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Clive Cussler

Clive Eric Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Aurora, Illinois) is an American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist.

Biography

Clive Cussler was born in Aurora, Illinois and grew up in Alhambra, California. He was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout when he was 14. He attended Pasadena City College for two years and then enlisted in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. 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).

Clive Cussler married Barbara Knight in 1955 and they remained married for nearly 50 years until her death in 2003. Together they had three children, Teri, Dirk and Dana who have given him four grandchildren.

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. As part of his duties Cussler produced radio and television commercials, many of which won international awards including an award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

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. This was the first time in the college's 123 year history that such a degree had been awarded.

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

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. 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.

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 underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence who first reported finding it in 1970 and there is an impressive collection of evidence supporting Spence on www.ShipWrecks.com However, both claims appear to have elements of truth. Spence described finding the partially exposed wreck of the Hunley in 1970, but claimed it had been reburied by shifting sands before he returned to photograph it. Spence claims he relocated it with a magnetometer at various times in the 1970s but it was always buried and without the proper permits was unable to do any excavation on the site. The first expedition to dig into the site and bring back videographic evidence was the 1994/1995 SCIAA/NUMA H.L. Hunley expedition, directed by underwater archaeologist Dr. Mark M. Newell. That was largely financed by Cussler, thus his claim to have discovered it. Based on sworn statements by Dr. Newell, that expedition relied, at least to some extent, on Spence's maps of his earlier work. The dive team that took the video was led by diver Ralph Wilbanks who is on NUMA's Board of Directors.

In many of his books, the inside author description often also states that he was a prominent part of the team which discovered the Titanic. This is not born out by the evidence.

Cussler's work in marine exploration has often raised eyebrows and tempers alike. Not the born diplomat, 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 allegedly non-fictional work, "Sea Hunters", the British Secret Service, Mossad and the CIA. But has he? That is part of the question. 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, who writes fiction for a living, claims he was the first to provide conclusive evidence of the location of several shipwrecks. Regardless of the merits of Cussler's various discovery claims, there is no question that such claims and their wide reporting by the media have garnered Cussler free world wide publicity for his novels and that such publicity has increased sales of his books.

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.

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, wooden acting, poor special effects and the casting of Richard Jordan as Pitt.

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. Again the film was a box-office failure, which Cussler blamed on the film not staying true to his storyline. Even before the film was completed, Cussler and Crusader Entertainment (the film's producers) filed lawsuits against each other in a dispute over the film departing too severely from the novel.

In May 2007, the trial jury delivered a mixed verdict, ordering Cussler to pay Crusader $5 million (they were seeking $115 million) for making derogatory comments about the film and encouraging his readers to boycott it. The jury suggested Crusader pay Cussler $8.5 million for second-picture rights to another book, but left that decision to Judge John Shook since the option was never exercised. Cussler's attorney indicated that he would end up with $3.5 million after paying Crusader the $5 million previously ordered if the Judge rules in his favor. If not, Cussler could be further sued by Crusader for lawyer fees. Some news accounts have suggested that both sides may have ended up spending more on legal costs than they were awarded, but each side would be liable for the other's fees depending on the Judge's ruling. On January 8, 2008, Judge John Shook denied Cussler's claim for the $8.5 million, making the author solely liable to Crusader for $5 million for breach of contract.

Bibliography

Dirk Pitt adventure novels

(in chronological order)

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)
Arctic Drift (Upcoming release - November 25, 2008)

There is also a Dirk Pitt reference book:

Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed (1998)

Novels featuring Pitt's children, Dirk and Summer

(co-authored with Dirk Cussler)

"Valhalla Rising, First mention of Dirk Jr. and Summer, (Part Six, Chp. 58)" (Aug, 2001)
Trojan Odyssey (2003)
Black Wind (2004)
Treasure of Khan (2006)
Arctic Drift (Upcoming release - November 25, 2008)

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 Yaeger 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 (June 2007)

The Oregon Files

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

The Oregon Files focuses on "The Oregon," introduced in "Flood Tide." While appearing to be a decrepit freighter, it's actually 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.' Juan telephones Pitt on the telephone, and Austin and Zavala appear at the end.

Golden Buddha (2003)
Sacred Stone (2004)
Dark Watch (2005)
Skeleton Coast (2006)
Plague Ship (2008)
Corsair (March 2009)

Isaac Bell tale

The Chase (2007)

Upcoming books

Arctic Drift (November 25, 2008) Dirk Pitt novel
Corsair (March 9, 2009) Oregon File novel

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)

Children's Books

The Adventures of Vin Fiz (2006)

Recurring Characters

NUMA

Friends, etc.

St. Julien Perlmutter
Loren Smith
Various fictional Presidents
Hala Kamil (Secretary General, United Nations)

Easter Eggs

Clive Cussler himself
Craig Dirgo
Leigh Hunt

Van Dorn Detective Agency

Isaac Bell
Glenn Irvine
Authur Curtis
Joseph Van Dorn

The Corporation

Juan Cabrillo
Max Hanley
Linda Ross
Eddie Seng
Richard 'Dick' Truitt
Hali Kasim
Mark Murphy
Eric Stone
Chuck 'Tiny' Gunderson
George 'Gomez' Adams
Julia Huxley
Franklin 'Linc' Lincoln
Mike Trono
Jerry Pulaski
Maurice

Trivia

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)
The Doxa Dive watch company has an official Clive Cussler edition of their famous orange faced dive watch.
The SS Oregon is based on the Current State University of New York Maritime College Training ship the TS Empire State 6, the ships original name was the SS Oregon.

Notes

Also, in the novel Inca Gold, Clive Cussler makes an appearance and tells Pitt about Leigh Hunt's discovery of an underground river passing underneath the desert, thus helping Pitt to uncover the treasure.