Vardzia, a Dero Resort in Georgia?

I'm reading Bill Ectric's "Tamper," a Shaver-related novel where the hero visits the Hypogeum, a vast and ancient system of underground tunnels and caves on Malta. Some of the tunnels are thousands of years old.  Ectric shows the Hypogeum makes a great setting to evoke "the fear down below."

Before I read Ectric's book, however, I always thought the cave monastery of Vadzia in Georgia (not the one where I live, the other one) would make the ideal setting for Shaver-inspired fiction.  Since it’s hundreds as opposed to thousands of years old, the 12th century monastery is not as mysterious as the Hypogeum.  The pictures I've seen of the monastery evoke claustrophobia.  Unused for centuries, the bare rooms have the look of a dungeon.

My mental images of the Deros using the monastery as a resort aren't at all serious. I can see the most daring of them coming out of the caves to bask in the harmful rays of the sun.  Perhaps a few take dust baths before returning inside for fun with stim rays.

The pictures below are from Wikimedia.    

A panoramic view of the cave monastery
Image by Kotasik (CC by SA 3.0) via Wikipedia

Closer view showing the Church of Dormition
Image by David Holt (CC by SA 2.0) via Wikimedia

Another wide view
Image by David Holt (CC by SA 2.0) via Wikimedia

A room in the interior
Image by David Holt (CC by SA 2.0) via Wikimedia

Tourist descending the escape tunnel.  He is not claustrophobic.
Image by David Holt (CC by SA 2.0) via Wikimedia

It's a long way down.
Image by henribergius (CC by SA 2.0) via Wikimedia 

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In June I worked on several articles that will be ripe for posting this month.  Expect to see a review and analysis of "The Return of the Demon," Shaver’s first published story (or at least the first story listed on isfdb.com).  Shaver used the pseudonym Alexander Blade when he published the story in the May 1943 issue of Fantastic Adventures.  A review of Bill Ectric’s book that I mentioned above should follow close on the heels of “The Return of the Demon.”  I’m completing my research for “Magnetism, the Brain and Richard S. Shaver.”  That title should appear soon as well.

In the coming months this blog will also present Shaver-related books and gifts from Amazon.  Amazon will pay me a small commission on each item I advertise that’s purchased when someone clicks through to their site from my site.  Buying an item from Amazon through the The Abandondero will allow me to purchase more books to review.