Stuart Leuthner
Teri, now separated from her husband, was living in Denver with her son and daughter and working as a teacher’s assistant for the Arvada school system. Dayna moved to California when she was twenty-two and worked in Hollywood as a costume assistant. An accomplished dancer, actress, and musician (she plays the drums), Dayna was now selling real estate, performing in a local theater, and freelancing as a wardrobe consultant. Single, she shares her life with, “a wonderful boyfriend and an equally wonderful Weimaraner hound named Otto.”
After working in Washington for two years, Dirk earned an MBA at Berkeley. In 1987, he moved to Phoenix and was hired by Motorola as a financial analyst for the Iridium program.
Iridium turned out to be an expensive disaster for Motorola, but a boon for Dirk. In 1998, Kerry Kennedy was hired as a program planner. A native of Los Alamos, New Mexico, Kerry graduated with an MBA from the College of Santa Fe. “We met during a training class,” Dirk recalls. “I hit on her during a company ski club trip. For reasons I don’t understand, Kerry overlooked the fact that she was a much better skier than I am.”
Dirk and Kerry were married on March 16, 2002, in Scottsdale. “Clive and Barbara,” Dirk says, “let us use their backyard for the reception. My mother looked beautiful and happy. After we came home from our honeymoon, I learned the doctors had found some spots on her brain shortly before the wedding. The summer and fall of 2002 would turn out to be the final fight in my mother’s losing battle.”
Barbara received radiation treatments and chemotherapy, but by the first week in December, her condition had worsened, and Teri and Dayna flew to Telluride to see her. “Dad had to do a mini book tour back east,” Teri says, “I remember Mom looking so frail.”
On Christmas Eve, the family gathered at Dirk’s house. “My mother’s physical condition was distressing,” Dirk recalls. “She had lost a lot of weight and had trouble walking.” Dayna remembers a conversation with her father while they were decorating the tree. “He told me they had called hospice for Barbara. Mom was lying on the couch, but she was not actually there. I have always been the goofy comedian of the family and that night I only managed to get one little smile out of Mom.”
Assisted by Bertha Garcia, a caregiver provided by hospice, Teri and Dayna were now providing around the clock care for their mother. “We didn’t even have a kitchen,” Teri says. “Dad was having the kitchen remodeled and was adding an addition to the house. Everything was blocked off with tarps, and Dayna and I ended up heating prepared food in a microwave. I know Dad was doing the remodeling for Mom because he thought if the house was fixed up she wouldn’t dare die. It was his way to hope for the best.”
“The hospice people did a great service,” Dirk ways, “but they were a bit liberal with the painkillers. We bullied them to ease back on the meds, and Mom was more lucid.” He laughs, “Kerry and I needed a new dining room table. Barbara had offered to purchase one for a wedding present, but it was put on the back burner when she got sick. While I was visiting her one afternoon, she tried to climb out of bed, with a slew of IVs sticking in her arms, and take me furniture shopping. Mom was always thinking of someone else.”
By mid-January, it was obvious Barbara’s time was short. “The last three days,” Dayna says, “were the hardest. They put her on a respirator and Teri was painting Mom’s nails when she stopped breathing. I ran to get Clive, and we all fell into each other’s arms. Mom had an inner, quiet beauty that she never lost, even at the end.”
Dirk recalls a bright moment in those melancholy days. “Kerry was a few months pregnant and had an ultrasound scheduled for January 20th. I know Barbara was fighting hard to see her new grandchild. We brought the video over to my parent’s house and my mother, alert as ever, was joking about baby names. The next morning, she left us.”
Barbara Claire Cussler died on January 21, 2003, and was laid to rest in Dallas Park, a cemetery situated in Ridgway, a small town near Telluride. Surrounded by the mountain beauty she loved, Barbara’s grave is marked by a pink marble stone, engraved with an inscription composed by Clive: ENDEARED TO EVERYONE SHE TOUCHED. SHE WALKS WITH THE ANGELS. The stone is also engraved with Clive’s epithet: IT WAS A GREAT PARTY WHILE IT LASTED. I TRUST IT WILL CONTINUE ELSEWHERE.
Five months later, a few days shy of what would have been Barbara’s seventieth birthday, Kerry and Dirk welcomed Lauren Barbara Cussler into the world. “We both marvel,” Dirk says, “how much she looks like Barbara.”
