Thomas Hudson

... or, they are more akin to good-length novellas STORY 1: When a letter arrives inviting Damon to come to New Zealand for a possible project, he nearly refuses due to the terrible time he had on his last visit to Australia. But, he gives the Kiwis the benefit of the doubt and heads Down Under again. With an oceangoing ferry system about the only thing uniting the two main islands, and two of the three about to be taken out of service for major overhauls, they need his help, and almost immediately. He signs on for the project, but is taken by surprise when an old enemy seems to be involved in first a smear campaign and then sabotage and even attempted murder. Will the project be finished, or will it finish with even more deaths? STORY 2: While attempting to test a new drive system for the two main hyper-loop systems, neither of which have been true successes, Damon and his team find they must undertake a recovery mission when the test capsule is catapulted into space. But, things are not as they seem and they soon find themselves embroiled in a brand new mission, and one that will see them all shocked to their cores. Plus an all-new bonus story only in this collection: Damon Swift and the Gizmo

Adventure 22 in this new series sees Tom and Bud and their wives vacationing in Barbados, only to discover a terrible food shortage is about to befall several Caribbean islands. Tom's wife wants him to help, but it is only once a relatively new British Ministry comes to Swift Enterprises with money and an official request that he finds he may have an idea or two. The major obstacle is how do you build farm land on a totally used island where nothing more exists without ruining the ecology? When he settles on a unique growing environment, there are many things to overcome, not the least of which are rampant rumors on many of the islands saying that the Swifts are out to capture and steal their land. One man is so angry he shoots Tom during a public event. But, not a lot can get the inventor down except for a returning enemy out to destroy him and the humanitarian project. Obstacle after obstacle are overcome as he works to finish his SeaSpace HydroFarm.

In the twenty-first novel in this new series, Tom has defeated the Electricity Vampires and now wants something a bit less diabolical to take up his time. A new X-Prize is announced that intrigues him: fly a solar-powered aircraft, non-stop, around the globe in just 36 hours That sort of speed will require an electrical powered jet, and that will burn up a lot of electricity. So, how can he manage to make what he needs by day... and still have enough to run at full speed at night? Might his recently discovered cousin in England, Thomasina Swift, be of some assistance? Complicating things is a mysterious woman and a deadly opponent out to keep Tom from winning or perhaps from ever getting back home.

This is the 4th novel in the Lunar Saga (that started as a single novel and became a 2-book story then a trilogy and now this ). After making an underground inferno harmless and creating the Moon's first active volcano in millennia, Tom Swift is now trying to help the residents of the former slave colony on the dark side of the lunar surface as they try to build the first off-planet resort. But, there are difficulties that must be overcome. At the same time, Enterprises' head of Security, Harlan Ames, is determined to get to the bottom of one final mystery surrounding the former Masters, and disposing of some evidence he would rather keep hidden. All this takes him, and a civilian archeology team, back to the Himalayas. Unknown to anyone is a young man who has vowed to destroy Tom Swift for some imagined family disaster. He manages to get assigned to the Mood as part of the resort construction team, and sets himself up to kill Tom Swift

In the 4th book of the saga, everything appears to be going smoothly on the Moon as the forthcoming Lunar Resort is taking shape, but behind the scenes there are troubles with at least one attraction planned that is taking a lot of Tom Swift's time. Meanwhile, Harlan Ames is trying to find closure over the entire The Masters episode and some gems left behind in their former fortress. He tracks down the probable source and, along with a civilian archeological team, heads back to the Himalayas, but he must first dispose of some very disturbing evidence To make matters worse, a very ill man who holds Tom responsible for a family tragedy is out to kill the inventor and finds a way to get to the Moon, become one of the construction crew, and lies in wait for the opportunity to kill.

In the exciting twentieth adventure of this new series, Tom Swift finds a pleasant day test sailing a new yacht is turning into an attack from the sky. Out of nowhere a lightning bolt strikes his boat and sucks all power from everywhere. Not a freak incident, it seems to be more of a warning of things to come when a large power generating station along the East Coast is attacked next, with the same loss of electricity as if it had been siphoned back into the sky. This time, there is a great deal of damage and a near death. More and more power stations are targeted and now Tom must try to find out several vital things: Who is attacking? Why are they invisible and how do they manage that? What is their purpose in zig-zagging up and down the country hitting station after station? Not only is he broadsided by these attack, he also finds out there is another Tom Swift out there; or rather a Tommy Swift. Together they work to uncover the evil attackers Bud Barclay has dubbed the Electricity Vampires. As the attacks go on and Tom gets no closer to uncovering them, it seems there is a final target in mind, and if they get there, it could be devastating

Harlan Ames-formerly the head of Security for Swift Enterprises in the Tom Swift adventures-has made the Moon his permanent residence for decades. More than he cares to think about. Now, as the Chief Commissioner of Security for the Dark Side of the Moon, he tries to let his underlings do the hard work. But, after falling for a singer in one of the nightclubs, he finds himself deep in her troubles as she is arrested for murdering a man she knew years earlier. To make things worse, the man's wife comes up to serve him with divorce papers only to find him dead and Harlan's lady friend the obvious one who did it. What's a cop supposed to do, and how does he keep up his hard-boiled dick persona? This a a fun and funny mystery written in the style of the detective stories of the 1930s and 1940s with a good heap of science fiction tossed in. Oh, did we forget to tell you there is an absolutely horrible weapon and the overthrow of all of Russia and ... well, read the book

