TOM CLANCY
Tom Clancy is no stranger to bookstore bestseller racks worldwide. His
remarkable first novel, The Hunt For Red October, was first published in an
edition of about 14,000 by the Naval Institute Press -- its first publication of
a work of fiction, and somewhat of a gamble -- but then, as Clancy puts it, "Boom!"
Prior to Hunt, hailed by President Reagan as "the perfect yarn," his collected
writings numbered one letter to the editor, a three-page article on the MX
missile (both published in the Proceedings of the US Naval Institute), and quite
a few insurance policies. Five million paperbacks, 400,000 hardcovers, thousands
of computer games and one hit film later, it's safe to say the Institute made a
major discovery.
Clancy's tale of the defection of Capt. Marko Ramius and his ultraquiet Soviet "boomer,"
or ballistic missile submarine, and American intelligence analyst Jack Ryan's
efforts to safely "acquire" the boat was first greeted by surprise and anger
from the US Navy, which was worried about national security infringements. In
time, the Navy and the Department of Defense realized that, aside from being
darn good stories, Clancy's books were good for business, both for recruiting (Hunt
has done for the Silent Service what Top Gun did for naval aviation), and for
budgetary leverage with Congress. The military has encouraged Clancy's writing
ever since, and their assistance has in turn strengthened Clancy's work.
A week's tour of a missile frigate, courtesy of the Navy, lent impressive
credibility to the CIC scenes aboard the warships Reuben James and Pharris in
Red Storm Rising, Clancy's second and more ambitious novel of a Europe in flames.
An immediate bestseller, it is now required reading in American war colleges and,
doubtless, overseas ones as well. Clancy's chilling look at a very plausible
World War III, in all its bloody unnecessity, was greeted as more than fiction;
of his works it's been said that "They're read like the real thing!" -- that
statement from Vice President Dan Quayle. Clancy's friend and wargame designer
Larry Bond, also a bestselling technothriller author (Red Phoenix), is warmly
credited by Clancy as his coauthor-in-fact, although his name doesn't appear on
the cover.
Clancy's third novel, Patriot Games, marked a different and more human turn from
its technologically-heavy, lightly-characterized predecessors. Jack Ryan returns,
and this time his family is imperiled by Irish revolutionaries after Ryan foils
their attempt on the British royal family. There are still a lot of
technological details, but this time we feel Ryan's anguish over his family. At
the book's climax overlooking Chesapeake Bay, Ryan declines to kill the
terrorist responsible for his family's injuries. Clancy himself says he'd have "blown
away" the perp, but that Ryan had to play by the rules. "No-one messes with my
family," Clancy has vowed. He has a wife and four children.
Cardinal of the Kremlin explored the dark tradecraft of deep-cover espionage
with Clancy's trademark detailing and scrutiny. While critics often complain
about Clancy's characterization, anyone who isn't hanging on every word and
desperately hoping the Red Army officer-turned-American-counterspy can be safely
extracted after a lifetime of service has been sleeping through the book's best
passages. Another triumph for Jack Ryan's character as well, Clancy's fourth
novel continues Ryan's rise in the ranks of the CIA.
In Clancy's fifth and most recent bestseller, Clear and Present Danger, Ryan has
reached the level of Deputy Director of Central Intelligence and is faced with
Operation Showboat, a Presidentially-authorized covert operation to damage
Colombian Cartel drug operations, gone terribly awry.
This time, in the era of glasnost and perestroika, Clancy's antagonists aren't
Communists, although the Cuban intelligence officer-turned-freelancer now
working for the Cartel almost steals the show with his well-drawn background and
nefarious insights. A million copies of this latest blockbuster were shipped in
hardcover alone; you can expect the deluge of paperbacks almost any month now.
Clancy's sixth book? Right now, there isn't one. After five successful novels (Tom's
an author-ace!), he states that he'd like a more meaningful role in national
defense and strategy, and has been offered a position as an unpaid consultant to
the National Space Council.
Tom lives in Prince Frederick, Maryland with his wife Wanda and four children in
a house which, much like Jack Ryan's, overlooks Chesapeake Bay on a cliff. A
confirmed gun enthusiast, Clancy's new house was intended to have a shooting
range built on the property. He has a rigid sense of right and wrong: "good guys"
are children, surgeons and anyone in uniform and "bad guys" are politicians,
reporters and communists. ("A lawyer," he's joked, "is just like an attack dog,
but without a conscience.") In his words, he's "just a nerd who reads books" and
"a gadget freak" since he was a kid who was captivated by the idea of a manned
space program long before there was one. Sensitive and sentimental, he shies
away from queasy roller-coaster rides and has a Ryanesque aversion to
unnecessary flying, and openly weeps over ballads in Broadway musicals. Dragon*Con/Origins
1990 is pleased and honored to welcome Tom Clancy, easily one of the most
influential authors of modern times, as its Guest Of Honor.