During the months following Barbara’s death, Dirk recalls, “It was obvious my father was grieving deeply over my mother’s death. We lived a few blocks away, and Kerry and I would have him over for dinner or haul him off to see a movie. The only time Clive appeared relatively happy was when he was holed up in his office. If my father has anything you could call therapy, it’s work.”
Clive’s office, best described as a “man cave,” is located in a separate building adjacent to the main house. Entered through an oversized set of carved doors he brought back from Mexico, the two-story sanctuary is home to Clive’s imposing custom-made desk, an extensive library, assorted memorabilia, and a collection of museum-quality models and paintings commemorating many of the shipwrecks discovered by NUMA.
If taking refuge in his office was Clive’s way of coping with Barbara’s death, there was more than enough work to keep him occupied. In addition to the final editing of the next Dirk Pitt book, Trojan Odyssey, a second spinoff series was in the works.
In Flood Tide, published in 1997, Clive had introduced the Oregon, a decrepit tramp freighter whose crew helped Pitt out of a tight spot. The Oregon’s rusty hull, peeling paint, and decks littered with broken machinery are camouflage for a high-tech super-ship bristling with an awesome assortment of weapons, an interior combining the headquarters of a fortune 500 company with a NASA control center, and a futuristic propulsion system providing performance matching anything on the high seas.
Operating under the auspices of a mysterious organization known as “The Corporation,” the Oregon is commanded by swashbuckler Juan Cabrillo. Assisted by his highly-trained soldier of fortune crew, Cabrillo is hired by powerful Western interests to engage and defeat the forces of evil - for a price.
Encouraged by the success of the NUMA Files, Putnam suggested the Oregon Files, a series centered on the exploits of Cabrillo and the Oregon. Clive agreed and selected Craig Dirgo to co-write the series. In addition to his collaboration on The Sea Hunters, Dirgo had co-written Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed. Released in 1998, the book is a potpourri of all things having to do with Clive and his books, including a fictional “reunion” Clive spends with Dirk Pitt and his supporting players at Pitt’s Washington hanger.
During December 2002, the sequel to “the book nobody wanted” was published. The Sea Hunters II, co-written with Dirgo, picks up where The Sea Hunters left off. Clive once again takes readers along on NUMA’s search for the wrecks of the Mississippi steamboat New Orleans, the legendary “ghost” ship Mary Celeste, and the RMS Carpathia, the ship that came to the rescue of the Titanic’s survivors, among others. The Sea Hunters II was another bestseller, arriving on the Times list on December 22, 2002.
In addition to his working relationship with Clive, Dirgo was involved with Dirk Cussler on a writing project. After the Iridium debacle, Dirk was ready for a new career. “Growing up with a father who is a writer, you wonder if the genes have been passed along. Rather than jumping back into the corporate world, it was time to test my family’s genetics.” Dirk and Craig teamed up to write a series they called Through the Eyes of History. The first volume would highlight the pioneers of aviation: Glenn Curtiss, the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, etc. After completing several chapters, they sent them to Peter Lampack. The agent’s lack of enthusiasm, coupled with the fact Dirgo was scheduled to begin work on the Oregon Files, put the kibosh on the project.
On a spring afternoon in 2003, Clive and Dirk were eating lunch in a Paradise Valley bistro. After listening to his s
on relate the frustrations of his search for a new profession, Clive suggested, “Why don’t you take a shot at Dirk Pitt?” Dirk might have been caught off guard, but the idea of enlisting his son as a co-author had been percolating in Clive’s mind for some time. “I was starting to feel burned out,” he acknowledges. “After nineteen Dirk Pitt books, it was getting progressively harder to come up with something fresh. I have always enjoyed the research, but the actual writing is hard work. While I was writing Trojan Odyssey, it hit me - what at one time had been simply a chore had turned into something approaching drudgery.”
While Clive wrestled with Dirk Pitt’s future, his loyal readers were picking up hints Clive might be changing course. A concerned fan shared his fears on the internet. “When Kemprecos and Dirgo arrived I wondered if Clive was getting ready to retire. Also, when he introduced Dirk, Jr. and his sister, it suggested the Pitt books were being tailored for a new generation.” Another reader worried, “From the tone of this book [Valhalla Rising] I wonder if someone else other than Clive will end up writing a series of Dirk, Jr. and Summer Pitt novels.”
