Slashdot Mirror

He was very tech oriented and worked extensively with people in the field to try to make his novels sound as accurate on the details as he could. He was good enough at taking non-classified data and extrapolating where things could go from there that he received visits from the FBI and CIA to find out how he knew what he knew.

He certainly made things up (caterpillar drive for the sub etc), but the point is he worked tirelessly to get technical details right in as many cases as he could, and to try get them as plausible as he could get away with in those cases where he needed to make the up. He put a lot more effort into getting the details right than most authors and far more than Hollywood ever did and for that his passing is very relevant for Slashdot. He took creative license, but he took it far less than a lot of other authors (Bourne Ultimatum series etc) and used it far more selectively.

He wrote 17 number one selling books and had three of his books turned into blockbuster movies. He was active in having games made about his books even back in the 80's and made sure a series of games was made ever since then. He came up with ideas for terrorism like flying a civilian airliner into a government building before 9/11.

There is a Tom Clancy book touring the Miami.

http://www.clancyfaq.com/Hold%20Originals/Non-fict.htm

Except for The Lone Gunmen (March 2001 -- actually targetting the WTC) or Tom Clancy (1994).

Have you ever read any of the Netforce books? In them people connect to their computers and the Internet through a neural interface. Their computing environment is like the real world. Your "desktop" could be a castle on the Irish coast, your icons would be actual objects in the castle. Websites are like different worlds. Seeing the beginnings of the technology that could make this happen is really cool.

On the other hand, the order of battle for the officers goes lieutenant, captain, colonel, commander, which is not similar to any existing military force structure. It's a direct lift from the old show's character names: Commander Adama, Colonel Tigh, Captain Apollo, Lieutenant Starbuck.

You're right, its not correct, but it IS similar. NCOs are Navy ranks, but officers are Army/Marines, while Adama is just messed up. My guess is that he was supposed to be a Commodore or Admiral, but TV made it Commander Adama. Of course, this is also fiction set in space originating from a distant planet... SO, anything goes.

Wiki
Clancy FAQ
Another

Tom Clancy envisioned a visible light "stun gun" apparatus used in Debt of Honor that was used for among other things temporarily blinding airline pilots, which Clark and Chavez used to take out two Japanese early warning aircraft. Apparently it is based on a real weapon; See here.

Not historical, (and not movies originally) but Tom Clancy tested naval combat with Larry Bond's Harpoon

The computer game did not exist at the time, he had played out the engagemnets with the original board game.

From the Clancy FAQ:
http://www.clancyfaq.com/Clancy%20contacted%20by%2 0CIA%20and%20FBI.htm

Check out some Tom Clancy novels. He goes into such immense technical detail, far beyond any other author I have read. I originally thought his novels would be patriotic stories of people defending their nation, blah blah blah.. Instead they are just very practical very interesting novels on how intelligence agancies work and the tech they use.

The technical accuracy was so good in one of his novels that the CIA actually contacted him about it asking how he got his hands on classified information.

Prior to September 11th, 2001, it was inconceivable that anyone would be capable of using airplanes as guided missiles and then fly them into buildings. Look where we are now.

Read the end of Debt of Honour by Tom Clancy. Same instrument (plane), same city (Washington), different building, different nationality of the pilot.

They lost my business MONTHS ago. It is because of their return policy.

About a year and a half ago, I picked up a few small things at one of the local stores, including a book (The Bear and the Dragon) as a Christmas gift for somebody. I ended up getting a copy of the book myself that year...but I already had it. I figured I'd head in a few days after Christmas, turn it in, and get something else.

They wouldn't take it back because they said they didn't sell it. Never mind that I had bought the exact same book from them a few weeks earlier. The "customer-service" rep must've thought she was auditioning for Seinfeld or something, as she did a fairly good impersonation of the Soup Nazi. :-|

I went a couple doors down to Barnes & Noble. Even though I had never bought a copy of that book there, they took it with no hassles. I picked out two or three paperbacks and got a gift card with the difference to apply to a future purchase.

I wore the blue shirt for nearly five years...but with that lack of customer service, Best Buy can fsck off now for all I care. Some would probably say they're no better, but Circuit City, Costco, and Sam's Club have been getting my "toy" purchases more recently. At least none of them have tried to screw me yet.