Clive Cussler

I have a large collection of town cars because when I was just a snipe in the gutter, growing up in Los Angeles, a town car drove by. I remember running in the house to get my mother so she could see it. It was utterly magnificent.

When I was in the military, I socked away $100 every month. When I was discharged in 1954, I got home at 5 A.M. By 10 A.M., I was pulling out of a foreign car dealership in Pasadena in a new Jaguar XK120.

I'm considered the 'old daddy of adventure.'

My job is to entertain the readers in such a manner that, when they reach the end of the book, they feel like they've gotten their money's worth.

It's a job. I entertain my readers. I get up in the morning, and I start typing.

I've always been a Civil War buff. In fact, the ships that always fascinated me the most were the ironclads, because they were the start of an era.

I was born about 80 years too late. If you were a kid in 1910, the Fourth of July was a big deal. You knew all about the Revolution, and you still had Civil War veterans.

After putting the kids to bed, I would think about what I wanted to write.

I was the kid who stared out the window. I fantasized myself on the deck of pirate ships - Cussler at the bridge.

She had the kids during the day and I would have them at night. That way they were never alone. I would put the kids to bed, and then I had nothing to do and nobody to talk to, so I would write.

If I were to say I'm looking for treasure, people would come up with the money. When I say I'm looking for a historic wreck, they're not interested.

I'm writing for entertainment. I like people to reach the end and feel they got their money's worth.