Tom Clancy

Tom Clancy
Born April 12, 1947 (1947-04-12) (age 62)
Baltimore County,
Maryland,
United States
Occupation Novelist
Nationality United States
Writing period 1984 - 2003
Genres Techno-thriller, Crime fiction,
Military

Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (born April 12 1947) is an American author, 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 military 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.

Contents

Biography

Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. was born in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. 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 1969.[1] Though he wanted to serve in the United States military, he was rejected after failing a required eye exam in the ROTC. Before making his literary debut, he spent some time running an independent insurance agency. 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.

On 26 June 1999, Clancy, at age 53, married freelance journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, who at 32 years of age was 21 years his junior."[2] Llewellyn is the first cousin of Colin Powell, who originally introduced the couple to each other.[3]

In 2008, the use of Clancy's name was purchased by French videogame manufacturer Ubisoft for an undisclosed sum. It will be used in conjunction with video games and related products such as movies, and books.[4]

Political views

Clancy has generally been regarded as a political conservative, and has donated over US$256,000 to Republican Party political candidates.[5]

After 9/11, Clancy was an early and, to many, surprising defender of Islam. He was interviewed on NBC later that day. A week after the attack, on The O'Reilly Factor, Clancy stated that left-wing politicians in the United States were partly responsible for September 11 due to their "gutting" of the CIA.[3] Clancy has also associated himself with General Anthony Zinni, a critic of the George W. Bush administration, and has been critical of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.[6] He was categorized as a northern paleoconservative.[7]

Some of his books bear dedications to Republican political figures, most notably Ronald Reagan. In his novels countries portrayed as hostile to the USA include the former Soviet Union, China, India, Iran, Japan and Russia while Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the United Kingdom are shown as close allies of the USA.

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 were available as of May 29, 2008.

With the release of The Teeth of the Tiger, Clancy introduced Jack Ryan's son and two nephews as main characters.

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, 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 or John Clark.

By publication date

The Hunt for Red October (1984)
Clancy's first published novel. Jack Ryan assists in the defection of a respected Soviet naval captain, along with the most advanced ballistic missile submarine of the Soviet fleet. The movie (1990) stars Alec Baldwin as Ryan and Sean Connery as Captain Ramius.
Red Storm Rising (1986)
War between NATO and USSR. The basis of the combat game of the same name, this is not a member of the Ryan genre (although the protagonist of the story has many similarities with Jack Ryan). He co-wrote it with Larry Bond.
Patriot Games (1987)
The first book that Clancy wrote, Patriot Games predates The Hunt for Red October in chronological order. After Jack Ryan foils an attack in London on the Prince and Princess of Wales by the "Ulster Liberation Army", the ULA stage a daring raid on Ryan's home while he is hosting the Prince and Princess of Wales for dinner. The movie stars Harrison Ford as Ryan.
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).
Clear and Present Danger (1989)
Drug war in Colombia involving American military forces in a covert war against the Medellín Cartel. Ryan and Clark finally meet; first appearance of Domingo "Ding" Chavez who is one of the scouts in the special forces teams and Clark's protege in later novels. The movie (1994) stars Harrison Ford as Ryan, Willem Dafoe as Clark and Raymond Cruz as Chavez.
The Sum of All Fears (1991)
Israel loses a nuclear weapon, which Islamic terrorists use to foment war between U.S. and Soviets, which is averted by Ryan in a cliffhanger. The 2002 movie stars Ben Affleck as Ryan, Liev Schreiber as Clark, and changes the identity and motivation of the terrorists to neo-Nazis.
Without Remorse (1993)
Chronologically the first book featuring John Kelly/John Clark, detailing Clark's experiences during the Vietnam War before joining the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
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. A subplot of the book involves the resignation of the Vice President in a sexually based scandal, setting the stage for Ryan's ascension to Presidency.
Executive Orders (1996)
Immediate sequel to Debt of Honor. President Ryan survives press hazing, an assassination attempt, and a biological warfare attack on the USA. Clark and Chavez trace the virus to a Middle Eastern madman, and the U.S. military goes to work.
SSN: Strategies for Submarine Warfare (1996)
Follows the missions of USS Cheyenne in a future war with China precipitated by their invasion of the disputed Spratly Islands. Also not a Ryanverse book, SSN is actually a loosely connected collection of "scenario" chapters in support of the eponymous computer game.
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. (Jack Ryan is the U.S. President and only mentioned or referred to as either 'The President' or 'Jack'.)
The Bear and the Dragon (2000)
War between Russia and China. Ryan recognizes the independence of Taiwan, a Chinese police officer kills a diplomat, and the United States Armed Forces help Russia defeat the Chinese invasion of Siberia.
Red Rabbit (2002)
Back when he was a humble CIA analyst, Ryan aids in the defection of a Soviet officer who knows of a plan to assassinate the Pope.
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 end of the Jack Ryan Sr. presidential administration. 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