The Tom Swift adventure about his Rocket Ship doesn't tell much of the real tale. In fact it just assumes that things like Fearing Island exist and that his own father, Damon Swift, has nothing better to do than stand aside and watch. The truth is that Damon also built a new, privately-funded rocket as part of an X-Prize competition. His was unique with a whole series of obstacles to overcome and began even before Tom had finished his Flying Lab. This included locating and building out the scrub grass island, Fearing, off the coast of Georgia. That is a story in and of itself and is told here. This novel is the story of how Fearing came to be leased by the Swifts, how Damon became very good friends with the U. S. Senator who would play a large part in their lives, how he designed and built something looking more like a child's toy than a heavy-lifting rocket, and how he and Tom went into a private and friendly competition to see whose rocket would be launched first. It is a unique look into the father of Tom Swift.

For every Tom Swift novel there are at least one or two inventions that just seem to be "there" as if they always existed. Or, they are important but they don't really get described as to how they came into being or how they function. This book, like the other five in this series, aim to fix that. The ten stories in this collection are individually shorter than previous novellas, but they don't need to be lengthy. These are about 6,000 words each and can easily be read in a single sitting (or reclining.) The book includes: The Big Wheel - Tom designs and builds a fast monocycleFrom Toad to Pigeon - It is time to update the Pigeon aircraft, and Tom is being asked to come up with the new designThe Little Black Bag of Medical Tools - Doc Simpson addresses the AMA and tells them about the nifty tools Tom has created for himThe Pocket Drone - A chance letter gets the inventor working on a new type of drone that can save livesThe Mechanical Arm - An employee loses an arm in an accident, and Tom is determined to replace it with the best prostheses he can buildThe Wasp - The U. S. Navy needs a tiny helicopter and Tom believes he has just the thing, assuming he can prove something never tried can work The Incredible Pen and Pencil - To Swift always has his pen radio and pencil soldering iron in his shirt pocket, but why did he make them and how? The Other Great Polymer - Tomasite is amazing but too expensive, so when Tom is building the Sky Queen he needs a new, strong polymerThe Kangaroo Kub - There is to be a midget jet carried in the Sky Queen, but can Tom design one that will land inside a moving hangar? The Repelatron - It had to come from somewhere and this is the story of how Tom came up with the very first concept, and it was years before he used it for a spaceship

In the 19th adventure, Tom is asked for a double-header. Canada wants a version of his bullet train and Europe wants a high-speed cargo transportation system. Both point to similar solutions and each one brings him a new enemy, one political and one deadly dangerous. Canada ought to be easy, but government interference makes it nearly impossible, and just how the heck do you get a thousand tons of cargo across the ocean without using ships? All this and more await you in this novel.

In novel 18 of this series, Tom Swift gets the call to put his inventive brains to work for Hollywood. A producer for one of the studios wants to resurrect the old movie series that featured a hero using a flying rocket pack. But, when Tom convinces him that roaring flames and something looking like a pair of fire extinguishers isn't going to work, he agrees to set his serial in the near future. That just leaves Tom with the task of creating a wearable, flyable backpack that can fly for a half hour at a time, be absolutely safe for the stunt man to pilot, and look really incredible. Forces are at work to steal such a technology from both Tom and another company in California that tried making something like it a year earlier. And, it turns out to be an old enemy of the Swifts behind it all. Now, with pressure put on him by the US Government and constant nagging requests to get the backpack delivered to the movie set, Tom must satisfy many people, keep the plans and actual device safe, and still get his and Bud's wife out to Hollywood to meet some stars.

In his 17th adventure, Tom finds himself battling something his scientific knowledge has not prepared him for: personal tragedy Already having conquered several of science fiction's more difficult problems, Tom Swift is faced with a crisis that will test his abilities nearly to the breaking point. An incredibly close person has been stricken with an inoperable tumor inside his head. The tumor will kill him in months, or an operation might do it sooner. At the very least, standard medical procedures would leave him with brain damage. When Doc Simpson proposes an impossible task, Tom, who is mentally fatigued almost to the breaking point, finds that he must rally if there is anything to do to save the man. But the Doctor himself refuses to consider the treatment Tom has in mind when he finds out that what the inventor proposes is more like a living video game that serious surgery. Will it be possible to convince him to let Tom-an unskilled surgeon at the very best-perform the life-saving procedure? And, can Tom rally his emotional and physical strength long enough to make the operation a success?

