Victor Appleton II

The 15th novel in the New TOM SWIFT Invention Adventures. Just two years ago Tom Swift and his best friend, Bud Barclay, journeyed through a wormhole and nearly lost their lives investigating a black hole. After returning Tom sent an unmanned probe back there to keep an eye on things. The time has come to replace it. But, when he does the first videos sent back reveal something so startling that Tom isn't certain what to believe. The probe shows him something Tom knows had to be in the past. What might it mean? The first thought he has is some sort of time fluctuation has occurred. He is hesitant to refer to it as "time travel." But, what if that is exactly what it is? Is it something that can be replicated and used on Earth. Or, can the source of the phenomena be taken from its location back to Earth? Tom can only imagine the possibilities and sets out testing in until a personal tragedy forces him to try something radical.

In this hardbound edition of the 11th novel in The New Tom Swift Invention Series, someone is setting huge fires in an apparent attempt to draw Tom Swift into becoming involved in what looks like terrorist attacks. When a near tragedy and a request from a dear friend finally do prompt the young inventor into action, he discovers that an old enemy may be behind these fires. As he tries to find a solution for fighting the fires--and hopes that the FBI might catch the perpetrators--Tom finds that the writings of his namesake, the original Tom Swift, may hold the clues to the answer he seeks. An entire notebook tells the story of the trials and successes of his ancestor and his incredible fire fighting aerial ship. But can modern technology do what our Tom wants? This volume contains both the novel as well as a novella that tells the story of the original Tom and his search to create an aerial firetruck.

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.

The 18th book of the series. Like many people, Tom Swift-and his father, Damon-have dreamed of the days when the personal jet backpacks we've heard about since the 1940s become reality. When a movie director from Hollywood comes to Tom to create the real thing-he demands reality in his science fiction films with special effects-it intrigues the young inventor enough to see what he might create. It's a lot harder than it first appears! He must convince the director that his plans to have a 1940's period piece with leather jackets and bullet-nosed SCUBA tank-shaped rockets has to be updated to match what he believes might be deliverable as a real device. The suit is hijacked by the stuntman and ends up shooting him into space making necessary a search and rescue mission. In the end, it is up to Bud Barclay to save the day and fly the suit for the film. But, a sudden attack might be sending him on a collision course with death. Can Tom rescue his best friend and save the movie?

The third novel in this series. Sadly, Tom Swift has given up on the governments of the world. After fifty years of trying to help mankind and being instrumental in setting up colonies on Venus, Mars, and numerous moons throughout the outer solar system, he and ten thousand colonist, family and former employees have left the home system forever. Their destination has been to explore the Pleiades star constellation with hopes of locating a new, human-friendly home planet. Along with them are the remnants of the dinosaur race he once thought of as his "space friends." The uneasy peace between them is softened by the fact their Prime Leader is a human. The only problem is that his bride, Phyllis Newton, is the human who has become the Prime Leader of the dinosaurs. She and their asteroid ship start out for the same place as Tom and his more conventional ship, but they soon are separated by millions of light years, and even by the sum total of time itself. As each group encounters new beings and new challenges, they find the universe is a pretty hostile place to be.

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 his 17th adventure, Tom finds himself battling something his scientific knowledge has not prepared him for: personal tragedy! Having conquered several of sci-fi's most difficult problems, he is faced with a crisis that will test his abilities nearly to the breaking point. An incredibly close person is stricken with an inoperable tumor inside his head that 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 finds that he must rally if there is anything to do to save the man. But Doc himself refuses to consider the treatment Tom has in mind when he finds what the inventor proposes is more like a living video game that serious surgery. Is 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?

In this hardbound edition of Tom's 16th adventure in this series, he finds out that a newly classified exo-planet outside Pluto's orbit is about to have a close encounter with the return of Haley's Comet. The problem is that at such distances nobody can tell just how close. A visit to the Planet, Eris, is called for but he must first devise a ay to travel faster than he ever has before so the trip can be accomplished before the pass by. What he comes up with astounds even his father, and that takes a lot! Tom, Bud and their crew arrive in time to witness a catastrophic collision that begins the slow and inevitable break up of the planet. But, trouble is brewing as calculations show some of the debris will eventually drift in and possibly collide with Mars and the Earth. What to do? Nobody has ever tried to put an entire planet back together. This is a Humpty Dumpty exercise of planetary proportions.

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?

In this hardbound edition of the 14th novel in the New Tom Swift Invention Series, Tom is approached by the U. S. Navy to do the impossible: make their RADAR-invisible ships truly invisible, even to the human eye in broad daylight! Things progress almost too well before disaster strikes. During a test of a small car outfitted with the technology, a group of terrorists and turncoats kidnap Tom, nearly killing him as they steal the invisible coupe. He must come up with a way to not just see his nearly perfectly invisible car, he must also do it in some way so that he doesn't ruin its use in the Navy project. It is a balance of tasks that are almost too much for the young inventor to juggle. And, with the Navy and the FBI breathing down his neck, has Tom overstretched himself on this one?

In this hardbound edition of the 13th novel in the New Tom Swift Invention Series, the young inventor is called down to Helium City to investigate strange noises that seem to be coming up from deep within the wells themselves. This should be impossible because there are several miles of near absolute zero liquid helium down there. Several probes not only fail to find anything, at least one is attacked and lost. So, Tom and his best friend, Bud Barclay, undertake the dangerous mission to go down into the well to find out what is really going on. When that trip turns to near disaster, it is time to call in reinforcements. This comes in the form of an old friend who not only knows the truth must be discovered, he believes that it must be stopped at any cost!