Dirk Pitt’s maturing convinced Wayne Valero that Clive might be ready to pass the torch. “As Dirk Pitt began to age,” Valero wrote, “his character naturally evolved more. He now had a wife (Pitt married long-time girlfriend Congresswoman Loren Smith at the end of Trojan Odyssey) and a family he never knew, notably Dirk Jr. and Summer. To some extent, the elder Pitt was beginning to suffer the aches and pains that accompany age.”
One reader praised Clive’s realistic approach. “Unlike James Bond, who will forever remain young, Clive has treated us fans to one simple reality: we all grow older, and so has Pitt.” Another preferred fantasy. “As a man of a certain age facing the realities of getting older, I want to escape with a character who has heroic adventures, harrowing scrapes and dalliances with beautiful women, not somebody coping with the problems of an expanding waistline and reduced libido.”
After the significance of his father’s proposal had sunk in, Dirk concedes to a few pangs of guilt. “Let’s be honest,” he says. “I’m Clive Cussler’s son, a relationship that has provided me with a huge advantage. Choosing me to continue the Dirk Pitt franchise is somewhat unfair when you consider the number of talented writers struggling to get published.” Clive dismisses any insinuation that choosing his son as a co-writer was an act of nepotism. “During the year Dirk was going to school and later, when he was living in Washington and Phoenix, he wrote Barbara and myself wonderful letters. Those letters, along with his extensive business writing, convinced me he deserved a shot at Pitt.”
It was going to take more than Dirk’s letters to convince Peter Lampack the collaboration was going to work. “I admit,” Lampack says. “I had my doubts when Clive suggested Dirk could step in and co-write the Pitt books. He’s a proud father and Dirk’s a good kid, but there was a lot riding on what Clive was proposing.” Although it would ultimately be up to Dirk to demonstrate he could write bestselling fiction, Lampack believed the success of the NUMA Files and Oregon Files would work to Dirk’s advantage.
“The success of the spinoffs,” Lampack says, “can be attributed to Clive’s high level of quality control and his willingness to coach his co-writers until they get their bearings. I was confident Clive’s readers would give Dirk a chance, but I also knew Clive would never accept anything beneath his standards, even from his son.”
At Putnam, Neil Nyren also had reservations about Dirk’s lack of experience, but he was confident Clive would not allow anybody, including Dirk, to put out a substandard product under his name. “Clive is very conscious of his brand,” Nyren explains. “I’ve seen it before with his other co-writers. He’s not shy about sending a manuscript back and saying this isn’t good enough. If Clive is satisfied, I know I will be satisfied.”
Well aware of the ramifications if the father/son collaboration failed to produce a “real” Dirk Pitt adventure, Dirk took home a draft of Trojan Odyssey. Although he had been reading his father’s books since he was twelve, reading a Dirk Pitt novel is one thing, writing a Dirk Pitt novel is a horse of a different color. Analyzing the manuscript, Dirk strived to unlock the secret to his father’s characters, pacing, and style - the critical ingredients that keep Dirk Pitt’s fans coming back for more.
After dissecting the draft for several weeks, Dirk sat down with his father and they fashioned a plot wrapped around a Japanese submarine aircraft carrier sunk near the end of World War II. Resting on the bottom off the coast of northern Washington State, the rusted sub’s hull contains an intact cargo of genetically engineered smallpox virus. A fanatical South Korean industrialist, determined to reunite the two Koreas at any cost, plans to salvage the deadly biochemical weapon and unleash it on the United States. Most of the action is carried by Pitt Jr. and his sister, but in the end, Pitt senior saves the day. A missile containing the virus and aimed at Los Angeles is ready to be launched from a modified offshore oil rig. Jumping into his trusty submersible, Pitt batters the legs of the rig and the launch is foiled.
Dirk retired to a local library, and writing in longhand on a legal pad, he began his first draft. Several weeks later, he walked into Clive’s office and handed him the prologue.
“When Clive called,” Lampack says, “I knew he was excited. Not only had Dirk picked up on his father’s style, there was little rewriting to do other than suggesting Dirk consolidate this or that - this is too long, that is too short. I was still a little skeptical, but Clive sent it on to me and I couldn’t believe how good it was. I’m sure Putnam had their reservations, but they took me at my word the book would be up to par and bought it sight unseen.”
