RIP: Tom Clancy 1947 - 2013

[Billie Bonce]

There's something I'd really like to hear more about. The view from the other side.

There are rare cases when it is possible to speak about such things without falling into a political discussion.

The general rule is simple. Everything was mirrored. What you have heard about your country, we have heard about our country. What you have heard about our country, we have heard about your. Both sides sincerely believed that their countries are good and the others are evil. That's in general, of course.

[jack c]

At first the Navy wanted to have him put away - for all the detail in Hunt for Red October. He proved that he used only publicly available sources. Plus, like Herman Wouk in The Caine Mutiny, he was the Navy's friend - complimentary of its excellence. The Defense Dept. finally woke up and embraced his work. As good as Red October was, my favorite was Executive Orders, but he didn't write a single bad book. I am halfway through the first of the last two volumes I hadn't read yet - an irony that he died so young right when I was reading one of his books. He was an insurance salesman who wrote Red October in his attic office at night - hope for all of us if we aspire to write the Great American Novel - he did, and I will miss him and his excellence in writing, as well as his patriotism.