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RIP Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr

I have to take a moment during my Octoberween blog write ups to say a few words about the passing of Tom Clancy. This won’t be much of a eulogy but I’ll give it my best shot. I just hope no one takes offense to the title of this blog, it just seemed only fitting that a submariner reference be used given his first book’s setting.  

Though many in the gaming realm may remember the name Tom Clancy mostly as the name behind such gaming franchises as “Splinter Cell”, “Rainbow Six” (now titled Rainbow “6”) and “Ghost Recon” (to name a few). But for me I remember him from my early book reading days. I got into his works when I was a little young for them, and by young I mean my early teen years. I only really read them because of the movie adaptions that were made of his prior books. I was so taken in with “The Hunt for Red October”, “Clear and Present Danger” and “Patriot Games”,  that I wanted to know more about the world settings. I will admit that at a young age I only watched them because of the stars that were in the movie. I was still taken with Sean Connery and Harrison Ford at the time. But there was something about Tom Clancy’s books that drew me in with its world setting, mix of spycraft, espionage and military technology that seemed so far off, yet having the air of believability.  

I still regret not being able to watch ABC”s “NetForce”.

Sadly I was still a bit young to understand them, or too thick I can’t tell which, so even to this day most of the book’s characters and plot have gone over my head. I can’t recall much of the plot unless I read a synopsis somewhere. I do remember owning some of his early books thanks to a local yard sale. But I ended up losing them when I let someone borrow them so I could read their copies of Mack Bolan: “The Executioner” series and never got my Clancy novels back. I guess you can figure out what I ended up reading in their absence…

I was also peeved because among those books was a new copy of “Rainbow Six” that I had yet to read. If only I got around to reading it I might’ve learned sooner about the “Rainbow Six” games that preceded it. Who knows it might’ve convinced me to try out PC gaming or convinced me to get a decent PC to begin with.

But like many during the last two gaming generations I was re-introduced to Tom Clancy’s universe when I learned of the aforementioned games of “Splinter Cell” and “Ghost Recon”. I actually had the pleasure of playing those games and again was drawn into their worlds, though I was a bit confused as to why Jack Ryan wasn’t in them. (If I’d kept up I would’ve known) Though I never got around to re-reading Tom Clancy’s prior works, the fact that I was playing a game based on his ideas was such an irresistible feeling. I even remembering make fun of my friends that read John Grisham, Michael Crichton or the latest Star Wars Extended Universe novels. Sure they had movies made of their works I’d say, but are any of them making games for them too? Originally they laughed at me for at that time there wasn’t any “Splinter Cell’s or Ghost Recons at the time. Just some boardgames and PC titles that didn’t do much for my peers, but to this day they’re no longer laughing.

Though I have tried to keep up with the game series that Tom Clancy’s name has created I actually found myself torn in which way I’d like to enjoy them best. When I learned that they actually wrote novels of the very games I was playing, I was once again teleported back to my youth when I had the choice of either watching the movies or reading the novels they were based on.

I have to say that I made my choice. Why limit myself and try them both! Playing those games was the closest I felt in being one of his characters in their military drama setting. And thanks to Microsoft’s “Games with Gold” program I get to enjoy a “Rainbow Six” title for the first time.

Yet even to this day I still can’t help but admire the man with all that he accomplished. If you’d have told me that a writer would someday have games made with his name on them, I’d have laughed at you and went back to playing Doom. I’d have asked who does this writer thinks he is. Madden? Sure you’ve had previous books made into videogames from Michael Crichton but that was mostly due to his book being made into a movie first. Though it could be said Tom Clancy started out the same way he’s the only author I know that’s made a name for himself in the gaming industry. It makes me wish I could’ve met the man at a book signing if only to ask him what drew him to wanting to make video games based on his story ideas.

It just amazed me back when I was young and still writing personal stories, that Tom Clancy wrote his first stories while he worked at an insurance agency. It gave me the hope that perhaps one day I too could write something on the side that would one day achieve such a goal in my later years. To me it just showed that if you let your creativity and characters come alive in your head, who knows what tales you could weave or where they’d take you.

I still get a kick out of the fact that even though he wrote military thrillers; he never served in the military. That fact alone, in the pretense that you don’t have to actually need personal experience to justify what you write, is evidence that with any information at your disposal you could create worlds!

Though my love for the games that Tom Clancy’s name carries has cooled over time (no thanks to Ubisoft’s UPlay Pass) I’m glad I had a chance to get to experience his works in ways that I never thought could be possible for an author. Even if Tom Clancy didn’t actually pen the novels of Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and the rest, that fact didn’t really hamper my enjoyment of them. Now if you’ll excuse me I think I’m going to instant queue “the Hunt for Red October” on Netflix, dig out my copies of Tom Clancy game titles I own and re-read my paperback copy of Splinter Cell. Thanks for the ride Mr. Clancy and for being an inspiration for other “world-weavers” everywhere, myself included. I only wished I could've got to know you better.

Ta-ta

“N”