Book excerpt: The year is 2023. After decades of governments failing to preserve the basic tenants of sound fiscal policy, abuse of their institutions and massive dependency on government benefits, the basic motivational drives that give everyone a reason to get out of bed in the morning no longer existed. Self-reliance had been replaced with dependency on socialism. The events in this book begin almost five decades after Ten Months, my first romance novel, ends. Twenty-first-century Earth is suffering an economic collapse. A team of people from northern Virginia form a survival club and build a secret habitat in a cavern. The discovery of a functioning alien spaceship changes their lives and the world forever. The Cavern Club is both a warning about the perils of fiscal irresponsibility and a fast-paced science fiction saga about the resilience of intelligent life in the cosmos.