Micah Dank always planned on writing a book, but those plans fell to the wayside, he said, as he worked on his career in logistics.
In July, Dank’s vision became a reality with the publication of his first book, “Decoding the Phoenix.”
Published by Shoot For The Stars Publishing, the 228-page novel is available for purchase on Amazon in paperback for $12.99 or as an e-book for $3.99.
Dank said he always wanted to write a book, but never had a story he wanted to tell.
That was until he started learning about astrology and astro-theology and started to see the way it related to human history, he said.
“It’s like God is speaking to you through the stars,” Dank said.
Dank is originally from Rockville Centre and currently lives in Baldwin. He was working for a company in New Hyde Park when he started putting ideas together for his book.
Dank said he thought about writing a nonfiction book about his new interest, but instead decided to craft a story around it.
The result was his debut novel, the first book of what he now plans on becoming a trilogy, about a Harvard medical student who is a functioning alcoholic coping with the death of his brother, a Marine.
The student, Graham Newsdon, finds an email from his brother from a cryptic source. The text of the email doesn’t make sense to Newsdon. “It sounds like a drunk talking,” Dank said.
Newsdon dismisses the email and falls into a further depression, Dank said. However, Newsdon’s friend gets a copy of the email and started seeing hidden codes in the gibberish.
As the duo decode the message they unveil secrets as to how and why Newsdon’s brother was killed.
The secrets also reveal who was responsible, a chain that goes all the way up the government pecking order, Danks said.
The story also delves into the people who control world’s information and how they use that information to control the population, Dank said.
The novel is a thriller, but there is also light-hearted humor throughout that doesn’t sacrifice the tone of the book, Dank said.
He said the book only took him two weeks to write – but another few years to edit.
Dank said he began by learning as much as he could about astrology and astro-theology for a few months. Then, he wrote the letter and began writing chapters around that, he said.
Dank said he wrapped up the story in the first novel, but fell in love with the characters and decided to make the story a trilogy.
He’s working on the second book now, he said.
Dank, who still holds a full-time job in logistics, said it can be hard to balance and find time to write.
However, he said, when he’s in the right mindset, he gets “bursts of creativity” that help him keep writing.
