Tom Clancy SSN

Forty years ago Tom Clancy was a Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history. Years before, he had been an English major at Baltimore’s Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, The Hunt for Red October—the first of the phenomenally successful Jack Ryan novels—sold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it “the perfect yarn.” From that day forward, Clancy established himself as an undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense. He passed away in October 2013.

Martin H. Greenberg was an American academic and anthologist, compiler of more than a thousand science fiction anthologies. He was the founder of Tekno Books and a cofounder of the Sci-Fi Channel. He was a longtime friend and business partner of Isaac Asimov, and co-created the novel series Power Plays with author Tom Clancy. Greenberg died in 2011.