batman.

This ain't no piece of literary genius. In fact, I've seen or read about the creatures in this book many times before. This is like Horror that still has it's training wheels on. The characters? Well who cares. As for the lead character, Dr Grant Coleman, a middle-aged, slightly pudgy palaeontologist - there's no way he would have survived this ordeal. In fact, he seems to have survived for at least six more books in this series. I don't know what survival juice he's been a drinkin' but I want to gets me some.

Speaking of survival juice, it's Martini-o'clock at our place, so I'm outta here.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grant Coleman is broke financially so is willing to take a job he might normally refuse. He gets the chance to explore a long sealed cave. Unfortunately, he is sealed in with a group of people including a tough female Ranger and a prima donna (and not very smart) actress on a tv show. The book reads like a spoof of horror novels in a way with over sized monsters and outrageous characters. I really did enjoy reading the book for the sense of fun and mayhem. It came across like a spoof of some of the pulp novels of the 40's and 50's.

[Oviya Balan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never been an horror fan. I was hoping that this book could get me into the genre. Yet another disappointment. After reading so many great reviews on goodreads, I decided to pick this one from my choices.

I couldn't get involved with any of the characters. Everything about the story, the setting, the narration bored me.

Glad I finished it in one sitting.

This isn't for me. If you like horror by any chance, give it a try. Others in the horror fan community seems to like it.

[Matthew Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was a really good read. review to come!

[Maryann Sasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

Good book about caving and monsters. Held my Inter est. Read it in one day , couldn't put it down.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid, and fun, novella from an author I've never heard of. The title caught me right away and the basic premise sounded right up my alley.

A group of people get stuck after a cave in and must find a way out while battling an assortment of giant, killer insects and animals. What's not to love about that? Straight forward and with very little bullshit.

I will say that this is one those times that I tear through a short book, only about 135 pages here, and really wish it was longer. The characters are interesting enough, but there's very little background or development given to any besides the main duo and that's unfortunate given how fun this read was. If it was drawn out a little more, a little more detail given to the people fighting to survive, their painful deaths would have been more impactful.

The same goes for the setting itself. The cave seems enormous and awesome and what little descriptions we get of certain areas are incredible sounding and would make great sets for a film adaptation. But it seems somewhat rushed in other regards and completely inconsistent in size, scope, distance, and obstacles. This is most noticeable given the ending of the horrific endeavor.

There's almost an entire side plot involving Sean, and eventually "RED" and "BLACK" hoodie that really feel shoe horned in for the sole purpose of....I'm not really sure. There wasn't much point to them and they don't do very much when you get right down to it. Sean's frantic and snowbound hunt for his missing fiance McKinley, who is stuck in the cave, is intense and fun at first but rapidly becomes a strange hostage crisis that has a very ho-hum and disappointing conclusion.

But, despite this, I thought this was a lot of fun. The deaths are creative, if shockingly bloodless, and the various animals they encounter are nice and creepy. The battle with the Scorpions and the giant Bat are standouts, though the kill scene with the tiny killer fish was a personal favorite of mine.

It's a fast read and it gets to the point pretty quickly. There's enough consistent action and dangerous set pieces to keep you entertained, and honestly it would make a pretty solid horror-adventure movie that I'd be happy to check out. There are a handful of deaths, 8 I believe, and while they are fun to read they aren't as gruesome as I was expecting given other books I've read from this house. The Sean Sideplot really does feel like so much padding to give an extra 30-40 pages to an already sparse novel and I can see that being distracting and pace-ruining for some readers.

All in all, I do recommend this novella, especially for anyone with a soft spot for When-Nature-Says-Fuck-You types of horror adventures. It's a little episodic and tame to be a truly memorable experience, and I do think if it was longer and less rushed it would have made a much harder impact as strange as that sounds, but for a 135 pages there's plenty to sink your teeth into and enjoy.

I hope Dr. Grant Coleman goes looking for those dinos, cuz that's an adventure I'd be down for. Until then, I'll settling for uncovering some of Russell James' works, because this is a writer I think I'm going to really like.

[James Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those that’s good if you judge it for what it is: entertainment. No profoundity in this one, but it is a good time.

As a side note, I know he’s quite capable of high-minded horror because I was utterly wowed by two of his short story collections (Tales from Beyond, and Deeper Into Darkness), and I usually don’t care for short stories, so that’s saying a lot. I also remember enjoying Island Girl, and Dark Inspiration as being top notch ‘Quiet Horror.’

