…and I’m not the only one who thinks so.

These concepts of deep time, and such Old Ones coming up from underground through processes of orogeny and weathering… Maybe we shouldn’t be disturbing these things which have slept for so many millennia?

“…well, they’re probably part of the lower Silurian system, some of the oldest with traces of living creatures found in them…”

“Damn,” the foreman says and spits again. “Now that’s somethin’ to think about, ain’t it, Professor? I mean, these rocks sitting’ here all this time, not seeing’ the light of day all that time, and then we come along with our picks and dynamite–”

–Caitlin R. Kiernan

Caitlin R. Kiernan is well-revered in Horror, has teamed with Neil Gaiman for The Dreaming, and has a degree in paleontology.

Her name was first put on my radar at ReaderCon where she was a guest of honor (good job, ReaderCon!). So when I found a copy of American Supernatural Tales, with one of her stories in it, today, I picked that up and then dragged my poor husband over to the coffee shop so that I could sit and read it.

What a treat! How fab! I think my birthday has come early! This short story, “In the Water Works (Birmingham, Alabama 1888)” is a tale about a geologist who, when on a survey job for a project to pipe water from an aquifer into Birmingham, finds …something… underground.

But wait! The awesome doesn’t stop there! I have -right here- Threshold, a novel of this same story, about the geologist’s granddaughter.

And so, all of you writer friends who have looked at me like I have two heads when I try to impress upon you how creepy geology really is, can suck it. As written by Kiernan, I was right!

Shoosh! I’m reading.