France returns to NATO command

[ray245]

Something like that, I checked too, it is 1017 pages. He spent enough years writing that one hand would be no trouble. I think though that even Clancy realized how much his mega novels had come to suck crap, since he’s only written two more books since then (which some people think were written by ghost writers anyway) and both were short and fairly concise plot wise.

Which makes me wonder, why did so many people treat Tom Clancy and many other Techno-thrillers authors as respectable authors to begin with? Surely all those book critics should be able to spot how stupid most Techno-thrillers authors are.

[Sea Skimmer]

Which makes me wonder, why did so many people treat Tom Clancy and many other Techno-thrillers authors as respectable authors to begin with?

Well Clancy had a great boost early on from working with Larry Bond and produced some much better works. Then the Soviets collapsed and the world lost the best opponent you could ask for.

Surely all those book critics should be able to spot how stupid most Techno-thrillers authors are.

Are you kidding? The last thing I’d expect out of someone working as a book critic is even the slightest knowledge of anything a techno thriller covers. Clancy and others got rich mainly by selling to the ignorant masses

[Slacker]

I read somewhere that Clancy was going through a pretty massive divorce and his wife was entitled to a crapton of money from his last few books, so he sort of threw in the towel intentionally and sucked them up to reduce the money she was getting.

I suppose that's way too pat an answer for the crapitude of the last few books-Rainbow Six was at least decent, the last readable Clancy-but who knows. *shrug*

On-topic:
It's good to see France getting back into NATO's fold. I for one am all for Europe balancing our interests in the alliance a bit, so it's actual a relationship between equals, so to speak. Might help keep any future cowboys in check, while encourage us to actually involve ourselves in situations where we can actually do some good-places like Darfur or what have you.

[Pelranius]

Clancy said in a few interviews post BatD that he hated the "Chicom government" for one child policy abuses (naturally, he got all his info from Amnesty International and Operation Rescue, without bothering to read any firsthand sources which would prevent a more complicated picture). For example, if you kid dies, you can have another one (or just pay off the cops). Oops, there goes the part about shooting the pastor and the Vatican diplomat.

He sort of forgot about China against 9/11, but at least he was smart enough to see through most of the neocon bullshit about the "Islamic" menace with dirty bombs and anthrax loaded UAVs.

[Samuel]

Clancy said in a few interviews post BatD that he hated the "Chicom government" for one child policy abuses (naturally, he got all his info from Amnesty International and Operation Rescue, without bothering to read any firsthand sources which would prevent a more complicated picture). For example, if you kid dies, you can have another one (or just pay off the cops). Oops, there goes the part about shooting the pastor and the Vatican diplomat.

He sort of forgot about China against 9/11, but at least he was smart enough to see through most of the neocon bullshit about the "Islamic" menace with dirty bombs and anthrax loaded UAVs.

Cough, cough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Teeth_of_the_Tiger

[Lonestar]

The badguys in that book were just some dudes who shot up some shopping malls. You know, what AQ would do if they had half a brain(or just pair off into teams and re-enact the VA sniper in half a dozen cities).

[Sea Skimmer]

I read somewhere that Clancy was going through a pretty massive divorce and his wife was entitled to a crapton of money from his last few books, so he sort of threw in the towel intentionally and sucked them up to reduce the money she was getting.

That divorce is why Rainbow Six never mentions Jack Ryan by name, if it did then Clancy's wife would have gotten half the money from it, but that was also the best Clancy book in years. Doesn't explain much about The Bear and the Dragon which while quite awful sold very well, nor his decision to write the Teeth of the Tiger which she also got money from. The reality Clancy was just never very good and wrote himself into a rut.

[Stark]

Are you kidding? The last thing I’d expect out of someone working as a book critic is even the slightest knowledge of anything a techno thriller covers. Clancy and others got rich mainly by selling to the ignorant masses

The market of 'hoo-yah a book about America with a FIGHTER PLANE or TANK on the front' readers is huge and indiscriminate. Frankly, that's what 'techno-thriller' really means anyway; it's a joke of a genre. In this book, LIQUID NITROGEN GRENADES and a British EF2000 with NUKE MISSILES in ANTARTICA with ELITE COMMANDOS.

[K. A. Pital]

How did this thread turn into a discussion of a worthless writer and his works?

[MKSheppard]

Because we're crazy.

[Sea Skimmer]

Plus, how much can one say about France ceasing to be a bitch that wanted the strategic option to surrender to the Soviet Union?