I was the kid who stared out the window. I fantasized myself on the deck of pirate ships - Cussler at the bridge.

The truth is ships and aircraft have been vanishing with tragic regularity in every part of the world since they were invented.

My forte is the plotting. You sit down, and you work out a plot.

It was a great experience for a kid, because it was a bunch of kids playing on pirate ships and water slides, so looking back on it, it was the fondest experience of my childhood.

I am not like Stephen King, who writes one book, then writes another. I finish a book and go off and... look for wrecks. Then, six months later, I might start another book.

Some people are drawn to a van Gogh or a Rembrandt. Some are attracted to exotic guns. Coins. Stamps. I am attracted to cars.