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I suspect you're right about the male audience (I've read all his output,
and liked most of it), and for the same reasons that more men are
attracted to computers and the associated hardware than women.  I think
Clancy's appeal comes from the fact that nearly all his books (fiction and
non-) deal with war or the tools of war, violence, and and danger;  and
pay loving attention to all the technical details us guys enjoy so much.

This isn't a sexist comment on my part, mearly an observation based on
over ten years of teaching computer basics and various software programs
to both men and women (about twice as many women as men, BTW) -- Women
get involved in computers when they have to, because of a work related
requirement, or because a friend who is involved for similar reasons
brings them in; men also get involved for business reasons, but usually this
progresses to a deeper level of enjoyment because they like to tinker,
and derive a kind of gut pleasure from conquering a new 'challenge'.  It
also offers us a chance to brag about having the hottest machine on the
block (remember teenage males of our generation and our cars?!), or being
able to use the newest 'power' software.

Many of my high school students who are into computers (all male) tell me
about the newest release of some particular kind of software.  When I ask
what they themselves use it for, they usually say that they don't
actually use it, but they have it, or know how to use it, and that it is
'way cool.  I suspect that a woman would be interested in a new release
if it offered a new feature that was useful to her in doing a particular
task.  What do you think?

Getting back to Clancy (finally), I think his appeal is more
technological than literary, but he does have a knack for working tech
details into a story in an entertaining way.  And his details are very
accurate: it turns out, now that the KGB has opened so many files, that
they avidly read the newest Clancy novel for the details and a way of
supplimenting their own espionage, since he was invariably accurate in
what he wrote.  _Red October_ really disturbed them, since such a drive
was actually under development, although not at the level Clancy
depicted, and they had no idea we knew of it.


Mark Williams
Colton High School Library
<mwillia@cello.gina.calstate.edu>
"Too bad life isn't a holodeck experience."


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