‘The Wrecker’

Is No Train Wreck For Local Author

By Nancy K. Crevier

He has written under the pen names of J.S. Blazer, Alexander Cole and Paul Garrison, and has published several books under his own name. Now, writing with best selling adventure/thriller author Clive Cussler, Justin Scott has turned out The Wrecker, the second in a series of books featuring an early 20th Century character, detective Isaac Bell, created by Mr Cussler in his 2007 novel The Chase.

The Wrecker, on bookstands since November 17, and already in the number six spot of The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list, is the first book on which Newtown author Justin Scott has collaborated, and also the first time he has had the pleasure of seeing his name on the prestigious best seller list.

“I’ve been aiming at that list for 31 years,” said Mr Scott. “When I heard the night before Thanksgiving Day that we were number six, I truly was thankful. As a writer, what you want is for people to read your book. Aligning with a bestselling author like Clive and walking into a bookstore to see a stack of books with your name on it, that’s a joy. It is marvelous knowing The Wrecker is going to be read by so many people,” Mr Scott said.

The collaboration came at a time that was ideal for him, said Mr Scott. As Paul Garrison, he had been approached a number of years ago by Mr Cussler’s agents for a collaboration. Too busy at that time to do so, the more recent 2007 request to Justin Scott came at a point when the local author of mysteries and seas stories, as well as the Ben Abbot private investigator series set in a Newtown-like New England town, was ready to get back to writing a “big thriller,” he said.

Although the men never met in person until after the manuscript for The Wrecker was finished, on writer’s terms, they were not complete strangers, said Mr Scott. Mr Cussler had provided generous quotes for the Ben Abbot books and books written under his pen name of Paul Garrison. “So he had an idea of who he was talking with when he approached me,” Mr Scott said.

Mr Scott described Clive Cussler as a “superstar” in the adventure/thriller genre, particularly well-known for his sea-theme thrillers, both fiction and non-fiction, that have put him on The New York Times best seller list 30 times.

Mr Cussler is the author of 20 Dirk Pitt adventures, three of which were co-written with his son, Dirk Cussler; eight Kurt Austin adventures written with Paul Kemprecos; six Oregon Files adventures with authors Jack Du Brul and Craig Dirgo; and the Fargo adventures with Grant Blackwood. The founder of the National Underwater & Marine Agency, a non-profit dedicated to American maritime and naval history, he has co-authored three non-fiction works with Craig Dirgo (The Sea Hunters, The Sea Hunters II, and Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed). His most recent solo work is The Chase.

There was no fear on Mr Scott’s part that co-authoring a book with the well-known Clive Cussler would cast him in a lesser role. A writer subordinates his style with every book, every character he creates, explained Mr Scott, and there was no sense of “subordination” in the writing of The Wrecker. In this book, both writers used the voice appropriate to the main character. The collaboration was a chance to learn from someone he considers a master of the craft of adventure fiction, said Mr Scott. “I viewed it as a sort of post graduate work,” he said.

He was also intrigued that Mr Cussler had branched out into a direction quite different from previous Cussler novels, that of the “pulp Western.” He was more than a little familiar with that genre, pulp Westerns being the bread and butter of his writer father, A. Leslie Scott. An American History scholar, Mr Scott was coincidentally researching the time period of the early 20th Century, in which the Isaac Bell novels are set, when approached by Mr Cussler’s agents.

The opportunity to collaborate with another writer also reminded him of his earliest days of writing, when book editors provided an exchange of ideas as the writing progressed. “It was a confluence of things that brought us together,” he said. Quite coincidental, too, was the republication by Wheeler Publishing this November of The Pecos Trail, a novel written by Mr Scott’s father, and also featuring a careening train on the front cover, as does The Wrecker.  

Through e-mails and frequent telephone calls, Mr Cussler and Mr Scott worked together closely. “Clive had created the main character and the setting for The Chase. Once he got in touch with me, we picked up where The Chase left off, and came up with a story line. I knew a bit about trains, and trains were integral to society in the time period of the early 20th century. So, we came up with The Wrecker, which is a train wrecker story,” said Mr Scott. “This is my 25th published novel, and I’ve never had so much fun writing a book as with The Wrecker,” he said.

Gifted storytellers like Mr Cussler have an instinct for starting quickly and engagingly, a very difficult thing to do well, Mr Scott said. “I learned from him how to begin a novel, and not to spend so much time ‘thinking out loud’ in the beginning of the book.”

He feels that working with Mr Cussler helped him to fine-tune his pacing of a novel, and to be more sparing of details, especially in a work of historical fiction.

“You need to understand what the character in the story will take for granted, yet paint a scene for the reader that is understandable,” he said. Every word, every sentence, every paragraph must contribute to the development of the story.

“When I write an historical novel,” said Mr Scott, “I use no words that would not have been used in that era. But I learned that they must not interfere with the story, or out they go. One always learns new tricks,” he said.

It is advantageous to him to have his name linked with a writer of such high reputation, said Mr Scott, and there are advantages to Mr Cussler, as well, in taking on a collaborator. “Number one is probably economics. It is one way for him to be able to put out more books in a year,” Mr Scott said. It is also a chance for Mr Cussler, who is approaching 80 years of age, to ease up on the day-to-day work of writing. “It also frees Clive up, time-wise, to pursue his true love of salvage work,” he added.

Realizing that the collaboration was successful, the two writers began toying with their next collaboration even before The Wrecker was finished, said Mr Scott. The third Isaac Bell novel, The Spy, revolves around the launch of the British Dreadnought battleship in 1906. “That was the ship that made all other battleships of the time obsolete. The novel takes place in various ship yards, and has several subplots, including New York City gangsters, and spies from all over the world,” Mr Scott said. The Spy is scheduled for release in June of 2010.

Even while submerging himself in that newest collaboration, Mr Scott has taken time to begin a new series on his own, based on the Robert Ludlum character, Paul Janson. He has taken to heart the lessons he has learned from Mr Cussler, he said. Justin Scott readers will find a more finely honed author in the pages, he believes.

“I have found myself with a much more critical eye on how to get into the story,” he said. He is writing faster, more comfortably, and more confidently. He is approaching the treatment of the new novel by thinking out problems and solutions before getting into the work, and being more practical in his approach.

“Collaboration has made me a better writer. A lot of the art of writing that was hard to do is easier now. I’m having more fun,” said Mr Scott.

The Wrecker by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott, a G.P. Putnam’s Sons publication (480 pages hardcover, $27.95; ISBN 0399155996; also available through Kindle, $9.99), is available in bookstores everywhere, and online.