Clive Cussler
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Clive Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Alhambra, California) is an American adventure novelist. His most famous creation is marine engineer, government agent, and adventurer Dirk Pitt.
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[edit] Biography
Cussler is the father of Dirk Cussler, who co-wrote Black Wind (2004) and the December 2006 release Treasure of Khan (2006).
[edit] Writing
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.
[edit] 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.
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.
[edit] Art Imitating Death
His 2001 novel Valhalla Rising featured a sci-fi Viking mythology set in Tarrytown and other locations of the Hudson River Valley of Westchester County, New York. Valhalla, New York is famous for its sea of graveyards near Kensico where many famous personalities are buried. The name of the community came from a 19th Century fan of Richard Wagner and her own interest in Norse mythology. In 1994, Mark Guglielmo drew attention to the connection between Vikings and Valhalla, when he murdered his wife in Florida and then disposed of her bisected corpse twenty miles apart in the Hudson River and at a location near Bedford, while attempting to imitate portions of a Viking funeral.
[edit] 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 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. Cussler and the studio have filed lawsuits against each other in a disagreement over whether the film departs too severely from the novel. [1]
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Dirk Pitt adventure novels
- 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)
There is also a Dirk Pitt reference book:
[edit] Trivia
- Although Pacific Vortex was released in 1983, it is actually the first Dirk Pitt novel. The events of Pacific Vortex happen before those of The Mediterranean Caper.
[edit] Dirk Pitt Jr. adventure novels
(co-authored with Dirk Cussler)
In the novel Valhalla Rising, Dirk Pitt discovered that he had fathered twins with Summer Moran, whom he thought had been killed in an underwater explosion while trying to rescue her father at the end of the novel Pacific Vortex. It turned out that she was only badly injured and disfigured and, in turn, did not want Pitt to know what had happened to her. The twins were named Dirk and Summer, and only discovered the existence of their father shortly before the death of their mother.
Both the twins, guided by their mother, had undertaken marine studies in college, qualifying them to be given jobs with NUMA and work alongside their father.
At the end of Trojan Odyssey, Dirk Pitt Sr. is promoted to be head of NUMA. By the start of the first Dirk Pitt Jr. novel, (Black Wind), Dirk has taken over his father’s role as Special Projects Director. It was, however, announced by the Cussler's that the main characters of the novels would switch with each book. It is planned for Dirk and Al to be the headlining act in "Treasure of Khan", while it is most likely that Dirk Jr. will return to the forefront in the next installment.
[edit] 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 Yager 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)
[edit] Oregon Files adventure novels
(co-authored with Craig Dirgo on first two, Jack DuBrul on the second two)
This series focuses on "The Oregon," introduced in "Flood Tide." While appearing to be a decrepit tanker, it's really 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.
[edit] Novels
- The Adventures of Vin Fiz (2006)
- The Navigator (with Paul Kemprecos) (2007)
[edit] Non-Fiction
(co-authored with Craig Dirgo)
- 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)
[edit] Recurring Characters
[edit] NUMA
- Admiral James Sandecker
- Rudi Gunn
- Dirk Pitt
- Al Giordino
- Hiram Yeager and Max
- Kurt Austin
- Joe Zavala
- Paul Trout
- Gamay Trout
- Dirk Pitt, Jr.
- Summer Pitt
[edit] Friends, etc.
[edit] Easter Eggs
- Clive Cussler
- Craig Dirgo
- Leigh Hunt
- 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
[edit] External links
- Searches for "Hunley", Cussler, Spence
- The Society of the Cusslermen - "For Clive Cussler book collectors who require pictures, details and information of every book published throughout the US and UK."
- 1986 audio interview of Clive Cussler by Don Swaim of CBS Radio, RealAudio
- Clive Cussler Auto Collectionde:Clive Cussler
fr:Clive Cussler it:Clive Cussler nl:Clive Cussler ja:クライブ・カッスラー pl:Clive Cussler ro:Clive Cussler fi:Clive Cussler sv:Clive Cussler tr:Clive Cussler
Categories: Articles lacking sources from July 2006 | All articles lacking sources | 1931 births | Living people | American novelists | Techno-thrillers | American thriller writers | American spy fiction writers | Underwater divers | People from the Greater Los Angeles Area | California writers | Clive Cussler
