Tom Clancy FAQ - Books
The following sections deal mainly with
Tom Clancy's
books. While there may be a few references to the movies made
from his books, the movie chapter will contain more details
relating to them.
Contents
Book Summaries, Publishing Record, and Reference Data
Publishing Record
Ryanverse
Books
Op-Center
Books
Power Plays
Books
Non-fiction
Books
Questions & Answers
B1 -- What do all these letters mean?
What is all this stuff with acronyms?
The letters are acronyms for the titles of
the books written by Tom Clancy. They are used to avoid typing
the name of a book zillions of times during a discussion. Most
of them are made up of the first letters of the words in the
title. Case is important, but not critical. They are (in no
particular order):
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B2 -- What books has Tom Clancy written? In what order
were they written? In what order do they take place?
The list of books that Tom Clancy wrote or provided
significant contribution in order of publication is:
- The Hunt
for Red October
- Red Storm Rising
-
Patriot
Games
- The
Cardinal of the Kremlin
- Clear
and Present Danger
- The Sum
of All Fears
-
Without
Remorse
- Submarine (non-fiction)
- Debt of
Honor
- Armored Cav (non-fiction)
- Fighter Wing (non-fiction)
-
Executive Orders
- Marine (non-fiction)
- SSN
- Into the Storm with General Fred Franks (non-fiction)
- Airborne (non-fiction)
- Rainbow
Six
- Carrier (non-fiction)
- Every Man a Tiger with General Chuck Horner
(non-fiction)
-
The
Bear and the Dragon
- Red Rabbit
- Teeth of the Tiger
- Battle Ready (non-fiction)
Red Storm Rising is not related to any of the other books.
The storyline, characters, etc. from Red Storm Rising do not
carry over into other books.
Submarine, Armored Cav, Fighter Wing, Marine, Airborne, and
Carrier are
nonfiction books. Into the Storm is a semi-autobiography
with the VII Corps Commander from the Persian Gulf War. Every
Man a Tiger is a semi-autobiography with the Air Component
Commander from the Persian Gulf War. Battle Ready follows
General Tony Zinni through the Marine Corps from Vietnam to the
2nd Gulf War.
The Op-Center series was not actually written by Tom Clancy;
the books in that series are independent of all Clancy's other
works. Politika is also a fiction book based on a computer game
but is more similar to the Op-Center series in that it was not
actually written by Tom Clancy.
Tom Clancy's Netforce was developed by Clancy and Dr. Steve
Pieczenik, MD, the co-author of Tom Clancy's Op-Center series.
See Tom Clancy
FAQ - General for more information. A total of seven
Netforce books have been written to this point. All are
intended for "young adult" audiences. Netforce was also the
subject of a television mini-series.
SSN is a fiction book based on a computer game.
The remainder of the books make up the
Jack Ryan, or "Ryanverse",
storyline. He appears in all of them, although sometimes in a
minor role. In Rainbow Six, Jack Ryan is not specifically
mentioned but longtime readers of Clancy works will recognize
his presence. The storyline order of these books is NOT the same
as the publication order. Information regarding the
Ryanverse
books is found on this page:
Ryanverse.
Clancy has stated that his books have been published in the
order of their completion. The Hunt for Red October was the
first Tom Clancy book published. He started Without Remorse and
Patriot Games first, but didn't complete them. After Red Storm
Rising was published he went back and completed Patriot Games.
After The Sum of All Fears he apparently went back and reworked
and finished Without Remorse.
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B3 -- In what order should I read Tom Clancy's books?
So far, there is no consensus in the group of the correct
order to read Clancy's novels.
My suggestion is to read the books in the Jack Ryan storyline
order. This applies to the Jack Ryan storyline novels only. In
this way, novels in the "future" of Jack Ryan will not be
"spoiled". Other people vehemently disagree and say to read
them as they were published. Others are just happy to read them
as they acquire the books.
Remember, this is just a suggestion. It is not *necessary* to
read the books in any particular order to enjoy them.
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B4 -- What is Clancy's best book?
This question is debated constantly. These has been no answer
so far, and there never will be. "Best" depends entirely upon
what _you_ like to see in a book.
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B5 -- I've read all of Tom Clancy's books. What other
authors write books like him?
Names mentioned in newsgroup discussions are:
Gerry Carroll
Richard Aellen
Ted Albury
Steve Bartman
Mark Berent
Larry Bond
Dale Brown
James Cobb
Larry Collins
Stephen Coonts
Harold Coyle
Clive Cussler
Len Deighton
Ken Follett
Frederick Forsythe
W.E.B. Griffin
Richard Hagberg
Marshall Harrison
Payne Harrison
Eric L. Harry
Richard Herman
Stephen Hunter
John LeCarre
Robert Ludlum
Harrison Marshall
David Poyer
Craig Thomas
Barrett Tillman
Duane Unkefer
Tom Wilson
No assertion is made whether you will like or dislike any of
these authors. These authors have been mentioned in various
discussions in the newsgroup.
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B6 -- Where did Jack Ryan really go to college?
I remember the Admiral in The Hunt for Red October mentioning
that Jack Ryan attended the Academy. He must have meant
Annapolis. But the history here says he didn't. Where did he go
to college?
You're confusing the movie version of HFRO with the book. In
the book storyline, Jack Ryan did *not* attend or graduate from
the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. He *did* teach history there.
See the John Patrick
Ryan and Family biographical data. The movie scene with
Admiral Painter and Captain Davenport is *not* from the book.
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B7 -- What is bug juice?
Bug juice is a US Navy name for a fruit flavored drink served
on board vessels of the US Navy. It is an alternative to coffee
and water. It comes in several flavors and colors. The colors
have no relationship to flavor. Those in the know prefer the red
variety. In a historical context, the term bug juice was
sometimes used to refer to bootleg alcohol during WWII made from
the fuel used to power US torpedoes. It was also referred to as
"gilly" juice. One reference has it that extremely strong coffee
was sometimes also referred to as bug juice. Recently,
John Steinke reported
that the early packages of Kool-Aid had Bugs Bunny on them.
From this came "Bug's Juice" and, then simply "Bug Juice".
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B8 -- When will the next Jack Ryan story be published?
When will Clancy's next book be published?
Red Rabbit was released August 3,
2002, That is the last fiction book "strictly" in the Ryanverse
written exclusively by Tom Clancy (i.e the Op-Center and
Netforce books were not written by Clancy). Clancy mentioned two
other projects earlier (see
this newsgroup post). The first was Red Rabbit dealing
with Ryan's early career. The second, the "Project HITS,"
surfaced as Teeth of the Tiger in August 2003. This book, while
we include it in the Ryanverse, begins a departure from Jack
Ryan himself and begins to explore other factors and people in
the world. A whole new cast of characters is introduced, and
while taking place against a backdrop of the Ryanverse,
indicates that we may, sadly, have heard the last of John
Patrick "Jack" Ryan, Sr.
As of this date (April, 2004), we do not have a future
schedule for the next fiction book.
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B9 -- Why doesn't Tom Clancy's Op-Center seem to be up to
his usual quality of writing? What's the deal with the
Op-Center, Power Plays, and NetForce books?
This is what Tom Clancy wrote about Op-Center:
====================
Clancy on the origin of Op Center.
This is public information. Steve Pieczenik MD and I were at my home
waiting for a friend to appear for a business meeting when I started
talking about a moribund TV project I'd worked on mainly as a joke. Steve,
it turned out, had a similar project behind him, and it turned out that
his project and mine both had an element which the other lacked. So, we
blended the ideas into what was actually his title "Op Center," and
approached Brandon Tartikoff to work with us on it.
====================
The books are "spin-offs" from the TV mini-series. Clancy and
Peiczenik created the original idea, characters, and situations.
The manuscripts are written by other authors. The Op-Center book
manuscripts are credited in the acknowledgments sections to Jeff
Rovin.
A similar thing has happened with the Power Plays and
NetForce books. Power Plays are being made into games (Politika
and ruthless.com) and NetForce was an ABC Mini-series.
Short answer, because Clancy did not write the books. He
only came up with the concept.
For further amplification, Ogden Johnson, III, an active
newsgroup participant, offers the following:
- For the umpteenth time in this
forum, the formulation 'Name of Author's Name of Series', in
this case Tom Clancy's Net Force and previously Tom Clancy's
Op Center, has been common in the publishing world for over
four decades [that I know of] to indicate that the book has
been written using a concept, or characters, or whatever,
from the named author, *by another writer*, who is usually
credited on the cover under the title, but not always.
The situation has been complicated by the prediliction of,
first, made-for-TV movies, and now, theatrical movie
releases to make sure you know that this is not a
run-of-the-mill, really cheapo and dumb, TV movie, but one
based on a real Jacqueline Suzanne, Sidney Sheldon, Steven
King or whoever book. That way, you will not feel so bad at
the run-of-the-mill, really cheapo and dumb, TV movie. This
is the total opposite of the publishing industry
formulation.
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B10 -- Op-Center: Why don't the book and the movie match?
I read the book and saw the movie. The two didn't even have
the same story line. One was a conflict in Korea. And the movie
was about missing warheads in the Soviet Union. (Russia). What's
going on?
The following answer provided by Douglas Adams
(dadams@falcon.cc.ukans.edu):
=========================
Op Center was designed as a focal point for stories and books to be
written around. All it involves is the Op Center itself and the cast of
characters, which can be used over and over in a variety of situations.
The book and the TV movie used the Op Center core with different
stories.
This kind of thing has gone on for a long time in s.f. and fantasy (For
example: Thieve's World, by Robert Lynn Asprin and the Berserker series,
by Fred Saberhagen), where a well known author creates a world/situation
for other authors to use. Why can't people accept that here?
======================
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B11 -- Clancy was supposed to be publishing a collection
of political essays by the end of 1995. What happened to them?
Tom Clancy writes: "'Reality Check' is on hiatus. Why? The
political landscape changed too fast."
AMAZON.COM continued to list it as a "not yet published work"
until February, 1998. All orders have now been canceled.
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B12 -- Was Ryan really confirmed at the end of DOH?
Clancy intended that Ryan should be confirmed, but he made a
mistake under pressure to meet his publisher's deadline.
Jack Ryan's nomination for the Vice Presidency was perfectly
legal. The 25th Amendment to the Constitution provides that
"Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice
President, the President shall nominate a Vice President..."
This part was followed.
The remainder of the Amendment reads "...who shall take
office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both houses of
Congress." Clancy made the mistake of saying Ryan only had to be
confirmed by the **Senate**, not the full Congress. Clancy has
stated that this mistake was made under deadline pressure and
should be ignored. Further books in the series will pretend the
mistake never happened.
The remainder of the procedure, i.e. the confirmation by
voice vote, is correct. The fact that Ryan was never sworn as
Vice President is irrelevant, because the Amendment states that
he shall take office "upon confirmation by a majority vote...".
Also, he was already under oath from his CIA and USMC days.
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B13 -- What did the final question in EO mean?
At the end of the final press conference in Executive Orders,
Ryan answers "Yes, I will" to an implied question. The question
is "Will you run for election?" (Re-election is not an issue,
since he was never elected to the office he now holds).
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B14 -- Time conflicts in the books
Hey! The dates in this book don't work out! What's going on
here?
Yes, there are time/date conflicts in the books. It is
fiction, folks, so not everything has to match the "real world"
perfectly. Clancy has stated that there are three irreconcilable
time conflicts in Without Remorse alone (I haven't figured them
out myself). That's likely to happen in fiction.
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B15 -- Ryan's Intelligence Stars
In the first chapter of Sum of All Fears, the National
Security Advisor remarks that Ryan has "Two Intelligence Stars,
the submarine business... and the thing with Gerasimov." The
text then says "Jack actually had three. But the decoration for
the third was locked away in a very safe place, and was
something so secret that even the new President didn't and
wouldn't ever know."
It is often wondered what the third star is for. The first is
obviously for bringing in Red October in HFRO. The second is for
arranging Gerasimov's defection in COTK. The third, most secret
one, is for Ryan's rescue of the US troops in Colombia during
CAPD.
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B16: Did Trent and Fellows survive DoH?
Many people think Congressmen Trent and Fellows died in the
catastrophe at the end of Debt of Honor. This is simply not
true, as can be seen by reading the book.
Trent and Fellows were with Ryan and his family at the time
of the explosion. Ryan survived; the Congressmen survived.
Quoting from Debt of Honor: "'Let's go!' Andrea Price screamed
before anyone else, and with that, the agents lifted every
member of the family, carrying- dragging them back to the
Longworth Building, leaving the two House members to catch up on
their own." This *clearly* shows the Congressmen were alive
after the explosion.
Quoting further: "'What the hell was that?' Sam Fellows
gasped..." "Trent and Fellows just watched, waving the others on
their way."
Furthermore, in Executive Orders, during the funeral scene in
EO (page 95), the news commentators say the following:
"What do we really know about Mr. Ryan?"
"Not much," the commentator admitted. "His government service
has been almost exclusively in CIA. He has the respect of
Congress, on both sides of the aisle. He's worked with Al Trent
and Sam Fellows for years - that's one of the reasons both
members are still alive. ..."
Trent and Fellows survived. There can be no argument on this
point.
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B17: Where did the idea for HfRO come from?
The following was offered by
Daniel Khaykis.
The following interview question and answer was taken from a
transcript at
http://www.simonsays.com/titles/0671574175/transcript.html
Q: Mr. Clancy how did you get the idea for HfRO? TC: The Hunt
for Red October is based on a real incident. On November 8,
1975, the Soviet Krivak class missile frigate Storozhedoy [
NOTE: actually it is pronounced Storozhevoy, translates
"Guardian" ] attempted to defect from Latvia to the Swedish
island of Gotland. The mutiny was led by the ship's political
officer whose name was Valeri Sablin, the mutiny was
unsuccessful, the ship was stopped, Captain Sablin was captured,
arrested, court martialed [ NOTE from DK: court martial began
July 13, 1976 ], and executed by Soviet military authorities.
