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Tom Clancy Passed Away


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I have been on a business meeting and had not heard this news. I am shocked. RIP sir. My favorite book was Sum of All Fears. In the chapter, Two Shakes of a Lamb's Tail he writes the best description of an event that takes nanoseconds in reality. He will be missed for his future works and remembered for the literary gifts he left us.

Jager

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Gents,

Really shocked to hear this as well. I'm on my second copy of Red Storm Rising as the first fell apart after being read so many times. Hunt For Red October opened my eyes to submarine operations and is something I've been fascinated with ever since. His later books were no where near the same standard but the first half dozen or so were superb reads. To me he's the guy who made the techno thriller popular.

Gary

Edited by gary1701
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What makes one "Great" ? Awards from a small amount of the Literati or many Best Sellers from the Masses ?

-Gregg

It's all subjective. Personally, if an author has few Pulitzers or similar awards under his/her belt, I tend to think of them as "literary giants".

If you have racked up sales, that is a good thing but (IMO) that doesn't make one a "great" author. EL James (50 Shades of Grey) has some serious sales numbers, but that doesn't make her one of the giants of literature.

Hope this doesn't upset all the EL James fans that frequent ARC, no offense intended :)

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Tom Clancy may not have been a literary giant, but some of his books were/are fun to read. I didn't read any of his more recent stuff, as I've been warned about the many sharks that were jumped, but I thought The Hunt For Red October, Red Storm Rising, Clear and Present Danger and a few others were a blast. Brain candy for sure, but sometimes candy is what the brain desires.

There was a good retrospective about him on NPR the other day. Apparently President Regan was a big fan of Clancy's work, and would invite him over for whitehouse dinners and such. Trully a meteoric rise from nobody insurance salesman to whitehouse dinner guest and multi-millionaire. Hats off to the man, and may he rest in peace

Now if only I could tell a story.

Edited by RKic
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I spend my time in final years of school, enlistment and right up to leaving the army reading his books. Rainbow Six was the first of his books that i read. I had to go back into Ryan universe time to find out who everybody was. RIP Tom Clancy

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I'm not sure I would refer to Tom Clancy as a literary giant. He excelled at easy reading techno-fiction (at least in his early works) but you won't be seeing much in that genre going up for Pulitzer Prizes anytime soon.

That being said, he will definitely be missed.

Same thing crossed my mind, but I really loved the first few Jack Ryan books. They might not be Pulitzer material, but they never pretend to be. When the Iron Curtain dropped, they became outdated remarkably fast.

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Man, first Vince Flynn, now Tom Clancy. If Ted DekKer goes too, I will have no one to read!

Man I didn't know Vince Flynn Had died..was that recent..

Shucks that is sad ..I just finished reading his TRANSFER OF POWER..

:pray:

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When the Iron Curtain dropped, they became outdated remarkably fast.

Good point, he was really in his prime when he had the evil USSR to incorporate into his books. Once they faded away, that whole genre followed.

On a semi-related subject, although I really enjoyed Red Storm Rising, I still think Team Yankee was the best WWIII book.

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