On this infamous day, on the day terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers, I was at work as GM of a college radio station located at William Patterson University in Wayne NJ. When I heard the news of the first plane hitting the tower, I stepped out the back door. I could see the towers across the River. I witnessed rising smoke where the towers had stood proud.
I have been a Journalist for a good portion of my adult life. As I went back into the station, My thought was that my radio station needed to immediately go into emergency coverage mode. For the next 24 hours we ran news updates non-stop. Public service for any radio station is the very foundation of a license granted by the FCC. We did our part.
My novel The Chechen’s Revenge came into being largely because our world changed on that day. Prior to the terror attack in NYC, my story would have been fantasy, because we really didn’t believe it could happen to us. Today just 4 days before publication day, The Chechen’s Revenge is a story that comes perhaps way to close to reality.
The story portrays men and women, who choose to try and stand in the way of would be terrorists who wish harm to Canada. They face a rebel Chechen who plans a horrendous bombing event against the Toronto area Go Train System. When I began writing the story the idea and setting within Canada was an entirely fictional story. But, by the time I finished writing it and had submitted it for publication, news came the Canada’s RCMP had arrested two terrorists just before they tried to initiate a bombing plan against rail transport in Canada.
Today I wish to pay homage to all who participated in the rescue attempts at the Twin Towers. All the First Responders who lived and died and those who survived deserve a continuing place in our hearts.
I am a retired college professor and former broadcast journalist. I live in Vermont with my wife. I write near the shores of Lake Champlain. As an author I cast characters in the task of anti-terrorism efforts. The setting for my stories is Canada. My first novel is The Chechen's Revenge, a story of Sean-Guy O'Dwyer-Lariviere and his team of Canadian Anti-terrorism Service agents on the trail of a rebel Chechen, determined to create havoc and death on Toronto's Go Train system. The Chechen's Revenge is now in print and can be ordered online at https://mkt.com/northof49publishing.
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