The First Books Book Club - Spy Novels!

Let's get to know Jack Ryan and his creator Tom Clancy!

The First Books Book Club has now covered romance and crime - massive genres that account for close to half of all fiction book sales. It’s time explore the newer genre (comparatively) of spy novels and the author who is credited with its modern popularity - Tom Clancy!

In the immortal words of Beyoncé, “Genres are a funny little concept, aren't they?” This genre could be described as political thrillers, military novels, or the term Clancy (and his fellow powerhouse Michael Crichton) popularized - techno-thrillers. After all the first spy novel was written in the 1800s, but what Clancy did was write novels that blended political intrigue, real world geopolitical realities, and technological detail in a new way.

He’s not the sales behemoth that Steele or Patterson are but I ask you - what’s more impressive selling 400 million books by writing 400+ novels or selling 100 million by writing 22?

The Hunt for the Red October was his first novel and he sold it for $5,000 to the small Naval Institute Press. His goal was to sell 5,000 copies and he ultimately sold millions.

I can’t wait to explore this genre and Clancy’s imprint on it.

You can order your spy box from Lisa at The Bookshelf on Church here before July 15th, which will contain The Hunt for the Red October and our first book from a new author which is…