Author’s Note

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite book retailer or www.goodreads.com?

Thanks!

C.A. James

 

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This is a work of fiction. Readers will surely wonder whether a small group of terrorists could really blow up a major earth-fill dam and cause the destruction described in this book, or blow up an LNG supertanker and destroy Boston Harbor. Regarding the former, the Army Corps of Engineers is very aware of the potential for terrorist attacks against dams across America, and says this incident couldn’t happen as described. Skeptics note that a number of terrorist acts were preceded by assurances that “it couldn’t happen.” LNG supertankers are another story. While I’m hardly an expert on military hardware, it is noteworthy that these ships are heavily guarded when in port, and Boston is the only remaining major city that still has an LNG terminal near a populated area. And yes, there really is a public-storage building across the harbor from the Boston LNG terminal.

With the exception of Carl Wirtanen, all characters in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Carl Wirtanen was a real astronomer whom I had the pleasure to know. He passed away long before this story takes place, but I tried to capture his humor, kindness, intelligence, and quiet competence in my fictional character.

This book is entirely my own creation, but many people helped along the way. First and foremost among these is my wife, who suffered through badly flawed early revisions and bravely pointed out the inadequacies of the story and characters. Zarrabian’s character in particular was strongly influenced by her insights.

Thanks to all of my family and friends who read the draft versions and provided feedback. The book wouldn’t have been possible without your help and encouragement.

Special thanks to my editors, Dawn Daniels and Ben Silverman. Ben provided critical feedback that added realism, drama, and consistency to the plot, and Dawn’s careful reading, attention to detail, and amazing knowledge of style and grammar improved the manuscript enormously.

Thomas Frey, executive director of the DaVinci Institute, wrote an article entitled “The Fort Peck Incident” that first brought the issue of a potential terrorist attack against the Fort Peck Dam to the public’s attention. I am indebted to him for his thoughtful article.

And finally, thanks to all of the computer programmers who contributed to the free open-source LibreOffice word processor.