LITERARY LAS VEGAS

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Michael Hazard turned to his background in the U.S. Coast Guard to bring authenticity to his first novel "The Sea's Fury: Rescue at Point Serenity."

The Las Vegas resident served in the Coast Guard from 1970 to 1976 with a first assignment in Biorka Loran on Biorka Island, 15 miles west of Sitka, Alaska. He also spent time as a motor lifeboat engineer in Neah Bay, Wash., and with the boating safety detachment at Sandpoint Naval Air Station in Seattle.

"The Sea's Fury" tells the story of Coast Guard Petty Officer Josh Stewart, who is selected to join the Coast Guard's rescue swimmer ranks after he volunteers to rescue a passenger from a downed seaplane. Stewart's adventures include assisting injured Russian fishermen, saving the crew from a research vessel and tangling with a shark.

Hazard is one of five local authors set to speak 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, in a panel titled I Love a Man in Uniform -- Stories of the Armed Forces. The other panelists include "The Haverfield Incident" author Rick Ainsworth, "Puck Dreams & Other Stories" author Joe McCauley, "For America, Our Last Hurrah" author Corwin McIntyre, and "Cold War Warrior" and "Cold War Defector" author Jack Miller. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Excerpt from "The Sea's Fury: Rescue at Point Serenity"

Across the island at Rocky Cove, a small lagoon provided seashells so small that a dozen of them would easily fit on the face of a dime. Moss covered the rocks, trees, and the hillsides in a beautiful quilt of soft green forest texture on an adjacent embankment. He inspected the abandoned concrete lookout that had once held two large gun emplacements installed during World War II. Below the lookout were cavernous, concrete-walled rooms that had served as ammunition magazines and power generating rooms for the operation of the large artillery pieces. This was the location of Fort Pierce, or Battery-291, in late 1944. The two six-inch guns mounted here had stood sentinel over the island and the entrance to Sitka's vulnerable harbor. The fort never reached full operation and was abandoned when it was 98% complete.

The afternoon slipped away. The lingering afternoon sun continued to bathe the island in warmth even as daytime turned to evening, but the sun would not set until well after 2300. He had never been this close to the top of the world before. Truly, he was now living in the Land of the Midnight Sun.