₦airaland Forum

Best-selling U.S. author Tom Clancy,
who thrilled readers with vivid descriptions of
soldiers and spies in novels including "The Hunt
for Red October" and "Patriot Games," has died
at 66, his publisher said on Wednesday.
Clancy, whose books sold more than 100 million
copies, died on Tuesday in his hometown of
Baltimore, Maryland, Penguin said.
"I'm deeply saddened by Tom's passing," said
David Shanks, a Penguin executive who had
worked with Clancy from the start of his writing
career through the upcoming "Command
Authority," which is due out in December.
"He was a consummate author, creating the
modern-day thriller, and was one of the most
visionary storytellers of our time. I will miss him
dearly and he will be missed by tens of millions
of readers worldwide," he said.
Clancy died at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The
cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
His works closely tracked Americans' security
fears, moving from Cold War face-offs to terrorist
attacks and both fascinated readers with their
high-stakes plots and enthralled military experts
with their precise details.
The books also inspired Hollywood blockbuster
films including "Clear and Present Danger,"
starring Harrison Ford, and a series of video
games, published by Ubisoft Entertainment SA.
Ford and actors Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck
played Jack Ryan, one of Clancy's most famous
characters, on the big screen.
"Spending time with Tom prior to shooting was
the best part of that whole experience for me,"
said Baldwin, who starred in 1990's "The Hunt for
Red October."
"Tom was smart, a great story teller and a real
gentleman."
Clancy's career also benefited from fans within
Washington power circles. His 1984 debut "The
Hunt for Red October," the account of a rogue
naval commander on a nuclear-armed Soviet
submarine, won praise from then-president
Ronald Reagan, who declared it a good "yarn."
In total, Clancy published 25 fiction and non-
fiction books, which also included "The Sum of All
Fears" and "Rainbow Six." Later books moved on
from the Cold War to deal with terrorism and
friction between the United States and China.
FANS IN UNIFORM
The detail of Clancy's novels sometimes raised
eyebrows in the intelligence community.
According to The New York Times, in a 1986
interview, Clancy recalled meeting Navy Secretary
John Lehman whose first question about "Red
October" was "Who the hell cleared it?"
But the accurate description of the U.S. military
won him fans in uniform.
"His earlier books were ones that had great
following in the military because of their
accuracy," said Tad Oelstrom, a retired U.S. Air
Force lieutenant-general, who now serves as
director of the national security program at
Harvard University.
Oelstrom recalled meeting Clancy at a dinner in
1999 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs. Even at the height of his fame, when
surrounded by high-ranking fliers telling war
stories, Clancy was a careful listener, Oelstrom
said.
"My suspicion is he was soaking up as much as
he was giving, just because of the stories that
were being told about the Vietnam era," Oelstrom
said.
His most recent book, "Threat Vector," debuted at
the top of the Publishers Weekly bestseller list in
December 2012. His publisher is a unit of
Britain's Pearson PLC.
Clancy's next book, "Command Authority," is due
to be published on December 3.
Clancy is survived by his wife Alexandra Llewellyn
Clancy and their daughter Alexis Jacqueline Page
Clancy, and four children from a previous
marriage to Wanda King, including Michelle
Bandy, Christine Blocksidge, Kathleen Clancy and
Thomas Clancy 3rd.
Clancy grew up in Baltimore and in 1969
graduated from Loyola University in Maryland. He
worked as an insurance broker before selling his
first novel. He was also a part owner of the
Baltimore Orioles baseball team.
In a 1992 interview with The Baltimore Sun, he
attributed much of his success to being "lucky,"
saying that he had a normal middle-class
American upbringing.
"I was a little nerdy but a completely normal kid,"
Clancy told the newspaper. "Mom and Dad loved
each other. It was like 'Leave it to Beaver.'"