Thomas L. Clancy Jr. had published only a letter and a short article before he submitted his novel The Hunt for Red October to the Naval Institute Press, a publisher devoted to scholarly writings about sailing and the sea which had decided only recently to add fiction to its publications. An insurance salesman with a bachelor's degree in English, Clancy had never served in the navy. Even so, his book was accepted for publication, and it appeared in late 1984.

He later sold the paperback rights for $49,500.

Since the publication of that blockbuster, Clancy has become an internationally famous writer and something of a cult personality, especially among technophiles.

Each of his subsequent novels has been a best-seller, often before publication because of advance orders, with sales numbering in the millions.

Although The Hunt for Red October was published with little initial fanfare, it caught...