On Sun, 25 Apr 2004 18:09:10 GMT, Guy Alcala
wrote:

I just prefer Coyle's much more nuanced approach to Clancy's cartoons -
comparing say "Code of Honor" or "God's Children" to "Clear and Present
Danger", the difference between the two authors' approach is stark. I'll
be curious to see if Coyle writes one about Iraq; Clancy's approach would
be to write about the period of "major combat" and end it there when the
good guys 'won', in a victory for truth, justice and the american way.
Coyle would be writing about the whole last year, having to choose from a
bunch of bad options and co-opt people who often aren't very nice and/or
have their own agendas, collateral damage (there isn't any in a Clancy
book, at least none caused by the US -our weapons either score bullseyes or
miss/malfunction in open ground), the war would be fought by hot, dirty,
tired and scared 19 year-old PFCs led by 25 year old Sgts. instead of stock
Hollywood 'characters' led by John Wayne or Harrison Ford, etc.

I can't sit back and let you pigeon-hole Clancy that way. I'll agree
that the stretch from Jack Ryan naval officer in "Hunt for Red
October" to President Ryan has been a bit cartoonish. But the grunt
level warfare of Dingo Chavez in the Columbian jungle is pretty
compelling. The convoluted turns of Sum of All Fears and other Clancy
works make a great read, even when belief must be suspended.

The point of good fiction is that it suspends disbelief and does so in
a manner which is sufficiently compelling to keep the reader returning
for more. To fault Clancy for look of real-world realism (his
fictional realism, AKA "techno-babble", is sufficiently detailed to be
believable), is to place the novelist in a creative strait-jacket.

Norman Mailer gives you scared 19-year olds, if that's what you must
have.

Is Steven King's stuff compelling? Absolutely! Is it realistic? Of
course not. But, sit in a dimly lit room past mid-night on a stormy
night with Salem's Lot on your lap and I'll guarantee you believe in
vampires.

((All of the above being said, I'll agree that Clancy's sub-contracted
work--what is it? Ops Center?--is crap!))


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8