This will probably be the last book of his that I read........
THE KINGDOM
Chapter 16 :
The single engine Piper Cub banked sharply and descended through three thousand feet.
Sitting on opposite sides of the aisle, Sam and Remi watched the cliffs rise up, swallowing the plane as it lined up for the final approach.
.....(later)...the plane braked to a stop, and the ENGINES began winding down.
(this happens in Tibet)
Clive knows his cars........you'd think planes as well.
Sad.......
very sad.
LD
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass....
It's about learning
to dance in the rain.
Did he write it of was it one of the other guys off of his outline?
Beard
More Scotch and Stogies for my Wingman!
good question.......shall checkOriginally Posted by BurningBeard
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass....
It's about learning
to dance in the rain.
I used to read his earlier stuff quite a bit, but since he got away from Dirk Pitt, I haven't.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
I adore Clive Cussler's work, he's awesomeThe Pitt Series, the Oregon Files, and this excerpt... the Fargo Adventures.
Chances are he worked with his son Dirk, on this or Jack du Brul... He has knackered up aircraft details now and then... but he is a car and ship fanatic... NOT planes.
We do need to learn to disconnect from the hole picking that groups like ours get into at times. In Pacific Vortex!, they set landing flaps 100 degrees in a C54. Was I bothered? no, not really, after a chuckle, I continued reading and the story was amazing; that tiny detail, like this one, wasn't massively relevant to the story arc.
As a writer myself, I know its insanely hard to get every detail right. It takes painstaking research, and even then, with fiction... sometimes the absolute detailed truth doesn't work. You have to stretch or bend things, or adapt it to fit the scenario... because a technical manual format would ruin that part, when an offhand comment that may not be entirely true works better... allows something MORE important, to happen. Like the hairy approach...
Anyway, have you considered it was perhaps a Supercub? you can fit two in the back seat of that... isle no, but it fits.... its not the engine screw up, but thats more an editorial typo that was missed.... Blame the editors not the author! rofl
Maybe Sam and Remi are siamese twins?
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass....
It's about learning
to dance in the rain.
I read "raise the Titanic!" back in the 70's when it came out...I was hooked to Pitt and Al Giordino ever since.
Its amazing that Clive would predict, in a non -fiction manner and a total shot in the dark that the Titanic's boiler would be spotted first in that story. Less than a decade later, Bob Ballard would stumble upon it in real life in the same fashion....scary isn't it?
Probably just a typo from the proof writers that made it into print.
And IIRC Bob Ballard found Titanic some time before it was announced to the world, as US DOD had funded the
expedition to find a missing submarine.
ttfn
Pete
I've been reading Clive Cussler's books for over half my life and just love his macho heros and exciting adventures. He has helped new writers as well as his son become established in the art. I read a tremendous amount of books and the authors make mistakes some times but that won't stop me from reading a paticular author. Let us know when you get through with your first novel Luckdog so we can criteque it for you.
Mechanic
Judging from your spelling skills, Mech, I would have to write it at the 3rd grade level.
After 15 years as an English/Language Arts teacher and published photo-journalist, my critiques tend to be overly critical at times.
LD
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass....
It's about learning
to dance in the rain.
I've read and enjoyed just about all of his Dirk Pitt adventures but the Isaac Bell/Van Dorn Detective Agency series he has developed in the past few years is the best yet. Just my opinion.
"The Wrecker" was one of the best -- As I remember, it was about 20 some years to deliver justice to a criminal. Reminiscent of the Osama Bin Laden scenario which did not take quite as long.
I admit I am the worst at spelling that's why I usualy use a spell check but I was trying to make a subtle point and I hope you know it was only in jest. But if your upset I will call in help from Dirk, Juan and Kurt and if things get in dire straights I'm sure Clive will show up with a little assistance. :ernae:
Sorry Paul.......I was a tad nasty with my reply. I've been reading Clive forever myself and have even bought some of his books twice (when they do a reprint 5 years later and change the cover art). Make sure you come along with Clive and "the boys". We'll put down a few after I give everyone rides in my restored 1934 Chev. 2 door Master Coupe (baby chit brown w/orange pinstripes and wheels).
LD
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass....
It's about learning
to dance in the rain.
