His novels have inspired various other works of fiction.
Early life
Clive Cussler was born in Aurora, Illinois, the son of Eric Edward Cussler and Amy Adeline (née Hunnewell),[3] and grew up in Alhambra, California. His father was from Germany and his mother's ancestors were from England.[4]
After his discharge from the military, Cussler went to work for the advertising industry, first as a copywriter and later as a creative director for two of the nation's most successful advertising agencies.[2] As part of his duties, Cussler produced radio and television commercials, many of which won international awards including an award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.[9]
After the publication in 1996 of Cussler's first nonfiction work, The Sea Hunters, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree in 1997 by the Board of Governors of the State University of New York Maritime College who accepted the work in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis. This was the first time in the college's 123-year history that such a degree had been awarded.[2]
In 2002, Cussler was awarded the Naval Heritage Award from the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation for his efforts concerning marine exploration.[10]
Clive Cussler began writing in 1965 when his wife took a job working nights for the local police department where they lived in California. After making dinner for the children and putting them to bed, he had no one to talk to and nothing much to do, so he decided to start writing.[12] His most famous character is marine engineer, government agent and adventurer Dirk Pitt. The Dirk Pitt novels frequently have an alternative history premise—such as "what if Atlantis were real?" or "what if Abraham Lincoln wasn't assassinated but was kidnapped?"[citation needed]
The first two Pitt novels, The Mediterranean Caper and Iceberg, were relatively conventional maritime thrillers. The third, Raise the Titanic!, made Cussler's reputation and established the pattern that subsequent Pitt novels would follow: a blend of adventure and advanced technology, generally involving megalomaniacal villains, lost ships, beautiful women, and sunken treasure.
Cussler's novels almost always begin with a chapter set in the past. These contain none of the novel's main characters and often seem disconnected from the plot until the main characters discover a mystery or secret relating the events of the first chapter to the rest of the story. This is almost always in the form of a long-lost artifact that is important to the villain's or hero's objectives. Often in the first chapter, a ship or airplane carrying a top-secret, important, or dangerous cargo is lost and never found, until it is recovered by a modern character later in the book.
Cussler's novels, like those of Michael Crichton, are examples of techno-thrillers that do not use military plots and settings. Where Crichton strove for scrupulous realism, however, Cussler prefers fantastic spectacles and outlandish plot devices. The Pitt novels, in particular, have the improbable quality of the James Bond or Indiana Jones movies, while also sometimes borrowing from Alistair MacLean's novels. Pitt himself is a super-hero reminiscent of Doc Savage and other characters from pulp magazines.
As an underwater explorer, Cussler discovered more than 60 shipwreck sites[14] and wrote non-fiction books about his findings. He was also the initiator of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), a non-profit organization with the same name as the fictional government agency that employs Dirk Pitt.
CSS Manassas, the first ironclad of the civil war, formerly the icebreaker Enoch Train.
A visual and interactive depiction of Cussler's NUMA Foundation Expeditions has been made available as an extension of NUMA's original website that has since been deleted.
Finds formerly believed to be important include:
Mary Celeste, the famed ghost ship that was found abandoned with cargo intact (the identification of this wreck as the Mary Celeste has since been placed into a state of question after one researcher disputed the claim's authenticity).[15]
Clive Cussler married Barbara Knight in 1955, and they remained married for nearly 50 years until her death in 2003.[17] Together they had three children—Teri, Dirk, and Dayna—four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
He was an avid car collector of classic automobiles that are on display at the Cussler Museum[18] in Arvada, Colorado. Clive Cussler was a part-time resident of both Arizona and Colorado.[19]
Cussler died at his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on February 24, 2020, at age 88 of undisclosed causes.[20]
Bibliography
Dirk Pitt Adventures
#
Title
Publication date
1
The Mediterranean Caper
1973
2
Iceberg
1975
3
Raise the Titanic!
1976
4
Vixen 03
1978
5
Night Probe
1981
6
Pacific Vortex!