In this hardbound edition of the 12th adventure in the new series, Tom Swift decides his 4-year-old space station, the Outpost in Space, is now too small. When you outgrow something you make it larger or you replace it. Tom's plan is not just ambitious, it is almost impossible. He want to build a giant space station capable of rotating to provide its 1,000 or more inhabitants with near Earth-like gravity and incredible surroundings. Two problems are in his way: money and getting all the materials up there. When even his own government appears to condemn his efforts Tom must turn to an alternate source for his building materials-mining what he needs from asteroids. But he needs a way to transport raw materials to Earth and finished goods into orbit. The solution has never been tried except in science fiction. He decides to build a space elevator. But with so many challenges and even the United Nations looking like they want to take over the new station, he finds that he is just about on his own.

This hardbound edition of the fifth novel in the series starts with a near tragedy. But, not one to let setbacks stop him, Tom Swift accepts a contract to help complete a NOAA weather station in Florida that has lost its primary contractor. While investigating the site he and his best friend Bud are nearly killed in an explosion. Or, was it an attack? He sets about creating a safety and security system but encounters a mysterious submarine out in the Gulf of Mexico. It turns out that an old enemy is up to their old tricks and are willing to do anything to stop-or kill-Tom. He knows the old saying about how you can't do anything about the weather, but has never believed it. And so Tom works to invent a method for breaking up hurricanes before they can do any damage. But the typical mix of sabotage, strange circumstances and even being waylaid on a deserted island can't stop our hero. But, about that weather thing...

In this hardbound edition of the 4th novel in the series, Tom is asked to help save the crew of a nuclear submarine, and then to recover the actual sub before it can be claimed as salvage and stripped of its top secrets. His efforts lead him to being requested to undertake a monumental task: locating and recovering the more than half-dozen "lost" nuclear submarines sitting on the bottom of several of the Earth's oceans. More than that, he must also find their nuclear-tipped torpedoes and reactors, some of which are no longer with the hull. With nothing available from his own company, it looks hopeless until the Navy loans him a holdover from the Cold War, a submarine carrier capable of holding and launching several attack class subs. He refits it for the mission and sets out only to discover that saboteurs, spies, possible terrorists and even foreign governments are out to see him fail.

In this hardbound edition of the second book in the series, a consortium of airlines industry executives beg Tom Swift and his father to help them out of a spiraling problem. No matter what they try to do to keep airport and aircraft noise down, and no matter how far out of town airports are constructed, people snap up the land around, build housing complexes and the folks who move in begin complaining about the noise. On top of this, fuel prices are out of control. Can Tom do something? Can he find a way to reduce aircraft noise levels far below anything anyone else has been able to accomplish. Is it possible for him to find a way to make jet turbines super fuel efficient? And, can he do this all for not just new jets but for the huge fleets of existing aircraft out there? With so many things to tackle, about the last thing he needs is an industrial spy out to steal both his plans and the publicity, and an unprovoked missile attack as he does a test flight. If he has to give up, what will happen?

In this BONUS EDITION 11th novel in the Tom Swift Invention Series, the young inventor witnesses the near catastrophic fire at the historic Shopton Hotel. He is suspicious when he sees a woman leaving the scene, being extra careful to hide her identity. Tom's best friend, Bud Barclay, is almost killed in a fire bomber accident and that gets Tom started on coming up with a safe solution. His desire to get involved is strengthened when a series of other fires across the country begin causing massive destruction. A close friend pleads with him to do something and so Tom sets out to develop a new type of fire fighting system-one that is self-contained and needs no water. The discovery of a notebook left by his great grandfather--the first Tom Swift--leads him on a new path, one that includes taking his system to the air. But there is a special danger lurking for him. An old enemy appears to be back and ready to drag Tom into something that might mean his death. Will Tom be able to get his new fire fighter finished in time to make a difference? Or, will his enemy surprise him and bring an end to his life? This edition contains a BONUS NOVELLA, "Tom Swift and His Aerial Firetruck"-the story behind the first Tom Swift's original aerial fire fighting device.

In this standard edition of the 11th novel of the New Tom Swift Invention Series-does not contain the bonus short story, "Tom Swift and His Aerial Firetruck"-someone is setting huge fires in an apparent attempt to draw Tom Swift into becoming involved in what looks like terrorist attacks. When a near tragedy and a request from a dear friend finally do prompt the young inventor into action, he discovers that an old enemy may be behind these fires, and it might just be part of a personal vendetta against Tom As he tries to find a solution for fighting the fires-and hopes that the FBI might catch the perpetrators-Tom finds that the writings of his great-grandfather, the original Tom Swift, may hold the clues to the answer he seeks. An entire notebook tells the story of the trials and successes of his ancestor. But can modern technology do what he wants? For those interested in the back story, it may either be found in the enhanced edition of this book (see other listings) or as a separate novella.

In this hardbound edition of the 1st novel of the new series, Tom and his father are ordered to attend a meeting of a world organization on pollution. As they stand practically accused of being among the worst, they are secretly being requested to help create a means to scrub environmental pollutants from the air over the South Pole and to rebuild the ozone layer. As they leave they are accosted by a strange African man who claims that his nation has no water and that Tom must help or all of his people will die. After investigating the situation the young inventor realizes that the man's plea is in earnest and so he now has two major projects to work on: Fix the ozone layer and bring water to a drought-ridden nation. To make things more complicated, a mysterious squadron of all-black MIG fighters keep appearing wherever Tom goes, seemingly bent on destroying everything he is working toward and may even be out to kill him! Is this going to be possible, or is this to be Tom's first major failure?