RIP Tom Clancy
Today we have the sad news that best-selling blockbuster author Tom Clancy has died of undisclosed causes at the age of 66.
I must admit I never read any of his books; it’s just not my style of reading matter. But I do know he was highly regarded by people I respect, and also that (unlike so many authors) he was politically conservative. I would imagine he has a lot of fans among readers of this blog, too.
Sixty-six seems very young to me. RIP.
He wrote at a time when cutting edge weaponry was becoming operational. He incorporated the amazing weaponry into his fictional battlefields, thus readers could understand the capabilities of the weaponry.
Well before I had ever seen a Stealth fighter, I read Clancy’s descrip of a Stealth plane zooming in extremely low, completely undetected by enemy radar, discharging precision weapons, then going almost perfectly vertical, for thousands of feet, until it was far above danger. It was all new to me. My pulse raced.
One of the best Military action writers out there.
He will be sorely missed by me.
If we go long enough without a war, we have to fake it.
Prior to Gulf I, post-Viet Nam, there were several TV series–Call to Glory with Craig T. Nelson is one I recall–one about Airborne artillery in garrison with Cliff Potts.
Gary Lockwood in The Lieutenant.
Vic Morrow in a series about WW II.
And the military technical thriller books by the scores.
The latter always had to get from here and now to a situation where they could use all their neat weapons. In this, the authors usually did a scarily plausible job. After that, things went downhill. But not for Clancy.
His characters were interesting and realistic, plots were relatively plausible, and so forth.
One thing he did–possibly padding, possibly not–was backstory many third-tier characters. I presume this was to connect with the target audience. If, for example a couple of guys were walking down the street and saw a house on fire, rushed in and saved three kids, we’d hear about them. They’d be in construction, or truck drivers, possibly ex-paratroopers or former Marines, and didn’t hesitate.
If there’s a warrior gene in us, even a bogus one, or a bogus one in people who’ve never soldiered, Clancy managed to connect with it. As with Kipling, the reader was invited to identify with these guys. Hence, his not-universal appeal. But where he hit, he connected thoroughly.
You could count on one hand the number of non-Clancy fiction books I’ve read. And I read a lot. He will be missed.
I happened to be reading National Review in the 80s, and there was a picture of WFB and his shipmates sailing the Pacific. Bill was holding a copy of a book called “The Hunt For Red October”. Looked interesting and I bought a copy. And I bought every book Clancy wrote afterwards. Thanks Bill, and thanks Tom!