On the last Tuesday in November 2004, Black Wind was launched at the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale. Founded in 1989, by ex-librarian Barbara Peters, the Poisoned Pen has launched Clive’s books for more than twenty years. In an age when booksellers, large and small, are disappearing at an alarming rate, the Poisoned Pen, combining clever marketing, a carefully selected inventory, and an ongoing schedule of author events not only manages to survive but prospers.
“Miles of shelves filled with books are a thing of the past,” Peters explains. “Bringing authors to their audiences is the future. As the digital age progresses, people will want more human interaction between authors and their fans. Our relationship with Clive, Dirk, and Clive’s other co-authors has developed into a family affair. There is always a huge crowd and the signings go on for hours. Peters smiles, “We keep Clive’s personal tequila bottle on hand to help him through the evening.”
Although Black Wind’s signing was not scheduled to begin until six o’clock, fans arrived early, and the line soon stretched down the block (the final count was more than 1,200, the largest crowd recorded at a Poisoned Pen Cussler book signing). “I don’t recall feeling nervous,” Dirk says, “I had attended enough of my father’s signings to know what to expect. It was exciting to be part of the signings process, and it went on for at least two and a half hours. A number of my friends who worked with me at Motorola showed up, and that was fun. What impressed me the most is how genuinely nice everybody was, welcoming me aboard and treating me with the same respect they showed Clive.”
Reviews for Black Wind were mixed, with the majority of the complaints prompted by Pitt Jr. and his sister taking center stage and Clive’s enlisting his son as a co-writer. Once again, the majority voted with their credit cards, and Black Wind first appeared on the Times list December 19, 2004, at number four, remaining on the list for eight weeks.
Golden Buddha, the first book in the Oregon Files series, co-written by Craig Dirgo, was released as a paperback on October 7, 2003. Riding on the strength of Clive’s name, Golden Buddha landed on the Times bestseller list, but the reviews were lukewarm, especially from readers who were put off by the book’s interminable cast of characters. A list of thirty-four players, along with their job description, is included at the front of Golden Buddha. Wayne Valero notes, “Even thi
s list is incomplete. Keith Lowden, the real-life curator for Cussler’s automotive collection who appears as a character by the same name, in Chapter 44, is not included.”
Publishers Weekly reported, “Readers will burn up the pages following the blazing action and daring exploits of these men and women and their amazing machines,” but went on to add, “the list of characters, both good and evil, is long and sometimes confusing.” Reviews ranged from apathetic to brutal: “Did Cussler even see the book before Dirgo went to the publisher? This is not Cussler”; “You can tell which part he [Clive] wrote versus Dirgo - Cussler’s flows beautifully while Dirgo’s is choppy and often contains odd words. The worst was ‘containerized ship’ - as far as I know - they’re more commonly known as ‘container ships’”; “I suspect that the Golden Buddha will be my last Cussler novel!”
A year later, Sacred Stone, the second book in the Oregon Files was published. The number of characters had ballooned to fifty-four and the reviews, with few exceptions, were even more acrimonious: “Boring, confusing and slapdash”; “The whole thing reads like a Mission Impossible TV episode but nowhere near as good or exciting”; “Boring as watching paint dry”; These books will never satisfy a Cussler Fan”; “This one stinks!”
While Clive was overseeing his co-writers and ever expanding publishing empire, his children were dealing with more mundane matters. “After Mom died,” Dayna says, “we realized how much she did to take care of Dad’s affairs. He is not the kind of guy who likes to worry about bills or deal with accountants and attorneys. My mother kept track of an extremely complicated business in her quiet, tactful way.”
A few months after Barbara’s death, Clive discovered a truck parked in front of his house and somebody standing on the lawn. When Clive inquired what he was doing, the intruder replied, “I’m turning off the water. Whoever lives here hasn’t paid the bill.” After glancing at the work order, he peered at Clive. “Cussler. Are you the guy who writes the books?” Sensing a possible reprieve, Clive flashed his signature grin, “Yes, that’s me.” The workman was willing to leave the water on if Clive drove straightaway to the water department and took care of his delinquent bill. After standing in line, Clive dutifully wrote a check to the Scottsdale Water Department.