My guest today is the number one New York Times bestselling author behind the Greyman book series, and he also co-authored Tom Clancy's last three Jack Ryan novels, and he continued the Jack Ryan character in Tom Clancy universe following

Tom Clancy's passing in 2013. Mark Greeny, welcome to Can You Survive this podcast?

Hey there. Thanks for having me. Yeah, for sure. So I'm really hyped to have you on. I feel like really inspired by your story. I know a little

bit about it, but not everything about it. But basically what I know is that you were like a big

Tom Clancy fan and then ended up co-collabulating with him on some of his books. So I'm curious, can you tell us a little bit about

like how you became a published author and what were you doing before that? And how did you come

to work with Tom Clancy? Yeah. So my the the short version is that I got interested in the first

thriller I ever bought in my life was Patriot Games,

which was Tom's, I guess, third book.

And I got it in 87.

I was 19 years old at the time and changed my life.

I just, after that, I just started reading everybody that was big.

Nelson DeMille and Frederick Forsyth and Lake Hara and obviously all the Clancy

and Ludlam. And I just, just worshipped the genre. I mean, I literally say I spent my entire 20s

like being a bartender and then going home and reading like six books at a time for a decade.

But I got this idea that I wanted to try and write a book

when I was 22 and I spent 15 years piddling on it. And in that time, I worked in computer

hardware business and then I got a job in international sales and marketing for a medical device

company. And but I kept plugging away at my book and I finished it in 15 years.

I started in 90 and finished it in 05. And then I wrote my next book. I didn't even give it to an

agent or anybody. I wrote my next book in seven months. And I got that in front of an agent.

And they said, no, but you're a good writer,

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