Connery Row

More book dealing: While Paramount shoots “Red October,” the studio is also negotiating for film rights to author Tom Clancy’s next techno-thriller, “Clear and Present Danger,” due out Aug. 17 from G.P. Putnam and Sons. The book drew a pre-publication rave from Publisher’s Weekly, which called it “the author’s best work since ‘The Hunt for Red October.’ ”

“Red October” producer Mace Neufeld said that Paramount contractually has “first position” on the book--meaning first opportunity to negotiate in good faith.

“At the moment, we’re right at the precipice (of negotiations),” said Clancy’s N.Y.C. agent, Robert Gottlieb of the William Morris Agency, while declining to name the studio. “We’re expecting an offer shortly.”

Clancy’s new book finds his protagonist trying to avert a debacle and save agents “hung out to dry” in the U.S. government’s covert military campaign against drug smuggling, which it considers a “clear and present danger” to national security. Putnam plans a first printing of 1 million hardcover copies.