Author Tom Clancy dies in Baltimore hospital

[frigidmagi]

baltimore news journal

Tom Clancy has died.

The best-selling author died in a Baltimore hospital on Tuesday night at the age of 66, according to his publisher.

Clancy, who was born on April 12, 1947, was an author best-known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines that were set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games which bear his name for licensing and promotional purposes.

His name was also a brand for similar movie scripts written by ghost writers and many series of non-fiction books on military subjects and merged biographies of key leaders.

Clancy published his first novel, “The Hunt for Red October,” in 1984. The novel sold more than five million copies worldwide and became the basis for a movie starring Alec Baldwin.

Clancy went to high school in Towson and graduated from Loyola College in Baltimore, now Loyola University, in 1969.

He was Vice Chairman of Community Activities and Public Affairs, as well as a part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles.

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Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos issued the following statement on Clancy’s passing:

“For decades, Tom Clancy entertained millions with his novels and enjoyed producing no fewer than seventeen best-sellers. He was an extraordinary storyteller who had an ability to keep readers on the edge of their seats. His passion for the military was evident in his efforts to ensure that the men and women who serve our country were properly recognized for their service and commitment.

“While he achieved international acclaim as a celebrated author, Tom, a proud Baltimorean, was a devoted Marylander, a treasured friend, and a valued partner and advisor in the Orioles ownership group. He was a regular presence at Oriole Park and enjoyed talking about baseball, the ballclub and its operations.

“We are deeply saddened by Tom’s passing. He will be missed but long remembered.

“On behalf of the Orioles, we extend our sympathies to his family.”

Ironically my favorite Tom Clancy book is a nonfiction. Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit written in 1996 is a bit long in the tooth and a tad out of date, as things has changed. Still it's a good book and great reading for you non-Mariny types out there.

His other non-fiction books were very informative and well done as well I thought. Even if they didn't bring him the fame that his fiction books did.

For that and Red October (Sean Connery as a Scottish Russian! )... Thanks Tom, sleep well.

[Josh]

The Desert Storm one was great for Frederick Franks being all passive aggressive at Schwarzkopf. Once the actual section on the invasion arrives, it's all "Schwarzkopf said 'Blah blah blah' but I don't care because that totally wasn't what was going on and he didn't know and blah blah blah."

I stopped reading after his self-insert was president, but I will say this: dude could sketch an interesting character in about three paragraphs, when he was really trying. In his older stuff, he'd have some total bit player who might not even show up for an entire page, but he could get you just a bit invested in that character.

However, all the cash-in licensing bullshit was very frickin' annoying. Tom Clancy's This and Tom Clancy's That and Tom Clancy's Elite Nanny Force and Tom Clancy's Elite Cricket Club and whatever.

[Lys]

Tom Clancy had about a decade of good fiction writing, from The Hunt for Red October (1984) to Without Remorse (1993). In that period The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988) was easily his best work, and is one of the best spy novels ever written, while The Sum of All Fears (1991) was the weakest example, and showcased some of the faults and problems that would go on to plague his later works starting with Debt of Honor (1994).

Sean Connery as a Scottish Russian!

I never understood how that's supposed to be any funnier than all the American Russians.

[frigidmagi]

Americans and Russians have a shit ton in common and tend to be obsessed with each other. Hell the idea of combining the two has popped up in a number of sci-fi works.

Scottish Russians? Now that's just silly. Not to mention who in their right mind would let a Scotsman captain a nuclear submarine. It's bad enough we let Navy types bop around with them, trusting squids with important stuff never ends well, mark my words!

Fun Fact: Debt of Honor was frigid's first Tom Clancy book recommend by a beloved Uncle, who due to being a business owner had this thing over the Japanese. Strangely enough when China comes up all he can think about is dollar signs.

Still books like that convinced me just how fundamentally silly the whole "And then Yellow Peril!" stuff was.

[General Havoc]

By far my favorite Clancy book is Red Storm Rising, unconnected to the rest of the Ryanverse, a thought experiment on what a war between the USSR and NATO would look like in the mid-80s, if our highly-inaccurate estimates of the Red Army's stupefying power turned out to be accurate. Covering all aspects of the war in the air, on the ground, on the sea and under it, Red Storm Rising is one of the most hollistic and universally convincing takes on a WWIII scenario that I've ever seen. In my mind it is far and away Clancy's finest work, and I demand anyone who considers taking him up, begin here.

[Josh]

Well see Lithuanians (Ramius in the book) were like the Scots of the Soviet Union.

Also, Connery has played just about everything but a Scotsman in his movies- the closest I can think of is the son of a Scottish immigrant in The Presidio.

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[Lys]

In the movie Entrapment, Sean Connery plays international thief Robert "Mac" MacDougal, who is Scottsman. Also, thanks to Skyfall, James Bond is now Scottish.

[Hotfoot]

I never read many of his books, and honestly, that was probably for the best, though I did enjoy the ones I did read reasonably well. That said, I more enjoyed the games that came from his writings. While the early stuff was more about the games than the story, they were pretty stellar games, and when the original Splinter Cell Trilogy hit, it was pretty goddamn good on both levels. The later games were lesser creations, with a bit of an upswing of recent memory.

Still, I maintain that Tom Clancy is dead either because of a broken heart from Michael Ironsides being thrown off the Splinter Cell series as the voice for the main character, or because Michael Ironside killed him with his Omega Beams.

[Josh]

The merest flicker of disapproval from Michael Ironsides is enough to critically wound the average man.