Researching a Novel: Into the Abyss

It glows by night, filling the airwith a blood-red cloud.

By day, itsrising steam billows dull gray from an active crater. Either way, it’s a wonder to behold, a doorway to a hot spot of subterranean fires that recallsthe opening lines from Canto Three of Dante’s Inferno:

Only those elements time cannot wear
Were made before me. Beyond time I stand.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

The Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii has been active at theHalema’uma’u Crater since 1955. It’s t...