Novels not in the series

Jack Ryan/John Clark Universe

Op-Center universe

NetForce universe

NetForce Explorers Universe

Power Plays universe

Splinter Cell universe

EndWar universe

Ghost Recon universe

Non-fiction

Guided Tour

Study in Command

Other

Video games

In 1996, Clancy co-founded the computer game developer Red Storm Entertainment and ever since he has 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 Sinclair 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, Sinclair 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.

Games bearing the Tom Clancy name, including Splinter Cell and the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series, must receive approval from Clancy himself to earn his endorsement. Some of the aspects of games that he looks for include realistic weapons, military tactics, and health systems for the game's characters.

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

Board games

Achievements and awards

References

  1. ↑ alt.books.tom-clancy post by Tom Clancy
  2. ↑ "Alexandra Llewellyn, Tom Clancy," The New York Times, June 27 1999.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 NNDB - Tom Clancy
  4. ↑ Clancy name bought by Ubisoft, worth big bucks
  5. ↑ Tom Clancy - Political Donations at newsmeat.com
  6. ↑ Paperback Writer, The New Republic, 25 May 2004
  7. ↑ The Social Contract - Profiling In an Age of Terrorism
  8. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/25thann/bestsellers.htm Washington Post
  9. ↑ Rensselaer Magazine: Summer 2004: At Rensselaer
  10. ↑ TC Post: Clancy Speaks Again Briefly

See also

External links

Literary reviews and criticism

Works by Tom Clancy
Novels

The Hunt for Red October (1984) · Red Storm Rising (1986) · Patriot Games (1987) · The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988) · Clear and Present Danger (1989) · The Sum of All Fears (1991) · Without Remorse (1993) · Debt of Honor (1994) · Executive Orders (1996) · SSN (1996) · Rainbow Six (1998) · The Bear and the Dragon (2000) · Red Rabbit (2002) · The Teeth of the Tiger (2003)
Non-fiction

Submarine (1993) · Armored Cavalry (1994) · Fighter Wing (1995) · Marine (1996) · Into the Storm (1997) · Airborne (1997) · Carrier (1999) · Every Man a Tiger (1999) · Special Forces (2001) · Shadow Warriors (2002) · Battle Ready (2004)
Tom Clancy video games
Rainbow Six series
Rainbow Six · Rogue Spear · Take-Down · Raven Shield · Black Arrow · Lockdown · Critical Hour · Vegas · Vegas 2
Ghost Recon series
Ghost Recon · Island Thunder · Jungle Storm · Ghost Recon 2 · Summit Strike · Advanced Warfighter · Advanced Warfighter 2
Splinter Cell series
Splinter Cell · Pandora Tomorrow · Chaos Theory · Essentials · Double Agent · Conviction
Other
The Hunt for Red October · Red Storm Rising · SSN · Politika · ruthless.com · Shadow Watch · The Sum of All Fears · EndWar · H.A.W.X.
Persondata
NAME Clancy, Tom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Clancy, Thomas Leo, Jr.
SHORT DESCRIPTION Novelist
DATE OF BIRTH 12 April 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Baltimore County, Maryland, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH