TOM SWIFT

   Hero of a JUVENILE SERIES of scientific-invention novels produced by the STRATEMEYER Syndicate, constituting a central example of the importance and persistence of the EDISONADE in boys' fiction, and written under the house name Victor APPLETON, most being the work of Howard R. GARIS. TS was the most commercially successful and is still the best remembered of all the boys' sf series of the period. During 1910-38, beginning with Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle (1910), 38 titles appeared, all but the last 3by Garis, and featuring such inventions as the "photo telephone" and the "ocean airport", the technical difficulties of utilizing which wereemphasized. These stories created a potential readership for Hugo GERNSBACK's magazines. The TS books were written in what was, even for thetime, stilted prose. Between 1954 and 1971, beginning with Tom Swift and His Flying Lab (1954) as by Victor Appleton II, a 2nd TS series appeared,this time featuring Tom Swift Jr, its 33 titles being released at a rate of about 2 per year; at first it was enormously successful, possibly giving rise to the 1960s popularity of the Tom Swiftie ("I think we can get there in time, said Tom swiftly"). The authors behind the new house name are not known. In 1981 a 3rd TS series, as by Victor Appleton, began with The City in the Stars (1981), continuing to \#11, The Planet of Nightmares (1984), which was by Mike MCQUAY writing as Appleton; 2 ofthese titles have recently been ascribed to Neal BARRETT Jr. Most recently, in 1991, under the Byron PREISS packaging aegis, a 4th series began with Tom Swift \#1: The Black Dragon (1991) by Bill MCCAY writing as Appleton; further titles include novels by G. Gwynplaine MACINTYRE and 2by the team of Debra DOYLE and James D. MACDONALD.

JE/PN/JC

   Further reading:"Tom Swift and the Syndicate" in Strange Horizons: The Spectrum of Science Fiction (1976) by Sam MOSKOWITZ; Science-Fiction: The Early Years(1991) by Everett F. BLEILER.