Clive Eric Cussler was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than 20 times. Cussler was the founder and chairman of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), which has discovered more than 60 shipwreck sites and numerous other notable underwater wrecks. He was the sole author or lead author of more than 80 books.
LexisNexis is a corporation that sells data mining platforms through online portals, computer-assisted legal research (CALR) and information about vast swaths of consumers around the world. During the 1970s, LexisNexis began to make legal and journalistic documents more accessible electronically. As of 2006, the company had the world's largest electronic database for legal and public-records–related information.
Dale Brown is an American writer and aviator known for aviation techno-thriller novels. At least thirteen of his novels have been New York Times Best Sellers.
Typhoon Gay, also known as the Kavali Cyclone of 1989, was a small but powerful tropical cyclone which caused more than 800 fatalities in and around the Gulf of Thailand in November 1989. The worst typhoon to affect the Malay Peninsula in thirty-five years, Gay originated from a monsoon trough over the Gulf of Thailand in early November. Owing to favorable atmospheric conditions, the storm rapidly intensified, attaining winds over 120 km/h by 3 November. Later that day, Gay became the first typhoon since 1891 to make landfall in Thailand, striking Chumphon Province with winds of 185 km/h. The small storm emerged into the Bay of Bengal and gradually reorganized over the following days as it approached southeastern India. On 8 November, Gay attained its peak intensity as a Category 5-equivalent cyclone with winds of 260 km/h. The cyclone then moved ashore near Kavali, Andhra Pradesh. Rapid weakening ensued inland, and Gay dissipated over Maharashtra early on 10 November.
"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" is the series premiere of the American animated television series South Park. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States and Global TV in Canada on August 13, 1997. The episode introduces child protagonists Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh and Kenny McCormick, who attempt to rescue Kyle's younger brother Ike from being abducted by aliens.
Day of the Cheetah is a 1989 technothriller novel written by former US Air Force officer Dale Brown. It is part of Brown's Patrick McLanahan series of novels. A number of key characters were killed in Day of the Cheetah, only to reappear in later books, as when DotC was first written, Brown did not intend to write any further books in the series. Some parts of the plot were passively referenced in Brown's 1991 novel Sky Masters, which is set two years before most of the events in Cheetah.
Elizabeth Johnson Kostova is an American author best known for her debut novel The Historian.
The Historian is the 2005 debut novel of American author Elizabeth Kostova. The plot blends the history and folklore of Vlad Țepeș and his fictional equivalent Count Dracula. Kostova's father told her stories about Dracula when she was a child, and later in life she was inspired to turn the experience into a novel. She worked on the book for ten years and then sold it within a few months to Little, Brown and Company, which bought it for US$2 million.
Typhoon Rusa was the most powerful typhoon to strike South Korea in 43 years. It was the 21st JTWC tropical depression, the 15th named storm, and the 10th typhoon of the 2002 Pacific typhoon season. It developed on August 22 from the monsoon trough in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, well to the southeast of Japan. For several days, Rusa moved to the northwest, eventually intensifying into a powerful typhoon. On August 26, the storm moved across the Amami Islands of Japan, where Rusa left 20,000 people without power and caused two fatalities. Across Japan, the typhoon dropped torrential rainfall peaking at 902 mm (35.5 in) in Tokushima Prefecture.
Typhoon Zeb, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Iliang, was a powerful typhoon that struck the island of Luzon in October 1998. It is tied with Cyclone Ron and Cyclone Susan in terms of minimum pressure, for the most intense tropical cyclone worldwide for 1998. The tenth tropical storm of the season, Zeb formed on October 10 from the monsoon trough near the Caroline Islands. It moved westward initially and quickly intensified. Zeb's inflow briefly spawned another tropical storm, which it ultimately absorbed. Developing an eye, Zeb rapidly intensified into a super typhoon, officially reaching maximum sustained winds of 205 km/h (125 mph); one warning agency estimated winds as high as 285 km/h (180 mph). After reaching peak intensity, the typhoon struck northern Luzon and quickly weakened over land. Turning to the north, Zeb brushed the east coast of Taiwan at a reduced intensity, and after accelerating to the northeast it moved through Japan. It became extratropical on October 18 and moved eastward over open waters.
Storming Heaven is a thriller novel by Dale Brown about terrorist attacks on the United States. It was first published in 1994.
Flight of the Old Dog is a 1987 thriller novel written by Dale Brown. The novel's descriptions of B-52 controls and operations are based on Brown's knowledge of the systems as a USAF navigator. The flight is also recreated as a special mission in the video game Megafortress.
Night of the Hawk is a 1992 techno-thriller written by Dale Brown. It is the sequel to the events of the Flight of the Old Dog in which a crew member - Dr. David Luger - sacrifices himself to save the Old Dog crew.
Fatal Terrain is a 1997 techno-thriller novel written by Dale Brown. It is set a few weeks after the ending of Shadows of Steel. The title of the book is taken off one of Sun Tzu's passages in The Art of War:
Where if one fights with intensity he will survive but if he does not fight with intensity he will perish, it is 'fatal terrain.' On fatal terrain, always engage in battle.
Tucker Max is an American author and public speaker. He chronicles his drinking and sexual encounters in the form of short stories on his website TuckerMax.com, which has received millions of visitors since Max launched it as the result of a bet in 2000.
Typhoon Ruby, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Unsang, was the strongest typhoon to strike the Philippines in 18 years. The tenth typhoon of the 1988 Pacific typhoon season, Ruby formed from an area of low pressure situated east of the Philippines on October 20. The storm steadily intensified as it moved west, and then west-northwest. After developing an eye, Ruby attained typhoon intensity on October 23 and began to strengthen at a brisker clip. Ruby reached maximum intensity later that day, before moving ashore along the central portion of Luzon early on October 24. The storm steadily weakened over land and this trend only continued after Ruby entered the South China Sea. On October 27, Ruby made a second landfall as a tropical storm on Hainan Island before dissipating the next day.
Typhoon Amy was the second typhoon to strike China in a week during mid-July 1991. An area of convection was first observed on July 13 within the vicinity of Yap. A tropical depression developed the next day. While initially tracking westward, the system slowly deepened, becoming Tropical Storm Amy on July 16. After briefly turning northwestward, Amy intensified into a typhoon on July 17. Continuing to intensify as it tracked through the Luzon Strait, Amy reached its peak intensity of 175 km/h (110 mph) on July 18. That evening, the typhoon began to show signs of weakening, although it was still believed to have been a typhoon when it made landfall in the province of Guangdong on July 19, becoming the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the province in 22 years. Once inland, the storm rapidly weakened, and by late on July 20, had dissipated completely.
Allan Trautman is an American actor and puppeteer, best known for his work with The Jim Henson Company.
Devil's Gate is an adventure novel in author Clive Cussler's The NUMA Files. Co-written with Graham Brown, this installment is the ninth of that series which features the main character Kurt Austin. The story follows employees of NUMA who discover someone is developing a directed-energy weapon and thwart the dictator of Sierre Leone, Djemma Garand, and the mercenary group led by Andras the Knife before they are able to use the weapon. The hardcover edition was released November 14, 2011, it was subsequently released as a paperback, audiobook and ebook. It appeared on several best-seller lists and was describe by reviewers as being suitable for fans of Cussler and action-adventure stories.
Threat Vector is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and co-written with Mark Greaney, and published on December 4, 2012. A direct sequel to Locked On (2011), President Jack Ryan and The Campus must prevent a Chinese expansionist government from enacting war in the South China Sea. The book debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.
