Tom Clancy's third novel featuring John Kelly, aka John Clark, as the primary protagonist will be listed in the New York Times top ten best sellers on or before 31 December 2002.
Clark first appeared as a supporting character in the Jack Ryan novel Cardinal of the Kremlin. Since that first appearance, he has been featured in pivotal roles in two other Jack Ryan novels, and served as protagonist in two novels, Without Remorse and Rainbow Six in which Jack Ryan was, at most, a background character.
For purposes of this claim, a novel will be a work of fiction at least 60,000 words in length (none of Clancy's novels to date have been anything like that short). John Kelly (aka John Clark) as the primary or a central character will require that pivotal plotlines revolve around Clark/Kelly, not just that he appear in a background or scene setting capacity -- for our purposes, Clark's appearance in Clear and Present Danger would not qualify, as he was a supporting charcter to Jack Ryan, but his appearances in Without Remorse and Rainbow Six would be valid. If this isn't obvious, it will be left up to the judge to determine whether Clark/Kelly is a primary or supporting character.
In the description sentence "Tom Clancy's third novel featuring John Kelly ... in the New York Times top ten best sellers on or before 31 December 2002", "third" refers only to order of publication, not to any other order such as order of authorship (e.g., in case Clancy's next-published Kelly/Clark novel turns out to have been written before he wrote one of his already-published Kelly/Clark novels).
Also, I interpret the claim description to stipulate that the Kelly/Clark character has been protagonist of exactly two Clancy novels published before this claim's creation date, namely _Without Remorse_ and _Rainbow Six_. If it is discovered that there was one or more other Kelly/Clark protagonist novel(s) previously published before this claim's creation, such other novel(s) will be considered to have no effect on this claim.
Therefore, this claim will apply only to the Tom Clancy novel with Kelly/Clark protagonist that is next published after this claim's creation date (but before this claim's due date), if any. If two or more Kelly/Clark protagonist novels are published between this claim's creation and due dates, only the first-published of that group will be considered for this claim.
I interpret the phrase "the New York Times top ten best sellers" in the claim description to refer to positions 1-10 of the weekly The New York Times Hardcover Fiction best sellers book list.
At present (May 2001), The New York Times publishes several "Expanded Best Seller Lists" of books online at http://www.nytimes.com/books/yr/mo/day/bsp/index.html (requires free registration for viewing) as well as in print. Of these, only the list described as both "Hardcover" and "Fiction", with no other qualifier, matters for purposes of this claim. No other category or subcategory (such as, but not limited to, "Paperback", "Independents vs. Chains", "Nonfiction", "Advice", or "Children's") of list will matter.
The New York Times Hardcover Fiction best sellers book list may include more than ten positions. For purposes of this claim, only positions 1-10 will matter.
At present, The New York Times publishes its best-seller book lists online (at the URL given above) a week in advance of their publication in the printed Sunday Book Review. For purposes of this claim, any media version of the Hardcover Fiction list published on or before 31 December 2002 will count, even if its publication in a different medium does not occur until after that date.