Sahara - an important lesson for all authors of adventure

Like many people, I enjoy reading Clive Cussler's adventure novels. Dirk Pitt is a proper hero. He's just about believable and manages to get out of the most amazing scrapes using technology and his own skills. He's an all-action man with intellect and meets an rescues some very beautiful and intelligent women. He's also a car nut so I feel that I have a good deal in common with him but really that's where the similarity ends. Back in 2006, I heard about the court case in Hollywood featuring Clive Cussler. He'd fallen out with the principal backer of the film, billionaire Philip Anschutz. Cussler claimed the script wasn't true to his original story and Anschutz reckoned Cussler had deceived him over how many books he'd sold. They ended up counter-suing each other and have probably spent more in legal fees than the 5-8 million dollars they've been awarded by various courts and judges. What could have been an exciting new film franchise was practic...