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Tom Clancy

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Tom Clancy
Born (1947-04-12) April 12, 1947 (age 77)
Baltimore County,
Maryland,
U.S.
OccupationNovelist
NationalityUnited States
Period1984 - 2003
GenreThriller,
Crime fiction

Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (born April 12 1947), better known as Tom Clancy, is a US author of bestselling political thrillers, best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War. His name is also a brand for similar books written by ghost writers and a series of non-fiction books on warlike subjects and merged biographies of key leaders. He is also part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles, a Major League Baseball team. He officially is the Orioles' Vice Chairman of Community Activities and Public Affairs.

Biography

Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. was born April 12, 1947, in Calvert County, Maryland. He attended Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Maryland, graduating with the class of 1965. He went on to study English Literature at Loyola College in Baltimore, graduating with the class of 1968.[1] Before making his literary debut, he spent some time running an independent insurance agency.

Clancy married his first wife, Wanda, in the 1970s. After having four children together, they divorced in 1998.

In 1993, Tom Clancy joined a group of investors that included Peter Angelos and bought the Baltimore Orioles from Eli Jacobs. In 1998, he attempted to purchase the Minnesota Vikings and had a purchase agreement in place, but the deal fell through shortly after his divorce settlement greatly decreased his net worth.[citation needed]

In 1999, Clancy, at age 53, married 32 year-old freelance journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, on June 26.[2]

Political views

Clancy has generally been regarded as a political conservative, and has donated over $256,000 to Republican Party political candidates.[3]

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Clancy was an early and, to many, surprising defender of Islam. He was interviewed on NBC later that day. Clancy has also associated himself with General Anthony Zinni, a critic of the Iraq War and the George W. Bush administration, and has been critical of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.[4]

Clancy's public comments have called his genuine attitudes into question. Around the time he became an owner of the Orioles, Clancy was quoted as saying that if a person hasn't had a job with a $100,000 salary, they haven't done much with their life.[citation needed]

Bibliography

The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears have been turned into commercially successful films with actors Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, and Harrison Ford as Clancy's most famous fictional character Jack Ryan, while his second most famous character John Clark has been played by actors Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber. The first NetForce novel was adapted as a television movie, starring Scott Bakula and Joanna Going. The first Op-Center novel was released to coincide with a 1995 NBC television mini-series of the same name (Tom Clancy's Op-Center) starring Harry Hamlin and a cast of stars. Though the mini-series didn't continue the book series did, but it had little in common with the first mini-series other than the title and the names of the main characters.

The website IMDB reports that Tom Clancy's novel Without Remorse is to be made into a movie and is expected to be released in 2008. Filming is to commence in 2008. No other details are available (27 June 2007).

With the release of The Teeth of the Tiger, Clancy introduced Jack Ryan's son and two nephews as main characters. Presumably, he has retired Jack Ryan as a central character.

Clancy has written several nonfiction books about various branches of the U.S. armed forces (see non-fiction listing, below). Clancy has also branded several lines of books with his name that are written by other authors, following premises or storylines generally in keeping with Clancy's works:

These are sometimes referred to by fans as "apostrophe" books; Clancy did not initially acknowledge that these series were being authored by others, only thanking the actual authors in the headnotes for their "invaluable contribution to the manuscript".

In 1997 Tom Clancy signed a book deal with Penguin Putnam Inc. (both part of Pearson Education), that paid him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books. He then signed a second agreement for another US$25 million for a four-year book/multimedia deal. Clancy followed this up with an agreement with Berkley Books for 24 paperbacks to tie in with the ABC television miniseries Tom Clancy's Net Force aired in the fall/winter of 1998. The OP-Center universe has laid the ground for the series of books written by Jeff Rovin, which was in an agreement worth US $22 million bringing the total value of the package to US$97 million.

All but two of Clancy's novels feature Jack Ryan and/or John Clark. Tom Clancy has recently come out with a new book entitled EndWar, which depicts how and with what weapons World War 3 will be fought.

By publication date

  • Red Storm Rising (1986)
    War between NATO and USSR. The basis of the submarine combat game of the same name, this is one of two Clancy novels to date not set in his Ryanverse, (although the protagonist of the story has many similarities with Jack Ryan). He co-wrote it with Larry Bond.
  • Patriot Games (1987)
    Ryan saves the Prince of Wales from terrorists whom are part of a left-wing faction of the IRA, who go after Ryan and his family. The 1992 movie stars Harrison Ford as Ryan, and has a fictional lord instead of the Prince of Wales. (John Clark later tells Jack Ryan in Clear and Present Danger that he was on the helicopter that had to turn back when attacking the terrorist camps in northern Africa.) It should be noted that the events of "Patriot Games" are mentioned as part of Jack Ryan's past in "The Hunt for Red October", and therefore is a prequel to that story.
  • The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988)
    First appearance of John Clark and Sergey Golovko. Secret anti-satellite lasers (SDI), high-stakes diplomacy, spies and computer geeks (Major Gregory is introduced here and shown later as updating SAM software in The Bear and the Dragon).
  • Without Remorse (1993)
    Chronologically the first book featuring John Kelly/John Clark, detailing Clark's life before joining the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Set during the Vietnam War era, it tells about the past of John Kelly, how he assumed the Clark mantle, and tells how Clark became a CIA officer as he exacts vengeance upon a ring of drug dealers. Jack Ryan's father (Emmett Ryan) has a key role; Jack Ryan has a tiny cameo.
  • Debt of Honor (1994)
    Ryan as National Security Advisor, and John Clark and Domingo Chavez as agents with Russian cover, help win a military and economic war with a nuclear-armed Japan. Golovko makes a cameo here. The Indian navy threatens Sri Lanka but invasion is prevented by two US carrier battle groups
  • Rainbow Six (1998)
    Released to coincide with the computer game of the same name. John Clark and Ding, who is now John's son-in-law, lead an elite multi-national anti-terrorist unit that combats a worldwide genocide attempt by eco-terrorists motivated by radical environmentalism and sponsored by a global biotechnology corporation and its 'Gates-like' founder. (Jack Ryan is the U.S. President and only mentioned or referred to as either 'The President' or 'Jack'.)
  • The Teeth of the Tiger (2003)
    Features the rise of Jack Ryan's son, Jack Ryan Jr., as an intelligence analyst, and then a field consultant, for The Campus, an off-the-books intelligence agency with the freedom to discreetly assassinate individuals "who threaten national security", following the retirement of Jack Sr. from the Presidency. Note: This is the latest book of the Jack Ryan series by Tom Clancy, introducing his son and his two nephews as heirs to his spook-legacy.