Tom Clancy is no stranger to bookstore bestseller racks worldwide. His
remarkable first novel, The Hunt For Red October, was first published in an
edition of about 14,000 by the Naval Institute Press -- its first publication of
a work of fiction, and somewhat of a gamble -- but then, as Clancy puts it, "Boom!"
Prior to Hunt, hailed by President Reagan as "the perfect yarn," his collected
writings numbered one letter to the editor, a three-page article on the MX
missile (both published in the Proceedings of the US Naval Institute), and quite
a few insurance policies. Five million paperbacks, 400,000 hardcovers, thousands
of computer games and one hit film later, it's safe to say the Institute made a
major discovery.
Clancy's tale of the defection of Capt. Marko Ramius and his ultraquiet Soviet "boomer,"
or ballistic missile submarine, and American intelligence analyst Jack Ryan's
efforts to safely "acquire" the boat was first greeted by surprise and anger
from the US Navy, which was worried about national security infringements. In
time, the Navy and the Department of Defense realized that, aside from being
darn good stories, Clancy's books were good for business, both for recruiting (Hunt
has done for the Silent Service what Top Gun did for naval aviation), and for
budgetary leverage with Congress. The military has encouraged Clancy's writing
ever since, and their assistance has in turn strengthened Clancy's work.
A week's tour of a missile frigate, courtesy of the Navy, lent impressive
credibility to the CIC scenes aboard the warships Reuben James and Pharris in
Red Storm Rising, Clancy's second and more ambitious novel of a Europe in flames.
An immediate bestseller, it is now required reading in American war colleges and,
doubtless, overseas ones as well. Clancy's chilling look at a very plausible
World War III, in all its bloody unnecessity, was greeted as more than fiction;
of his works it's been said that "They're read like the real thing!" -- that
statement from Vice President Dan Quayle. Clancy's friend and wargame designer
Larry Bond, also a bestselling technothriller author (Red Phoenix), is warmly
credited by Clancy as his coauthor-in-fact, although his name doesn't appear on
the cover.
Clancy's third novel, Patriot Games, marked a different and more human turn from
its technologically-heavy, lightly-characterized predecessors. Jack Ryan returns,
and this time his family is imperiled by Irish revolutionaries after Ryan foils
their attempt on the British royal family. There are still a lot of
technological details, but this time we feel Ryan's anguish over his family. At
the book's climax overlooking Chesapeake Bay, Ryan declines to kill the
terrorist responsible for his family's injuries. Clancy himself says he'd have "blown
away" the perp, but that Ryan had to play by the rules. "No-one messes with my
family," Clancy has vowed. He has a wife and four children.
Cardinal of the Kremlin explored the dark tradecraft of deep-cover espionage
with Clancy's trademark detailing and scrutiny. While critics often complain
about Clancy's characterization, anyone who isn't hanging on every word and
desperately hoping the Red Army officer-turned-American-counterspy can be safely
extracted after a lifetime of service has been sleeping through the book's best
passages. Another triumph for Jack Ryan's character as well, Clancy's fourth
novel continues Ryan's rise in the ranks of the CIA.
In Clancy's fifth and most recent bestseller, Clear and Present Danger, Ryan has
reached the level of Deputy Director of Central Intelligence and is faced with
Operation Showboat, a Presidentially-authorized covert operation to damage
Colombian Cartel drug operations, gone terribly awry.
This time, in the era of glasnost and perestroika, Clancy's antagonists aren't
Communists, although the Cuban intelligence officer-turned-freelancer now
working for the Cartel almost steals the show with his well-drawn background and
nefarious insights. A million copies of this latest blockbuster were shipped in
hardcover alone; you can expect the deluge of paperbacks almost any month now.
Clancy's sixth book? Right now, there isn't one. After five successful novels (Tom's
an author-ace!), he states that he'd like a more meaningful role in national
defense and strategy, and has been offered a position as an unpaid consultant to
the National Space Council.
Tom lives in Prince Frederick, Maryland with his wife Wanda and four children in
a house which, much like Jack Ryan's, overlooks Chesapeake Bay on a cliff. A
confirmed gun enthusiast, Clancy's new house was intended to have a shooting
range built on the property. He has a rigid sense of right and wrong: "good guys"
are children, surgeons and anyone in uniform and "bad guys" are politicians,
reporters and communists. ("A lawyer," he's joked, "is just like an attack dog,
but without a conscience.") In his words, he's "just a nerd who reads books" and
"a gadget freak" since he was a kid who was captivated by the idea of a manned
space program long before there was one. Sensitive and sentimental, he shies
away from queasy roller-coaster rides and has a Ryanesque aversion to
unnecessary flying, and openly weeps over ballads in Broadway musicals. Dragon*Con/Origins
1990 is pleased and honored to welcome Tom Clancy, easily one of the most
influential authors of modern times, as its Guest Of Honor.