1983
7
Deep Six
1984
8
Cyclops
1986
9
Treasure
1988
10
Dragon
1990
11
Sahara
1992
12
Inca Gold
1994
13
Shock Wave
1996
14
Flood Tide
1997
15
Atlantis Found
1999
16
Valhalla Rising
2001
17
Trojan Odyssey
2003
18
Black Wind
2004
19
Treasure of Khan
2006
20
Arctic Drift
2008
21
Crescent Dawn
2010
22
Poseidon's Arrow
2012
23
Havana Storm
2014
24
Odessa Sea
2016
25
Celtic Empire
2019
26
Clive Cussler's The Devil's Sea
2021
27
Clive Cussler's The Corsican Shadow
2023
The NUMA Files
This series of books is based on the character Kurt Austin, Team Leader of NUMA's Special Assignments division and his adventures. Some characters from the Pitt novels appear such as Sandecker, Al Giordino, Rudi Gunn, Hiram Yaeger and St. Julien Perlmutter. Pitt makes brief appearances in the books Serpent, White Death, Polar Shift, Devil's Gate, The Storm, Zero Hour, and Ghost Ship and is mentioned in Lost City. Juan Cabrillo, the captain of the ship Oregon, also made a brief appearance in The Pharaoh's Secret.
This series of books features a ship named the Oregon, which Cussler introduced in the Dirk Pitt Adventures novel Flood Tide (1997). While appearing to be a decrepit freighter, it is actually a high-tech advanced ship used by an unnamed and mysterious "Corporation" under the leadership of Juan Cabrillo. The ship is run like a business, with its crew being shareholders, taking jobs for the CIA and other agencies to help stop crime and terrorism. The crew is adept at disguises, combat, computer hacking and more to aid them in their missions. Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala, and Dirk Pitt all make cameo appearances in the fourth volume, Skeleton Coast (Cabrillo speaks to Pitt on the telephone; and Austin and Zavala appear at the end).
#
Title
Publication date
1
Golden Buddha
2003
2
Sacred Stone
2004
3
Dark Watch
2005
4
Skeleton Coast
2006
5
Plague Ship
2008
6
Corsair
2009
7
The Silent Sea
2010
8
The Jungle
2011
9
Mirage
2013
10
Piranha
2015
11
The Emperor's Revenge
2016
12
Typhoon Fury
2017
13
Shadow Tyrants
2018
14
Final Option
2019
15
Marauder
2020
16
Clive Cussler's Hellburner
2022
17
Clive Cussler's Fire Strike
2023
18
Clive Cussler's Ghost Soldier
2024
Isaac Bell Adventures
These books are set mostly in the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century. They center around Isaac Bell, a brilliant investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, which appears to be modeled after the real-life Pinkerton Agency. Like Pitt, Bell has an affinity for automobiles and is a crack shot. The first book reveals that Bell survives into 1950 with a wife and grown children. Though the setting is a century ago, the books still qualify as techno-thrillers, since they feature the advanced technology of that time such as private express trains, telegraphs, telephones, dreadnought battleships and early airplanes. Isaac Bell also is a principal character of the background story in the Fargo Adventures novel The Gray Ghost.
Built for Adventure: The Classic Automobiles of Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt
2011
Built to Thrill: More Classic Automobiles from Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt
2016
Children's books
Title
Publication date
The Adventures of Vin Fiz
2006
The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy
2010
(*) indicates books co-authored with Paul Kemprecos.
(†) indicates books co-authored with Graham Brown.
(††) indicates books authored by Graham Brown.
(‡) indicates books co-authored with Craig Dirgo.
(§) indicates books co-authored with Jack Du Brul.
(§§) indicates books authored by Jack Du Brul.
(‖) indicates books co-authored with Justin Scott.
(^) indicates books co-authored with Grant Blackwood.
(+) indicates books co-authored with Thomas Perry.
(×) indicates books co-authored with Russell Blake.
(≠) indicates books co-authored with Boyd Morrison.
(**) indicates books co-authored with Robin Burcell.
(***) indicates books authored by Robin Burcell.
(╛) indicates books authored by Mike Maden.
