So it turns out Clive Cussler isn't really retiring from writing altogether, he's just switching to young adult books.
My predicition for Cussler's first young adult story:
    Something amazing happens at sea that threatens the lives of really smart female scientists. The hero rescues them, which thrusts him into the middle of a terrorist attack plan that could potentially bring about the apocalypse. But the hero uses his witty charm and numerous nautical toys to circomvent the terrorists and catch them at their own game, thus saving the world and getting the girl.

What's the difference between this and one of Clive's books for older readers? Well, notice how I left out the lengthy discriptions of boats, their engines, and submersibles with the suffix -- 1,000.

FYI, we are leaving port from India and just caught sight of the Oregon! It HAS to be Juan Cabrillo's ship because it looks like it got ran over by another slightly bigger ship. It's rusted to hell and it has some cranes on it that look like they're about to fall off. It also smells like tacos and insect repellant.
I bet inside, it's all LED lights blinking and brandy snifting...I'm so jealous. Damn that Linda Ross!!

Craig Dirgo finally came out with his own book, after writing a couple with (oh admit it, for) Clive Cussler.  I like Dirgo's stuff...he's a fast-paced writer and he moves along much better than Paul Kemprecos, who I also love, by the way. None of the Cusslerettes are bad writers...I mean, come on, they're working with the Cussler!

Dirgo released Tremor last month and just by reading the back of the book, I'd say it's dangerously close to Polar Shift, where Kemprecos flexed his muscles. But I loved Polar Shift mostly because the Peter Throckmorton is my favorite boat (pause for remembrance of the real Peter Throckmorton, who I never knew).

Anyway,  I'm going to start reading Tremor soon...anyone have anything I should know about it? Should I drink before I read this one? I drank about a fourth of JD to get through Raise the Titanic!

By the way, Clive Cussler told me (in writing on the cover of Dirgo's book) That Craig Dirgo has the stuff of a master storyteller.

After reading another novel from the Oregon Files, I have realized why Linda Ross is so darn intelligent. She has an impressive knack for restating the painfully obvious.

"But Juan, if you don't take reserve oxygen tanks, you won't be able to breathe that long under water."

Thank you, Linda Ross, for your amazingly insightful statement...I had assumed Juan would simply use his gills to breathe, but you have gone that step further to conclude that Juan IS A MAMMAL and will indeed need reserve oxygen tanks if he wishes to stay deep underwater for long periods of time.

Maybe I'm just jealous because I sometimes miss the details...I tried to breathe under water once. Hey, I saw "The Abyss" and convinced myself that after 9 months in ambiotic fluid as a fetus, I could breathe liquid if I really forced it.

I'm not a fetus though, and I'm certainly no Linda Ross

It has come to my attention that some people foolishly think that NUMA is entirely fictional...that's just craziness. Cussler actually does head up NUMA and has uncovered loads of history that would otherwise remain at the bottom of the sea.

In fact, they finally found the C.S.S. Hunley (a US submarine dating back to the 1860s) just this year (after 15 years of looking for it.)

Video footage can of course be found at NUMA's web site:
www.numa.net/video_galler...