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Author of blockbuster Cold War novel thrillers and other international intrigues, Tom Clancy passed into grace at the age of 66 this day. His Cold War subject matter stands out as exciting reading for me and for millions. Nuclear annihilation is a tough act to follow.
I for one feel that reading his novels and watching the movies they were made into in an indirect way helped me to appreciate Cold War politics and cope with the terrifying demons of international policy contentions underlying the era. I'm a boomer, baby boomer generation and intercontinental missile (boomer) generation. I also learned quite a bit about writing from examining his methods and aesthetics. Thank you, Tom Clancy, your novels were relevant and meaningfful for and to me.
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Was surprised to hear that...just the day before, I was looking at a reprint copy of The Hunt for Red October in the local supermarket. (An anniversary reissue.)
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I think Clancy's writing had quite a lot in common with adventure science fiction. His featured rock-ribbed heroes, wily villains and technological wonders. In fact I think he did the technological marvel thing better than all but a very few science fiction writers.
I've only read a few of his novels -- the Hunt for Red October is the only one I recall off the top of my head -- but I do remember the feel of them. They were stories of individuals caught up in huge, shifting geopolitical struggle, like an ant crawling across the landscape to the single exact point where it could deflect the course of an onrushing avalanche. There's quite an art to pulling that off.
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A magazine obituary piece I just read says that Clancy had not been in the armed forces before writing The Hunt for Red October---I, a would-be writer, find that somewhat enhartening, as I've never been involved in many of the things I write about. (Clancy's research was impeccable, a detail I feel I sometimes neglect.)
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