Never to be Forgotten:Tom Clancy 1947-2013

It is the rare writer who can be universally acknowledged as the father of a large genre and Tom Clancy was that rare bird. There were plenty of spy novels before his and stories of military adventures as well, but Clancy's level of realistic technological detail set him apart and the "techno-thriller" was born. Many of his books star Jack Ryan as the main hero, though as he ages his son Jack Ryan Jr. becomes the intelligence agent and his father goes into politics. These many books are often collectively called the Ryanverse and many but not all describe events in the future from the standpoint of the publication date. As regular readers know, the bread and butter of this blog are predictions that have already passed or are in the foreseeable future, so expect to see labels "Tom Clancy" and "Ryanverse" used many times in the next few months. Thankfully, when it comes to the "Reality" afterword for predictions, Clancy didn't have many correct guesses as far as his calamities are concerned. I say thankfully because the only real event so far that could be described as Clancyesque is 11 September 2001.

Best wishes to the family and friends of Tom Clancy, who died on Tuesday. He will never be forgotten.