Interview: November 20, 2025
Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon face a ghost ship, deadly assassins and a threat from Cabrillo’s own past in their race to stop the launch of the world’s deadliest machine in CLIVE CUSSLER QUANTUM TEMPEST. This is the 19th Oregon Files novel and the fourth written by Mike Maden. In this interview conducted by former publicity executive Michael Barson, who was Clive Cussler’s primary publicist at G.P. Putnam’s Sons from 1999 to 2015, Maden talks about his favorite Oregon Files characters, the challenges he has faced since taking over the series, and why he thinks that a film or TV series adaptation of these books has the potential to be a huge success.
Question: The Oregon Files has a large and lively cast of characters going back over 20 years, since the late Clive Cussler created the series. QUANTUM TEMPEST is now your fourth Oregon Files novel. Have you developed an affinity for any particular character along the way?
Mike Maden: Clive invented several great characters in the Oregon Files series, but it would be hard not to name Juan Cabrillo, the intrepid captain of the Oregon, as the most interesting and dynamic of the bunch. No doubt he was Clive’s favorite as well --- and, I suspect, a mirror image of himself given the adventurous and creative life he lived for many decades. Along those lines, his friendship with his number two, Max Hanley, is something really special, and I find myself laughing out loud at their crazy dialogue --- often spoken without my help! That’s a great tribute to the larger-than-life characters and world that Clive created for all of us. It also might mean I need stronger meds.
Q: You surely read the Oregon Files novels that Clive and his collaborators wrote before you began writing HELLBURNER. Was there one book in particular that struck you as the ideal template for the series, as a jumping-off point?
MM: The first thing you have to do when you start a series like the Oregon Files is to read everything that came before you to get the lay of the land. It’s also the last thing you want to do. I had this rising sense of dread as I read story after story. Clive and his previous co-writers were just so darned smart and crafted some truly amazing plots. They covered just about every conceivable subject and trotted all around the globe to do it. How in the world could I ever be as imaginative and original as those guys? It felt like I was being double-teamed by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen with my shoelaces tied.
But if there was a rope that would allow me to ascend the Cliffs of Insanity, it was THE SILENT SEA by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul (who is currently writing the Isaac Bell series). That novel gave me the confidence to give this a shot because it did everything I love in a great story: an engrossing prologue, a modern political conflict (based on an ancient map), Argentine dictators, a climactic battle in the Antarctic. That’s history, politics, big action and vivid characters all woven in a gripping thriller. What’s not to love? “Yeah, just go and do all of that,” I told my lonesome, and I’ve been trying to do it ever since.
Q: QUANTUM TEMPEST seems particularly timely, with its plot revolving around the twin menaces of today’s drug cartels and artificial intelligence running amok. With your doctorate in poli sci and being a longtime veteran of the international relations and comparative politics scenes, how often do you get to lean into your expert background for the story construction in this series?
MM: Of course, we all view the world through our own perspectives. But having read fairly widely in both history and politics, I think I have a pretty good feel about how things are and, unfortunately, soon will be if present trends continue. The threats in QUANTUM TEMPTEST are all too real, and the challenges they pose mirror some of the darkest forces we face today. But there is hope in both fiction and in life. Juan Cabrillo and his valiant crew always rise up to the challenge, and their virtues of courage, creativity and self-sacrifice point the way forward for all of us.
Q: The world is a far different place from when Clive Cussler first introduced the Oregon Files series with GOLDEN BUDDHA in 2003. What would you say the biggest adjustment has been for you to reckon with in terms of both character and story since the Oregon Files was launched?
MM: I was whining earlier about how hard it is to come up with new and original stories. QUANTUM TEMPEST is the 19th novel in the series. The only unforgiveable sin in writing is to be boring, and that’s quite a challenge this far down the pike in a beloved and well-known series like this. In some ways, the march of time has been my friend. Every year that passes seemingly launches new and terrifying technologies that become the weapons in the hands of new villains who are evolving as quickly as the technologies themselves. And as every good writer (and reader) knows, villains are the “secret sauce” of any great story.
The other challenge is to keep the original Oregon Files characters fresh and interesting for the fans. The way I’ve been doing that is to explore their individual backstories in order to uncover the childhood secrets, deep wounds and primal motivations for the things they say and do today. These backstories themselves become the fodder for new stories as well.
Q: No doubt you are looped into the reader feedback that the Cusslers and G.P. Putnam’s Sons receive from readers after the publication of a new novel. Can you summon up the communique that most surprised you?
MM: I’ve been blessed to receive far more kind and encouraging notes than negative ones from readers around the world. I’m vain enough to appreciate the affirmation of whatever skill I can bring to the page, but the far more satisfying comments simply say, “Thanks for keeping the series alive!” That’s about the highest praise I could ever get because I know how important Clive’s legacy is to them. The last thing I would ever want to do is disappoint the readers, in part because I’m an avid reader myself. There’s nothing quite so enjoyable as hunkering down in my reading chair with a new novel by a favorite writer who really delivers the goods. The reader comments that tell me I’ve put them back onto the decks of the Oregon for another rollicking adventure are the ones that keep propelling me forward.
Q: There have been very few film adaptations of the Cussler world since his novels began appearing over 50 years ago. But surely the universe of the Oregon Files would lend itself nicely to a quality TV miniseries in the manner of the adaptations that have appeared during the past year or two from the works of Jack Carr, Lee Child, Tom Clancy and so many other kingpins of adventure fiction. Do you ever muse on whether or not that day might come for the Juan Cabrillo team?
MM: Just about everybody who knows and loves the franchise is itchin’ for an Oregon Files film or TV series, including me. I mean, it’s the perfect setup, isn’t it? It’s Mission: Impossible meets Star Trek. And there’s so much source material to draw from now --- 19 novels and number 20 on the way. Even if a producer didn’t want to use any of the previous work, there’s a story-generating engine thrumming at the heart of this construct every bit as powerful as the magnetohydrodynamic thrusters powering the Oregon. A talented writers’ room could spin tales for decades and never break a sweat. And a legion of loyal fans would set up a new film or series for success right out of the gate --- so long as the Hollywood types love and respect the Oregon crew as much as the rest of us do.