Book 16 in this new series sees the young inventor presented with a problem that may or may not happen in a locale so far away it could be meaningless. Or, it could turn deadly Haley's Comet is swinging back in for its next appearance, only this time it will pass very close to a newly identified planet far outside the orbit of Pluto. Eris is larger than Pluto and even possesses a small moon. So, with the possibility that Eris could influence Haley's trajectory, and if it goes one way it will come too close to the Earth on its pass in a few years, Tom must find a way to get out that far, and fairly quickly. His solution. Simple. Harness a black hole, ride it out past the edge of the solar system and see what happens. Only themission becomes much more diffecult when Haley's smashes into Eris and the planet begins to break up. Now, there will be far more potential deadly pieces of the former planet to deal with unless Tom and his crew can find a way to rebuild it.

In this fifth collection of invention novellas and short stories: TOM SWIFT AND HIS EXCEPTIONAL BATTERYWhen a valued employee has an opportunity to create a new and lifesaving device for use on the battlefield, Tom agrees to create an entirely new type of battery for it. TOM SWIFT AND HIS MULTICORDERThere are just too darned many things for the young inventor to keep hauling around for those times he needs some special devices, so he sets about coming up with an all-in-one unit based on a popular old TV show. TOM SWIFT AND HIS POLYMORPHIC GLIDERAfter rescuing a glider pilot it turns out that the father is a very wealthy man who wants Tom to do the impossible, make him an air glider that can fly like a bird, flapping wings and standing starts included. TOM SWIFT TAKES OFFA Young Tom Swift story. Nearly 13, Tom dreams of the day he can fly, but now thinks he can start with a rocket. First, though, he must build a viable solid rocket motor using the things he can find in the late 1940s. TOM SWIFT AND THE MODEL ROCKET MOTORThe son of a friend has become fascinated with model rocketry, something Tom can relate to. When the boy tries to make his own rocket motor, and is seriously injured, Tom decides to come up with a formula that is safe and powerful. An alternate look at Tom Swift creating a solid propellant. This is a shorter, bonus story.

In this third trio of novellas celebrating the inventions of the father of Tom Swift, Damon Swift, the seasoned inventor tackles a problem in Africa, one that will soon be in outer space. and then he heads back to Australia for another interesting project. In "Damon Swift and the Duly Deputized Rhino," he must devise a way to protect endangered rhinos from the poaching squads of an evil dictator of one of the newest nations. "Damon Swift and the One-Man Missile" sees him attempting to work with the French designers of a forthcoming space station to rival Enterprises' own Outpost in Space, only to find that they have made far too many mistakes in their design. But it is what they intend to do with the invention he is creating for them that makes him angry. Finally, in "Damon Swift and the Pretend Pterodactyl," he is hired to create a flying lizard for a man who is more interested in getting his name on a new theme park than in doing things right.

Famous as a young teen detective, Barclay "Brains" Benton and his best friend Jimmy Carson have grown up. After college Brains has gone to work for an electronics company while Jim is now a crime reporter for a newspaper in Los Angeles. Time, work and circumstances have drawn Jim back to his old home town of Crestwood while he takes a summer break from reporting. Brains joins him to take his mind off his girlfriend having moved away from California for a year. They rent an attic room and decide to take on a few small cases. But, when a mysterious woman gets word to them through Jim's sister-she was one of Ann's favorite, if a little eccentric, teachers-that she is being stalked by aliens from outer space, both young men are drawn into one of their weirder mysteries ever. It gets even stranger when the woman's own daughter turns out to be nearly as eccentric. The two have been living in a house where it seems the only way to get in or out is to climb up the side to a second-story window But when the old woman disappears almost out from under Brains' and Jim's noses, they just have to get to the bottom of it. The original Brains Benton series ran just six books in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Since then, only a few authors have attempted "fan fiction" to the extent of writing additional novels. This one follows onto the first three by author Scott Lockwood and uses some of his situations. It is the first of a planned pair of Brains and Jim as adults novels by this author. If you will, please note that the style of the writing is designed so the story can be enjoyed by young adult readers as well as old coots such as myself who can recall when the first books arrived on store and library shelves ALSO--There is now a juvenile version of this book "Brains and Jimmy: The Mrs. Periwinkle Case" meant to be read my younger readers while their parents enjoy this one.

In this second collection of Damon Swift Invention novellas we begin by going back nearly 18 years to a time when Damon is working for NASA. Circumstanced there and at home demand he go back to save the family business. To do this, he must get the ball rolling on an incredibly simple but difficult to get manufactured car. This two-seater does something no other car can. it folds up into a narrow package fore easy storage. The only problem is, who wants something like that? This is an enhanced and updated version of a story that appeared in a collection of Tom Swift inventions. Next, we come to modern times where Damon finds himself in the middle of a potential invasion of either north America, Europe, or both by a hostile Asian nation. When asked to come up with something to safeguard the Arctic from these invaders, he comes up with an audacious surveillance robot. Then, his vacation in Brazil is interrupted when he is kidnapped by a member of his own government, told of a potential for a terrible outbreak of disease, and requested to find a way to save members of an elusive tribe stuck int he middle of the danger zone. To round the book off, there is an all-new short story. "Damon Swift and the Scuttle-By-Wire Rat" that takes him back into the worlds of robotics and sewer systems.