Clive Cussler

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Contents 1 Biography 2 Literary career 2.1 Life imitating art 2.2 Art imitating death 3 Cinematization 4 Bibliography 4.1 Dirk Pitt adventure novels 4.2 Dirk Pitt Jr. adventure novels 4.3 NUMA Files adventure novels 4.4 The Oregon Files 4.5 Non-Fiction 4.6 Children's Books 5 Recurring Characters 5.1 NUMA 5.2 Friends, etc. 5.3 Easter Eggs 6 Trivia 7 See also 8 Notes 9 External links

Clive Eric Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Aurora, Illinois)^[1][2] is an American adventure novelist and succesful amateur marine archeologist.

[edit] Biography

Clive Cussler was born in Aurora, Illinois and grew up in Alhambra California. He attended Pasadena City College^[3] for two years and then enlisted in the United States Air Force during the Korean Conflict. During his service in the Air Force he was promoted to Sergeant and worked as an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer for the Military Air Transport Service (MATS)^[4]

Clive Cussler married Barbara Knight in 1955 and they remained married for 48 years until her death in 2003 ^[5]. Together they had three children, Teri, Dirk and Dana who have given him four grandchildren^[6].

After his discharge from the military Cussler went to work in the advertising industry, first as a copywriter and later as a creative director for two of the nation's most successful advertising agencies^[7]. As part of his duties Cussler produced radio and television commercials many of which won international awards including an award at the Cannes Film Festival ^[8]

Following the publication in 1996 of Cussler's first nonfiction work, The Sea Hunters, he was awarded a doctor of letters degree in 1997 by the Board of Governors of the State University of New York Maritime College who accepted the work in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis^[9]. This was the first time in the college's 123 year history that such a degree had been awarded^[10].

Cussler is a fellow of the Explorers Club of New York, the Royal Geographic Society in London, and the American Society of Oceanographers^[11].

[edit] Literary career

Clive Cussler began writing in 1965 when his wife took a job working nights for the local police department where they lived in California. After making dinner for the kids and putting them to bed he had no one to talk to and nothing to do so he decided to start writing^[12]. His most famous creation is marine engineer, government agent and adventurer Dirk Pitt. The Dirk Pitt novels frequently take on an alternative history perspective, such as "what if Atlantis was real?", or "what if Abraham Lincoln wasn't assassinated, but was kidnapped?"

The first two Pitt novels, The Mediterranean Caper and Iceberg, were relatively conventional maritime thrillers. The third, Raise the Titanic!, made Cussler's reputation and established the pattern that subsequent Pitt novels would follow: A blend of high adventure and high technology, generally involving megalomaniacal villains, lost ships, beautiful women, and sunken treasure.

Cussler's novels, like those of Michael Crichton, are examples of techno-thrillers that do not use military plots and settings. Where Crichton strives for scrupulous realism, however, Cussler prefers fantastic spectacles and outlandish plot devices. The Pitt novels, in particular, have the anything-goes quality of the James Bond or Indiana Jones movies, while also sometimes borrowing from Alistair MacLean's novels. Pitt himself is a two-dimensional, larger-than-life hero reminiscent of Doc Savage and other characters from pulp magazines.

Clive Cussler has had more than 17 consecutive titles reach the New York Times fiction best-seller list^[13].

[edit] Life imitating art

As an underwater explorer, Cussler has discovered more than 60 shipwreck sites and has written non-fiction books about his findings. He is also the founder of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), a non-profit organization with the same name as the fictional government agency that employs Dirk Pitt. Cussler owns a large collection of classic cars, several of which (driven by Pitt) appear in his novels.

Cussler's web site claims that NUMA discovered, among other shipwrecks, the Confederate submarine Hunley. This claim is disputed by E. Lee Spence on his web site. Both claims appear to have some element of truth. Although Spence described finding the Hunley with a magnetometer back in the mid 1970s, the first expedition to bring back conclusive proof was the 1995 H.L. Hunley expedition that was partially financed by Cussler. The 1995 expedition appears to have relied, at least to some extent, on Spence's earlier work.

Cussler's work in marine exploration has often raised eyebrows and tempers alike. Not the born diplomate, he often steps on the collective toes of the academic community, local and national governments and at one point, as can be read about in his first non-fictional work, "Sea Hunters", the British Secret Service, Mossad and the CIA. Many have disputed the work of Cussler and Numa, and while some of his finds do have their controversy over "who really got there first", Cussler has been the first to provide conclusive evidence of the location of several ship wrecks.

In what started as a joke in the novel Dragon, and that Cussler expected his editor to remove, he now often writes himself into his books, at first as simple cameos, but later as something of a deus ex machina, providing the novel's protagonists with an essential bit of assistance.

[edit] Art imitating death

His 2001 novel Valhalla Rising featured a sci-fi Viking mythology set in Tarrytown and other locations of the Hudson River Valley of Westchester County, New York. Valhalla, New York is famous for its sea of graveyards near Kensico where many famous personalities are buried. The name of the community came from a 19th Century fan of Richard Wagner and her own interest in Norse mythology. In 1994, Mark Guglielmo drew attention to the connection between Vikings and Valhalla, when he murdered his wife in Florida and then disposed of her bisected corpse twenty miles apart in the Hudson River and at a location near Bedford, while attempting to imitate portions of a Viking funeral.

