GREENVILLE, N.C., Jan. 13, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- When a drug smuggling freighter and a Russian tanker loaded with liquefied natural gas (LNG) collide beneath New York City's Verrazano Bridge, the consequences put the city squarely in the sights of a terrorist plot in Dan Kozak's N.Y. Harbor: What Happened Beneath the Verrazano Bridge (now available through AuthorHouse).
Based on Kozak's published magazine story about an actual incident involving a container ship and an oil tanker in New York Harbor on June 2, 1973, Ice Fire examines the potential for imminent disaster when dangerous cargo is not vigilantly protected. The book opens as NYC fireboat pilot-master Don Evins plunges into a psychic experience upon rescuing a young female from the East River. When she disappears before he can report the incident, he traces her to an apartment in Gramercy Park only to learn from the doorman that the girl he describes has been dead for 20 years. Kozak then takes readers on a thrilling ride through detailed action sequences that are adaptations of actual nautical cataclysmic events that have occurred in New York Harbor. From cover to cover, Ice Fire delivers a chillingly realistic scenario thanks to Kozak's inside knowledge of security and preparedness procedures followed by the New York City Fire Department and the United States Coast Guard.
"Terrorism and fire are the antagonists in Ice Fire," says Kozak. "Large marine fires and ship collisions were prevalent during my 22 year career as a uniformed pilot in the FDNY Marine Division... All of this [experience] was blended together to form an action drama, portraying the horror of nautical terrorism. Maritime security experts readily agree our entire... nautical frontier... [is a] prime terrorist target."
Because of its extremely delicate state, LNG becomes highly unstable when abruptly exposed to the atmosphere. This makes the notion of using an LNG vessel as a "missile" extremely disquieting, says Kozak.
"The theme of this book strikes two chords: nautical terrorism and the dangers of LNG," he writes.
Ice Fire blends disturbing realism with a psychic twist in a work that is certain to resonate with readers everywhere, especially those who are concerned about the vulnerability of the United States' nautical communities to terrorism, explosions and fires.
Kozak holds several distinctions, including service with the U.S. Merchant Marine, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and the New York City Fire Department. Ice Fire is his first book, although he has published articles and poetry in various periodicals. Kozak currently lives in Greenville, N.C., with his second wife, Mary F. Cox.
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