By series plot chronology

Jack Ryan/John Clark universe

* These books feature John Clark only, although Jack Ryan has a short conversation with his father in Without Remorse, and is also referenced to in "Rainbow Six" briefly a couple of times (as the US President and referred to only as 'Jack').

** This book features Jack Ryan only. John Clark is only referred to as a training officer at the CIA's field school.

*** This book features Ryan's son (Jack Ryan Jr.).

Listed in chronological order according to plot.

The Novels The Hunt For Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears have all been made into motion pictures. A movie version of Without Remorse is tentatively scheduled for a 2008 release, and a movie version of Rainbow Six is scheduled for a 2010 release.

Novels not in the series

Op-Center universe

NetForce universe

  • Net Force (1998) by Steve Perry
  • Hidden Agendas (1999) by Steve Perry
  • Night Moves (1999) by Steve Perry
  • Breaking Point (1999) by Steve Perry
  • Point of Impact (2001) by Steve Perry
  • CyberNation (2001) by Steve Perry
  • State of War (2003) by Steve Perry and Larry Segriff
  • Changing of the Guard (2003) by Steve Perry and Larry Segriff
  • Springboard (2004) by Steve Perry and Larry Segriff
  • The Archimedes Effect (2006) by Steve Perry and Larry Segriff

Young Adult

Power Plays universe

  • Politika (novel, 1997) by Jerome Preisler
  • Politika (computer game, 1997) by Red Storm Entertainment
  • ruthless.com (novel, 1998) by Jerome Preisler
  • ruthless.com (computer game, 1998) by Red Storm Entertainment
  • Shadow Watch (novel, 1999) by Jerome Preisler
  • Shadow Watch (computer game, 1999) by Red Storm Entertainment
  • Bio-Strike (novel, 2000) by Jerome Preisler
  • Cold War (novel, 2001) by Jerome Preisler
  • Cutting Edge (novel, 2002) by Jerome Preisler
  • Zero Hour (novel, 2003) by Jerome Preisler
  • Wild Card (novel, 2004) by Jerome Preisler

Splinter Cell universe

Non-fiction

Guided Tour

Study in Command

Other

  • The Tom Clancy Companion - Edited by Martin E. Greenberg - Writings by Clancy along with a concordance of all his fiction novels, detailing characters and military units or equipment.

Video games

In 1996, Clancy co-founded the computer game developer Red Storm Entertainment and ever since he had his name on several of Red Storm's most successful games. Red Storm was later bought by publisher Ubisoft Entertainment, which continues to use the Clancy name. This game series includes

There were also video games based on the novel The Hunt for Red October and the film adaptation thereof. The two games were published by Grandslam Entertainment. The version based on the film was available on the ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC, Amstrad, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES and Game Boy systems, whereas the version based on the book was available on the Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad 1512 pc, Amstrad CPC, Apple Macintosh, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 systems. In 2002 and 2003 a video game based on the film version of The Sum of All Fears was released for the PC and Nintendo Gamecube system.All though very similar to the Rainbow Six games The Sum Of All Fears was poorly received.

Many of the games bearing the Clancy name have been very successful, spawning several sequels and expansions. It is unknown how much input Clancy actually has into the games.

World news media is a fictional news network that had been feature in many Tom Clancy's video games.

Board games

Trivia

  • Clancy is one of only two authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing in the 1990s. (John Grisham is the other author.) Clancy's 1989 novel Clear and Present Danger sold 1,625,544 hardcover copies, making it the #1 bestselling novel of the 1980s.[3]
  • Clancy is an honorary Yeoman Warder of The Tower of London holding the title "Supernumerary Yeoman"[5]. On the television show Ace of Cakes his wife commissioned a special birthday cake in the shape of the Tower of London in acknowledgment of his status. On the episode, Tom Clancy referred to the Beefeaters as "Just a terrific bunch of guys". Clancy himself claims he does not visit London without stopping for some beer at the Yeoman Warder's Club.

References

  1. ^ alt.books.tom-clancy post by Tom Clancy
  2. ^ "Alexandra Llewellyn, Tom Clancy," The New York Times, June 27, 1999.
  3. ^ Tom Clancy - Political Donations at newsmeat.com
  4. ^ Paperback Writer, The New Republic, 25 May 2004

See also

Literary reviews and criticism


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