Clive Cussler is an international bestselling adventure novelist and underwater explorer. After serving in the United States Air Force during the Korean War, Cussler went to work in the advertising industry as a copywriter. After a succesful career writing commercials, he then began writing adventure fiction in 1965.
His most famous creation is marine engineer, government agent and adventurer Dirk Pitt. The Dirk Pitt novels frequently take on an alternative history perspective, with military plots and settings.
Cussler also writes the Oregon Files series about a special US Government-sponsored ship called the Oregon, the NUMA Files about an underwater exploration team, the Fargo Adventures about professional treasure hunters, and the Isaac Bell detective series.
Clive Cussler is the founder of the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), a not-for-profit organization with the same name as the fictional government agency in his books. Through his exploration projects Cussler and his NUMA volunteers have found over 60 shipwrecks of historic significance.
Cussler is married, with three children and lives between his homes in Colorado and Arizona.