I stopped reading "Clive Cussler" novels when the quotes became necessary. I tend to find more than a few details wrong in the later novels. More recently I have been reading novels by Harlan Coben. It isn't quite "adventure" but the stories are pretty good. He gets some details wrong about firearms, but I just let it slide because they aren't crucial to the stories.
These days, I read mostly tech manuals.
- Ivan.
Paul:
I read your original post and I must admit the subtlety escaped me also. I am accustomed to seeing persons on a message board who indicate sarcasm or attempting to be subtle with a:
1. :=) -- Smiley face at the end. What I said was in jest.
2. <grin> -- I'm grinning. Again, what I said was in jest.
3. (Sarcasm on/off) -- Everything in-between was sarcasm.
This way, the reader knows that no offense is really intended.
Proofing mistakes happen... fact of the game. Oddly enough, even after you get the work sent off... get it back proofed, re-read the edit, and approve it, you still miss 10-20 muckup. Its why its a repeated cycle.
I've read some of his later works, with his son and Jack, and I do like them. Inaccuracies are part of fiction. People don't expect liberties to be taken, when full factual descriptions of technical subjects of interest to the reader in question would probably ruin the flow. Some authors, just don't know airplanes/ships/Grumman Ducks (Oh matron), and as such pick a 'likely' one to do a job. Read in the wider context of the scene, it makes little odds.
On the Titanic subject, Clive is a shipwreck expert, and founder of the real world NUMA (a charity that found the Lusitania). To theorise that the boilers would break free and behave in the way they did, thus providing a clue to the location is a fairly logical leap in wreck detective work. He's definitely a smart cookie.
Hated the 'Raise the Titanic' film, loved the book... Oddly, I loved the Sahara movie AND the book... even though the former took one or two liberties and glossed over Cussler's more... adult content. The battle at the fort... that was epically conceived.
I cannot confirm or deny that I have or have not possibly possibly not made one or two NUMA paintjobs for various aircraft :P
Regarding the boilers on the Titanic....
During the actual sinking, the hull apparently broke apart at the surface.
The premise of the Cussler book was that it was possible to raise the wreckage. How intact did the book describe the wreckage? In other words, I thought the hull was nearly intact, and if so, how does a boiler pop out?
I HAVE read this novel, but it has been so long that I don't remember the details. When the exploration of the real Titanic was conducted, I pretty much forgot the book account.
- Ivan.
well, i never eat taco bell, EVER. that's one thing. and besides, even if i did ride a bicycle while i was there, it would only be for a few days.
Your correct GLH that it can be difficult at times to read a persons true meaning in a text message without the use of smiley faces but I have never really cared for them coming from an older school. I try not to offend anyone when I write and will be quick to apologize if I do so out of misunderstanding. I avoid any forum thread I see as confrontational but I just had to jump into this one (not that it was confrontational). I just wont let anybody mess with my Clive Cussler.:tgun2: :greenbo:
I sometimes wounder how people communicated what they thought and felt over great distances when the only form of communication available was the written word and possibly months before the recipient received it, as it was in the18th century. I read a lot of history.
Paul
</grin>
Now lets remember Cussler's book was years before the real discovery... so theoretical.
he theorized that she sank intact... well, no, not theorized... 'modified history' to suit a book about raising her. The breakup was documented fact. Pretty pointless raising two halves of the ship.
Anyway... as the ship descended, the boilers would have apparently ripped loose of their mounts, and barred through bulkheads towards the lowest point, before bursting from the bow.... the sudden weight loss would have created a shift in direction pulling her further away from her sinking location... lnteresting enough adaptation with physics to back it up... if she'd stayed in one piece, it might have gone down that way.
But seriously folks.
Sorta.
Never have read any of Clive's work.
Lately been reading a lot of Carl Hiaason and Jeff Shaara.
But authors do make mistakes I don't write that much and I goof quite often.
I tend to blame the editors it's their job to catch the goofs.
After I finish this one (The Kingdom), I'm going to re-read a Victorian era book called The Pearl for the 500th time........
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass....
It's about learning
to dance in the rain.
While itd your book, and you're job to find and fix mistakes... the editors are paid to catch what you miss... Which makes it their fault (Im sticking to that story your honor)
Technical errors like this one or two, will never get caught by editors... who probably in all likelyhood have less technical knowlage on the field than the author.... and as such, would never know the difference.
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