By himself, he wrote 17 Dirk Pitt novels, starting with The Mediterranean Caper in 1973. About 15 years ago, Cussler says, his then-publisher, Simon and Schuster, suggested working with coauthors to publish more frequently. If some dismiss that as an assembly-line approach to commercial fiction, Cussler “doesn’t give a damn. I never had a highfalutin view of what I write. It’s a job. I entertain my readers. I get up in the morning and I start typing.”
