Stuart Leuthner by Clive Cussler
Poelle read the ten pages and sent Brown an e-mail. After informing him it could not possibly be the same book he had described in New York, she asked to see the rest of it. “We signed a deal with Random House,” Brown says, “Black Rain was published in 2010. The plot follows covert government operative Danielle Laidlaw, assisted by a mysterious ex-CIA agent known as Hawker, as they journey to the darkest regions of the Amazon to search for a lost Mayan city.
Brown was working on his third book continuing the adventures of Laidlaw and Hawker when he was contacted by Peter Lampack. “Shortly after I talked to Peter,” Brown says, “Clive called. He was in Morocco, and we had a wonderful conversation. When I asked him how he’d heard about me, he said he picked up my book in an airport. Talk about fate. All my life, I’ve been picking up Clive Cussler books in the airport.”
Working with Clive, Brown explains, “is like someone handing you the keys to their Ferrari - it’s fun to drive but don’t hit the wall in turn three or you’re going to catch hell. In some ways, collaborating with Clive is easier than writing my own books. Not only do Clive and I mix the process up like a creative stew, I know if I get stymied he’ll get me back on track.” Brown admits he will often end up feeling envious after a brainstorming session. “I end up thinking, damn, why didn’t I think of that?”
Early in his relationship with Clive, Brown recalls, “I was shocked when he axed a couple of my precious paragraphs. He noticed my dismay because he laughed and went on to describe a long and detailed scene he wrote in the early days of Dirk Pitt that ended up in the garbage can.”
Brown, like Clive’s other co-writers, learned one of the fundamental secrets to Clive’s success. “Clive is emphatic,” Brown explains, “Everything you write has to be interesting to the reader. You can’t spend a page describing a streetcar or the interior of a bar. One of his favorite refrains is, ‘Keep the action moving. That’s what separates the men from the boys - the boy’s overwrite.’”
Brown attended his first Cussler Con in 2011. “It was a fantastic experience,” he says. “Paul Kemprecos did a fantastic job with the NUMA Files, and I realize I’ve got big shoes to fill. Initially, I noticed some suspicious glances from his many fans, but I think I won them over.”
Devil’s Gate, Clive and Brown’s first collaboration, was published by Putnam on November 14, 2011. Four weeks later, it appeared on The New York Times bestseller list, ranked at number five. Reader reviews were overwhelmingly positive. One fan declared, “Cussler and his new co-author Graham Brown have hit a home run with this new adventure. For Cussler fans the fun is back.” Another said, “Graham Brown has re-energized the NUMA Files with his thrilling collaboration with Cussler - I felt as if I stepped into a time machine and was transported back to Clive at his peak.”
In June 2011, Clive was again faced with the task of finding another co-writer. Shortly after The Kingdom, the third novel in the Fargo series, was published, Grant Blackwood resigned to concentrate on a new series of his own. As Barbara Peters had done earlier with Justin Scott, she suggested Clive read the work of Thomas Perry.
A native of Tonawanda, New York, Perry earned a B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Rochester. He is the author of seventeen novels, including The Butcher’s Boy, awarded an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel, and Vanishing Act, selected as a “100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century” by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Perry and his wife, Jo, have also worked extensively in television both as writers and producers, including stints with Simon and Simon and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Clive, impressed with Perry’s writing, offered him the job of co-writing the Fargo series. “After I talked to Clive,” he says, “I read the existing Fargo books, not only to find out what was wanted, but if I thought I could do it - or more accurately, learn to do it. When I asked around about Clive, I was amazed by the number of positive reviews. People just love him, and I can see why. Once the business preliminaries were over, I spent two days at his home in Arizona. He is not only wonderful company, I’ve already started to learn things from him.”
On July 15, 2011, Clive’s family rented a beach house outside of Puerto Vallarta and celebrated his 80th birthday. On hand for the festivities: Janet, her daughter Whitney, and husband Dale; Dirk and Kerry and their girls Lauren and Bryce; Teri and her children Jason and Amie; Amie’s husband Tim, his children Haley and Katie; and Dayna and her boyfriend Brian.
“We managed to get Clive in the ocean to go boogie boarding a time or two,” Dirk says. “He also rode a series of zip-lines through the jungle. It was a hoot for everyone and a bit of a challenge for an eighty-year-old guy, but Clive, as always, was game. We cracked open a fifty-year-old bottle of Bordeaux for his birthday dinner, and afterward, my Dad and I spent a lot of time sitting on the patio overlooking the ocean. We drank margaritas, smoked cigars and talked about cars, shipwrecks, and the next big adventure.”
Barbara Peters believes Clive will never retire. “He’s in good health, and there’s nothing else he’d rather do. What would he do if he didn’t write? For all his kindness, Clive is not really a social animal. The books allow him to touch people’s lives and do other things, like the cars and shipwrecks, but I think Clive’s happiest in a world of his own making.”
Having represented Clive through both the lean years and his remarkable success, Peter Lampack knows his client as well as anybody. “Clive has never been more alive,” Lampack says. “If there are no problems with his health, I see no reason why Clive would want to retire. He has a talented group of writers who are helping to carry the load. This provides Clive and Janet with time to travel. Two years ago he spent a month in Europe. Last year he was in Egypt. He spent a week in Afghanistan in 2011, and was only back for a few weeks, before heading off to India. I’m not sure I could do that.”
Clive’s trip to Afghanistan was sponsored by the USO. Forsaking the familiar troupe of musicians, comedians, and leggy starlets, “Operation Thriller” sent five authors to the Persian Gulf in November 2011, to meet the troops, discuss their books, and sign autographs. In addition to Clive, Sandra Brown, Kathy Reichs, Mark Bowden, and Andrew Peterson were along for the week-long tour. The flight to the war zone in a C-130 Hercules brought back memories of Clive’s experiences during the Korean War. “We were crammed into jump seats,” he says, “and had to wear ear plugs because the engines were so loud. During landings and takeoffs, the lights were turned out so we wouldn’t attract fire from the ground.”
In addition to sharing a b-hut - basically a large plywood box divided into cubicles - with nine soldiers, the five authors were required to wear helmets and body armor. “Our days started at dawn and often ended at midnight,” Andrew Peterson recalled. “Most of our time was spent interacting with the troops. Cussler was obviously the most popular and people were coming up right and left with Clive Cussler books.”
“During the entire experience,” Clive says, “It was obvious we were in a war zone, but it was wonderful to meet and talk to the servicemen and women.” In one memorable photograph, a camouflage-clad young lady plants a kiss on Clive’s cheek after receiving an autograph.
Seated in his studio, his rangy legs stretched out on his desk, Clive is surrounded by the books, models, and memorabilia accumulated during his forty-year career as a bestselling author, adventurer, and teacher. Asked if he has any regrets, Clive laughs. “It would be ludicrous of me to give you a long list of things I never got to do. I’ve had my low points - Barbara’s death was a terrible blow - but, I was lucky to meet Janet. Some mornings I still wake up and wonder if all of this is true.”
He pauses, “Well, if I really think about it, there are a couple. I’ve always said, if I found the Hunley and the Bonhomme Richard, I would die a happy man. We found the Hunley, but the Richard is still out there. I’m not willing to throw in the towel just yet. Dirk is going to continue the search, and you n
Another pause, “Bob Esbenson and I were at a Kruse auction in 1981 when they rolled out a Tucker. I didn’t bid, and the car ended up going for somewhere around $35,000. Bob was after me to bid, and I remember, like it was yesterday, telling him, ‘Not to worry, another one will come along.’ At the 2012 Barrett-Jackson Auction at Monterey, a Tucker sold for $2.9 million. That’s a regret!”
During the sixty-odd years Ellis Island was open for business, more than 15 million immigrants passed through its doors. By the early 1950s, the number of people entering the United States had dwindled to the point where the General Services Administration declared Ellis Island was “surplus to the needs of the federal government” and closed the facility.
For more than twenty years, the island’s structures lay fallow. Roofs leaked, pipes burst, machinery and furniture rusted in place, plaster ceilings collapsed, and vandals made off with copper pipes and decorative details. Various schemes to develop the island were floated, but Ellis Island’s future remained in limbo until 1982, when Lee Iacocca - whose parents had passed through the island - was chosen to head the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation.
Funded by private donations, the Ellis Island Immigration Museum opened in 1990. When Clive learned an immigrant’s name could be memorialized on the Wall of Honor for a donation of $150, he added Eric Cussler’s name to the list. Today, the wall, with more than 700,000 names, is one of the museum’s most popular exhibits.
In 2004, Clive was in New York for a meeting with his publisher. Finding he had an afternoon free, he decided to visit Ellis Island. While searching for his father’s name on the Wall of Honor, Clive struck up a conversation with a National Park Service employee. After Clive told him the story how his father conned his way into America by pretending to be a piano player, the young fellow suggested he should stop by the museum director’s office because he was always interested in personal recollections.
After hearing Clive’s story, the director thanked him for stopping by and suggested Clive would be remiss if he left without visiting one of the displays on the second floor. Clive climbed the stairs, walked down the hall and entered a room filled with artifacts, including a battered upright piano encased in glass. “I realized why the director sent me up there,” Clive says. “That piano was the same one my father played in 1924. I’ve always wondered what kind of courage, or terror - probably equal parts of each - it took to pull that off. I stood there, crying like a baby.”
A few minutes later, Clive turned and walked out of the hall, leaving behind the faded melody of a long forgotten German marching song.
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Published by New Word City Inc., 2016
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© Stuart Leuthner
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ISBN 978-1-936529-06-3
Clive Cussler, Stuart Leuthner