Cussler says next novel will be last

After three decades of spinning tales about lost ships and sunken treasures, Clive Cussler, author of bestselling adventure books “Raise the Titanic” and “Night Probe!,” is tired and plans to quit.

In New York recently to promote his latest book, a nonfiction account of his search for and exploration of underwater wrecks titled “The Sea Hunters II,” 71-year-old Cussler said that after his next novel he will stop writing.

“The imagination is still working, but the drive is just gone,” Cussler said in an interview. “I can’t explain it. I guess [after] 35 years of this stuff ... I’m tired of it.

“And I have to push to try to maintain the quality because I don’t want to cheat my readers,” said Cussler, who has produced 19 fiction best-sellers and one nonfiction bestseller.