Cavern of the Damned is a good bit better than similar writing by Guy N. Smith, who I don’t care for. But it doesn’t quite rise to the level of the very-sciency work by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

But also, if it’s going to be seat-of-your-pants, monster-filled, sugar-candy reading material, it sort of has to have the gratuitous sex that Guy Smith provides. (If it had that, it might have gotten five stars!)

But I’m a sucker for a book about monsters and Cavern of the Damned sure scratched that itch. And get that itch pretty frequently, so I’ll likely continue with this series and also keep up with his other books.

[Stuart West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Russell James' Cavern of the Damned is one fun, fast, hella drive-in read if that makes any sense. It's a throwback to Mr. Big (Bert I. Gordon) films crossed with a modern-day taste for true suspense, gore, and psychology. This sucker zips, never a dull moment, as it details a doomed (damned?) cave spelunking adventure full of giant, spooky critters and human jackasses. The suspense is well-wrought, the scares honestly earned. I honestly didn't know how the heroes were gonna get out of that flooding cavern near the end, by far the most effective set-piece in the book. It takes a lot these days to inch me toward the edge of my seat. Granted, the characters are all fairly one-dimensional, stock folks to fill the part: the overwhelmed archaeologist, the tough-as-nails, environmentally minded ranger, the merciless wunderkind film director, and the interchangeable "red shirts." But that doesn't matter, hardly the point of the story. The book's recklessly fun, moves like a runaway train. Excellent Summer reading! Recommended, as are all of James' books.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast fun read

This was a fast-paced short book that reminded me of the monster movies I watched when I was a kid. To me it's kind of a cross between "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and "Bats" (a movie starring Lou Diamond Phillips from back in the late 1990s).

Paleontologist Dr. Grant Coleman, broke and without a job, is talked into going to Montana by a shady film producer/director and ends up being trapped in an ancient cavern with the film crew and a National Park Service ranger from Yellowstone National Park. And what they find in the caves (or what finds them) is what makes up this story.

It's a fun, unbelievable tale that is a way to pass a couple of hours.

[Catherine Cavendish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Russell James never fails to entertain, thrill and hold my attention. Cavern of the Damned, with its fantastic creatures and gripping adventure, kept me glued to my Kindle. The author's ability to paint vivid word pictures swept me along through this story, full of scares, twists, turns and some pretty unsavoury people. As the central characters strived to escape from their cave hell, the battles they fought and dangers they encountered were fresh and real. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Another winner from Mr. James!

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the right amount

This book was fun to read. From the very first you knew things were going to go wrong for Grant Coleman, but still it was good reading. The plot harkens back to the Sci-Fi Channel movies of the week low budget, fairly good characters and on my gosh moments. The characters are your standard fare. You have the greedy film maker, the prima Donna actress, the layer back camera man and sound man, the shady guide, the fearless park ranger, and the scientist, who has been lied to. Put all together and you have a fun read.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re a fan of excellent, classic style horror stories, you’re in for a treat with Cavern of the Damned by Russell James. James skillfully weaves a tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat as you follow Grant Coleman and the accompanying film crew, and experience the terror of the unnatural dangers that await them inside a collapsed cave system. I almost read the entire book in one sitting as I couldn’t bear to put it down.

[Toni Sue Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the thought that there could still be something out there waiting to be discovered we thought gone .they find fish thought to have died off millions of years ago,so why not giant bats. good read.fast paced.

Fun to read.looking forward to the next installment.like that i go to read it for free on my Kindle Fire 10HD .☺

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Book

Fairly decent read. Main characters interesting and even intense in their various convictions. I even liked the plot. Just got jumbled in some places and I kinda skimmed through parts of book to get to the next point. Kinda interesting how all the bad guys got put in their places...and some of the good ones.

[Alan Loewen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent Tale in the Subterrania Genre

I’m a huge fan of caves and caverns and especially movies and novels about them. Throw in some monsters and I’m in heaven.

Russell James’ story has it all. Great main characters, a cave, monsters that make sense within the cave’s ecology, lots of nonstop action, a body count, and an amazing twist at the end. I found no grammatical errors to take me out of the story, but one huge logic problem spoiled the ending. However, I’m willing to forego that touts say I enjoyed the story immensely and I look forward to the author’s future literary adventures.