Addition to TC's answer:
While the "officially" announced intention of Sablin was
defection, in reality, if I remember correctly, he intended to
sail to Leningrad and openly declare his position against
Politburo.
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B18: Is John Clark black or white?
Clark is white of Irish heritage. This fact has been
mentioned many times is several of the books. Red Storm
Entertainment, in developing the game companion to "Rainbow Six"
did have sketches of John Clark and Ding Chavez on their
website. The sketches are now missing on the website
unfortunately. Owners of the
Rainbow Six game
can see both John Clark and Ding Chavez.
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B19: What is the CIA Organizational Structure?
The following was written by
Jackie McElroy, B.A.,
E.M.D. and posted to alt.books.tom-clancy. Note that this
structure existed until the Clinton Administration. It is no
longer the same.
It is kind of confusing but kind of organizationally orderly also.
Basically, the organizational structure at the top level of Cia runs as thus:
Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
and then the heads of the Directorates:
Deputy Director of Intelligence (handles estimates, interpretation,
production)
Deputy Director of Operations (handles agent recruitment, covert ops,
liasion with other servies)
Deputy Director of Science & Technology (handles S&T)
Deputy Director of Administration (handles, well, administrative
stuff, like personnel, logistics, finance, and security.
In addition to being the head of the CIA, the Director of Central Intelligence is
also the titular head of the entire U.S. intelligence community. There are various
staffs assigned to his office to help him in that role. The Deputy Director of
Central Intelligence more-or-less sees to the daily run-of-the-mill operations
of the CIA itself.
You may wish to check out the intelligence community's
(CIA's) website:
http://www.odci.gov particularly given the changes
instituted by Clinton.
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B20: How does he (Tom Clancy) know all this stuff
Clancy has stated numerous times that all information in the
books is public information. The afterword to Sum of All Fears
(as well as being a plot element) made reference to the fact
that much of the necessary information is found in public
sources. You just have to look for it. This is the latest post
to the newsgroup regarding a part of this recurring thread:
How Does He
Know All This Stuff
Clancy has also stated numerous times that if anyone gives
him classified data he will immediately turn them into the
appropriate authorities.
On 02/12/2000, Clancy posted a message that contains more on
this subject. This message is
here.
What about classified information or whether the CIA and FBI
ever contacted him? This message from TC dealing with this
subject is here.
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B21: Light Weapon in DOH
A book by Col. John Alexander, USA (ret.) was recently
published which includes the light weapon. The book is called
"Future War" and is described in the
non-fiction
section of this FAQ.
Clancy's post to the newsgroup regarding the light weapon in
DOH was as follows.
- I am restricted by contract in what I can say about it.
I was interested in the *how* mechanism of the instrument's
effectiveness, and so I called a friend at Johns Hopkins (I
hesitate to reveal names; suffice it to say a high-ranking
ophthamologist who treats me) who admitted to me that he
wasn't sure, and so he referred me to a NEURO-ophthamologist
who then speculated on how it had to work. I had to give him
specifications in lumens (don't ask; I didn't memorize it
and I don't know where my secretary filed it). He gave me a
twenty-minute education in how the eye nerves interface with
the nervous system (which is his mission in life), and as
the old joke goes, I learned more about penguins than I ever
wanted to know.
-
- The effectiveness of the weapon is distance-limited due
to the inverse-square law. Within a given radius it will
cause incapacitation from neural shock. For a far larger
radius it will dazzle very badly. At a radius as yet
undetermined it will cause retinal burns, and the issue of
UV shielding has not yet been resolved to my satisfaction.
This thing will fry a person's eyeballs. I'm not an
engineer, and in any case, though I regard this gadget as a
potentially very useful home-defense weapon, not to mention
it's law-enforcement applications, I am fearful of its
falling into criminal hands. So, no, guys, I will not
discuss it in an open forum. I *have* discussed it with some
FBI and USSS friends, and made the proper contacts for them.
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B22: Value of books
Occasionally, questions pop up about either offering Clancy
books for sale, or asking to buy them.
Here, is a link to a "price guide" for Tom Clancy first
editions.
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Publishing Record
Listed here in publishing order are the most of the books
authored by Tom Clancy. The name of the publisher, the date of
first release and the copyright owner are included for both
hardcover and paperback editions.
Thanks to the following people: Andrew Toppan, Michael
Sensor, Bob Inskeep, Joe O'Connell, Mike Patterson,
Tim Klevar, Robert
Keller, J.D. Frankland, Cath Aiken, Ian Heywood, Nicolas Weeger,
Peter Zaadstra and Lars Dierich.
I have not spent any time updating this and if anyone wishes
to do so, please send your suggestions or corrections to
submissions@clancyfaq.com.
Publishing
Record
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