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PHOENIX-In TROJAN ODYSSEY Clive Cussler's hero, Dirk Pitt ®, battles his deadliest, and most extraordinary, foe - with help from a very unexpected source. Long hailed as the grandmaster of adventure fiction, Clive Cussler has continued to astound fans throughout the world with his intricate plots and astonishing set pieces. TROJAN ODYSSEY is no exception as Cussler manages to weave the fall of Troy tale seamlessly with modern day marine biology and espionage. TROJAN ODYSSEY is Cussler's most audacious work to date. Fans and media alike are invited along on a magical, once in a lifetime tour. From San Diego to Los Angeles, join the author in Business Class aboard Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner ® leaving San Diego at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, December 2nd, arriving in L.A. at 12:15 p.m. From Los Angeles to San Francisco fans can meet Cussler in First Class on the Coast Starlight, departing L.A. at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, December 4th, arriving in San Francisco at the Ferry Building at 10:10 p.m. For reservations go to www.amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL. TROJAN ODYSSEY will be released November 24th in the U.S. and Canada. Cussler will sign books and answer fans questions aboard Amtrak as well as regaling them with tales as only this Master story teller can. In addition, three lucky fans will each receive a genuine DOXA Seahunter orange faced Sub300T dive watch and one will also win a First Class standard sleeper round trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco for two on Amtrak's Coast Starlight. Specific dates and departure times may be subject to change.

At the end of VALHALLA RISING, Dirk Pitt ® discovered, to his shock, that he had two grown children, 23-year-old fraternal twins born to a woman he thought had died in an underwater earthquake. Both inherited his love of the sea: the girl, Summer, a marine biologist; the boy, himself named Dirk, a marine engineer. And now they are about to help their father in the adventure of a lifetime.

The peril for everybody concerned is incalculable, and, desperately, Pitt, Al Giordino and the rest of the NUMA crew rush to the rescue, but what they find in the storm's wake makes the furies of nature pale in comparison. For there is an all-too-human evil at work in that part of the world, and the tide is only a byproduct of its plan. Soon, the work will be complete -- and the world will be a very different place. If Summer's discovery is to be believed, the world as we know it is already a very different place…Filled with dazzling suspense and breathtaking action, TROJAN ODYSSEY is Cussler at the height of his storytelling powers.

In between working on three new novels this year, the international television show THE SEA HUNTERS and the movie of his best seller SAHARA, author Cussler was on an expedition in the North Sea for three weeks with his 501c3 non-profit, the real National Underwater & Marine Agency (NUMA ). The TROJAN ODYSSEY Book Tour begins at Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, AZ, at 5 p.m., Monday, November 24th and continues Tuesday, November 25th in Albuquerque, NM. Other cities on the tour include: Denver, CO, 12/6; Dallas, TX, 12/7; Ft. Worth, 12/8; Oklahoma City, 12/9 and St. Louis, 12/10. Exact locations to be determined.

Cussler is the author or coauthor of twenty-four previous books, most recently the Dirk Pitt ® adventure VALHALLA RISING, and the Kurt Austin ® novels FIRE ICE and WHITE DEATH. He is also the author of the best-selling nonfiction THE SEA HUNTERS and THE SEA HUNTERS II. The non-fiction books chronicle the true adventures of the real NUMA weaving fact into a narrative one can't put down. The expeditions, led by Cussler, seek lost ships of historic significance. With his crew of volunteers, Cussler has discovered more than 60 ships, including the long-lost Confederate submarine the CSS HUNLEY, the CARPATHIA, the valiant ship that dodged icebergs to rescue survivors of the TITANIC, and the GENERAL SLOCUM, the largest loss of life in New York history prior to 9/11/01.

Cussler describes himself as an entertainer from his days in advertising. Cussler's Dirk Pitt ® novels - including VALHALLA RISING, INCA GOLD and RAISE THE TITANIC! - have made him the undisputed Grand Master of the action-adventure novel.

SAHARA is slated to be Paramount's July blockbuster release for 2004; it will star Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt ®, Steve Zahn as Al Giordino ® and be directed by Breck Eisner, www.crusaderentertainment.com . For information on DOXA, www.doxawatches.com

THE GOLDEN BUDDHA, the first in the new OREGON Files series, will be released October 7th in paperback.