[edit] Cinematization

• The first attempt to film one of Cussler's novels — Raise The Titanic! (1980) — was a critical and commercial failure. Its failure was widely attributed to a weak script and the casting of Richard Jordan as Pitt.^{[citation needed]}

• Paramount Pictures released Sahara on April 8, 2005, starring Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt, Steve Zahn as Al Giordino, William H. Macy as Admiral Sandecker, and Penélope Cruz as Eva Rojas. Cussler and the studio have filed lawsuits against each other in a disagreement over whether the film departs too severely from the novel. [1]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Dirk Pitt adventure novels

• The Mediterranean Caper (1973) NB: Released as "MAYDAY!" in the United Kingdom.
• Iceberg (1975)
• Raise the Titanic! (1976)
• Vixen 03 (1978)
• Night Probe! (1981)
• Pacific Vortex! (1983)
• Deep Six (1984)
• Cyclops (1986)
• Treasure (1988)
• Dragon (1990)
• Sahara (1992)
• Inca Gold (1994)
• Shock Wave (1996)
• Flood Tide (1997)
• Atlantis Found (1999)
• Valhalla Rising (2001)
• Trojan Odyssey (2003)
• Black Wind (2004)
• Treasure of Khan (2006)

There is also a Dirk Pitt reference book:

• Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed (1998)

[edit] Dirk Pitt Jr. adventure novels

(co-authored with Dirk Cussler)

• Black Wind (2004)
• The Treasure of Khan (2006)

In the novel Valhalla Rising, Dirk Pitt discovered that he had fathered twins with Summer Moran, whom he thought had been killed in an underwater explosion while trying to rescue her father at the end of the novel Pacific Vortex. It turned out that she was only badly injured and disfigured and, in turn, did not want Pitt to know what had happened to her. The twins were named Dirk and Summer, and only discovered the existence of their father shortly before the death of their mother.

Both the twins, guided by their mother, had undertaken marine studies in college, qualifying them to be given jobs with NUMA and work alongside their father.

At the end of Trojan Odyssey, Dirk Pitt Sr. is promoted to be head of NUMA. By the start of the first Dirk Pitt Jr. novel, (Black Wind), Dirk has taken over his father’s role as Special Projects Director.

[edit] NUMA Files adventure novels

(co-authored with Paul Kemprecos)

This series of books focuses on Kurt Austin, head of NUMA's Special Projects division and his adventures. Some characters from the Pitt novels appear such as Sandecker, Rudi Gunn, Hiram Yager and St. Julien Perlmutter. Pitt makes brief appearances in the books "Serpent", "White Death" and "Polar Shift."

• Serpent (1999)
• Blue Gold (2000)
• Fire Ice (2002)
• White Death (2003)
• Lost City (2004)
• Polar Shift (2005)
• The Navigator (2007)

[edit] The Oregon Files

(co-authored with Craig Dirgo on first two, Jack DuBrul on the second two)

The Oregon Files focuses on "The Oregon," introduced in "Flood Tide." While appearing to be a decrepit tanker, it's really a high-tech advanced ship used by the Corporation, under the leadership of Juan Cabrillo. The ship is run like a business, with its crew shareholders, taking jobs for the CIA and other agencies to help stop terrorism and other crimes. The crew is adept at disguises, combat, computer hacking and more to aid their missions. Both Kurt Austin and Dirk Pitt make a cameo in the fourth book, 'Skeleton Coast.'

• Golden Buddha (2003)
• Sacred Stone (2004)
• Dark Watch (2005)
• Skeleton Coast (2006)

[edit] Non-Fiction

• The Sea Hunters: True Adventures With Famous Shipwrecks (1996)
• The Sea Hunters II: Diving the World's Seas for Famous Shipwrecks (2002)
• Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed (1998)

[edit] Children's Books

• The Adventures of Vin Fiz (2006)

[edit] Recurring Characters

[edit] NUMA

• Admiral James Sandecker
• Rudi Gunn
• Dirk Pitt
• Al Giordino
• Hiram Yeager and Max
• Kurt Austin
• Joe Zavala
• Paul Trout
• Gamay Trout
• Dirk Pitt, Jr.
• Summer Pitt

[edit] Friends, etc.

• St. Julien Perlmutter
• Loren Smith
• Various Presidents

[edit] Easter Eggs

• Clive Cussler himself
• Craig Dirgo
• Leigh Hunt

[edit] Trivia

• Although Pacific Vortex was released in 1983, it is actually the first Dirk Pitt novel. The events of Pacific Vortex happen before those of The Mediterranean Caper.

• In the novel Lost City, it is said that in the book The Island of Doctor Moreau, Moreau turned humans into beasts when actually he turned animals into near humans.

• Cussler is the father of Dirk Cussler, who co-wrote Black Wind (2004) and the December 2006 release Treasure of Khan (2006)

[edit] See also

• Where Troy Once Stood

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Bookrags.com Clive Cussler Biography. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
2. ^ Clive Cussler. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
3. ^ NUMA Clive Cussler Biography (Web Article). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
4. ^ Ibid.
5. ^ TV.Com Clive Cussler Biography (Web Article). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
6. ^ Clive Cussler Biography (Web Article). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
7. ^ NUMA.Net Clive Cussler Biography (Web Article). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
8. ^ Ibid.
9. ^ Ibid.
10. ^ Ibid.
11. ^ Simon Says.com Clive Cussler Biography (Web Article). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
12. ^ Bookreporter.com Clive Cussler Biography (Web Article). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
13. ^ Clive Cussler Biography (Web Article). Retrieved on 2007-02-22.

[edit] External links

• Clivecussler.prv.pl - polish fan site
• The Society of the Cusslermen - fan site
• 1986 audio interview of Clive Cussler by Don Swaim of CBS Radio, RealAudio
• Clive Cussler Auto Collection
• Clive Cussler Collector's Society - fan site