Scott Craven
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 27, 2004 12:00 AM

Dirk Cussler remembers being curled up in bed and hearing the tap-tap-tapping of his father's typewriter, the rhythmic clicks waking him up and lulling him back to sleep.

A few feet away, hunched over a small desk, Clive Cussler concocted plots that would change the course of the Cusslers' lives. Four-year-old Dirk knew nothing of the fictional hero (who shared the youngster's first name) who would become as much a part of the family as his mother and two sisters.

Nor could he see his part in all of it, a role he wouldn't assume for another 40 years when the story took twists and turns that not even his father expected. advertisement

And though the ending has yet to be written, it will no doubt be every bit as satisfying as the ending of any Dirk Pitt novel, where the good guy overcomes all and the only question left is where the next adventure will lead.

On Tuesday, Clive Cussler fans will descend upon bookstores to nab copies of Black Wind, the 73-year-old Paradise Valley author's latest sea-based thriller.

Cussler's name will emblazon the cover. In small print below it will be the name of Clive's only son. The release marks the first step in what will be a handoff of the popular franchise from one generation to the next.

It was the one family heirloom that 43-year-old Dirk never thought he'd inherit.

Dirk Cussler had never been much of a writer. He wrote the occasional letter as well as required essays in high school and college (he graduated from Arizona State before obtaining his MBA from the University of California-Berkeley). When a teacher praised his stories in a high school creative writing class, he didn't give it a second thought.

But Dirk was a reader, primarily of non-fiction. Of course he read his father's Dirk Pitt adventures, at first out of obligation. But the 12-year-old enjoyed his father's first novel The Mediterranean Caper (Berkley Publishing Group, 2004, $7.99 paperback) when the book was published in 1973, eight years after it had been written.

Dirk continued to read the Pitt series, first as one of its few fans (his dad's first two books sold barely into the thousands) and then as one of the many (there are now an estimated 90 million Cussler readers worldwide, a number steadily growing since the author's breakout hit Raise the Titanic! (Berkley Publishing Group, 2004, $7.99 paperback) in 1975. At some point - even Dirk isn't sure when this happened - he got to know Pitt as well as his father did.That's as far as his interest went. He wanted to work with numbers and became an accountant.

"I was very analytical," Dirk said. "Math appealed to me more than anything else."

That changed in 2001 when Dirk was laid off by Motorola. He decided it was time to do something different and embarked on writing a book - non-fiction, of course. He would abandon the project when his dad made him a better offer.

At the same time, Clive was struggling with his own career. As much as he loved to write, the then-70-year-old thought his Pitt stories were running on empty. Though sales proved that Cussler's fans still loved the series, Clive struggled with keeping it fresh. Dirk Pitt began to age, and thus his character evolved. He had a family, most notably Dirk Pitt Jr. He began to suffer the aches and pains that came with age.

Clive's biggest challenge was coming up with yet another diabolical plan his hero could thwart.

"I was running out of stuff," he said. "Not that writing has ever been a labor of love, but I enjoyed it. Now it was beginning to feel like a job."

The former adman knew the importance of the Dirk Pitt franchise. While Clive enjoyed collaborating with authors on a handful of series, he jealously guarded Pitt.

Peter Lampack, Clive's agent for more than 30 years, sensed the concern.

"How he would step back (from the Pitt franchise) was often a topic of discussion," Lampack said. "He wanted to do other things with the life that remained in front of him."

But as in a Dirk Pitt novel, our hero couldn't just retire, abandoning the next mission for R and R on a pristine tropical beach.

And like a Dirk Pitt novel, the answer occurred to him in the nick of time.

To Dirk, the idea came out of nowhere. Over lunch about a year and a half ago, his dad simply said, "Why don't you take a shot at Dirk Pitt?"

Father and son sat across from one another in Clive's studio, a long, narrow room crammed with books, looking like a Hollywood set. Together, they hashed out a plot.

Dirk planted the seeds (World War II Japanese sub carrying deadly cargo) and over the next few hours the framework took shape, just like the days gone by when the two worked to restore old cars.

When the basic outline was finished, Dirk began work on the prologue. He toiled in a public library, writing the draft in longhand.

He feared his father would be too easy on him.

Clive had his own fears. He was ready to pass the Pitt torch, but was his son ready to take it?

After a few weeks of research and writing, Dirk, a first-time novelist with no formal training, handed his father the completed prologue.

Lampack saw no reason to be optimistic.

Clive, however, had no expectations. So he wasn't all that surprised when, paging through Dirk's manuscript, he felt like he was reading an early Clive Cussler.

"As soon as I put it down, I knew this was going to work," Clive said.

Clive's editor, Neil Nyren, was hesitant about the collaboration. The question wasn't, "Will they accept another author?" he said. The question was, "Would they accept a subpar story?"

Those concerns were assuaged when Nyren and Clive talked shortly after Dirk turned in the prologue.

"My thought was that if Clive was satisfied, I would be satisfied," Nyren said. "He is as much a taskmaster as anyone I know. If he said this was going to be good, I could trust him."

Dirk devoted himself to the book. He turned in 100 pages every two or three months, rewriting at his father's suggestions. Dirk even surprised himself at how well he knew Pitt. Though this would be the first Cussler novel to focus on the son, Pitt Jr., thus marking a passing of the torch on two levels.

Those in the publishing industry who have read the book say it's a seamless transition. They can't tell Dirk's writing from Clive's, nor can they explain it.

"Maybe it's because Dirk Pitt was such an integrated part of his (Dirk's) environment," Lampack said. "Honestly, it's a mystery."

Dirk is just as mystified. The words, he said, just seemed to be there.

He realizes how fortunate he is to be Clive Cussler's son, as well as how unfortunate he is (from a writing viewpoint) to be Clive Cussler's son.

"I feel like I've won the lottery," Dirk said. "I know there are a lot of struggling writers out there with a lot more talent than I have. But it's a double-edged sword. There's a pressure to satisfy this big fan base that doesn't want Clive Cussler to disappear."

But Clive will disappear, at least from the Dirk Pitt franchise. The plans are to collaborate on at least one more book (with each name being of equal size on the cover) and then have Dirk take it over.

That will give Clive time to finish other projects dear to his heart, like a coffee-table book on the dozens of collectible cars he owns and a children's book inspired by Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Barbara Peters, owner of the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale,has ordered more than 700 copies of Black Wind, one of the largest orders of the year. She's already received more than 300 pre-orders, many from members of an online forum dedicated to Cussler.

"They know of Dirk's involvement and are very excited to read the book," Peters said. "I expect sales to be higher than Clive's last book, partly because of the curiosity factor, but mostly because it reads just like a Cussler. I can't tell the difference."

Next week, the Cusslers embark on a nationwide book tour where fans will meet the future of the Pitt franchise. Father and son will sign countless copies, the first time they've spent so much time together since Dirk moved out of the family home more than two decades ago.

When they return, they'll get started on the next book.

"I'm sure Dirk Sr. will be back, and maybe have a much bigger part," Dirk said. "But I'm really not sure at this point how it will turn out."

Reach the reporter at (602) 444-8773.