Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle; Or, Fun and Adventures on the Road

Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle; Or, Fun and Adventures on the Road

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

This is the first book (of 40, counting two big-little books) in the original Tom Swift series. Although in later volumes Tom invents some fantastic stuff (for the period, 1910 - 1938), but in this one, he starts amall, buying a motorcycle (relatively new stuff in 1910) from the eccentric Mr. Wakefield Damon, who accidently tried to climb a tree with it. Tom improves the machine and uses it to attempt to bring a model and papers of his father\'s latest invention to Albany where the family\'s corporate lawyer was. Tom is waylaid but a gang intent on stealing the invention, and does some detective work tracking the men down after they succeed in their theft. He starts after them alone, but meets Mr. Damon and his friends, and they succeed in regaining the model and papers - the crooks manage to get away, to come back in "Tome Swift and his Motor Boat", the 2nd book of the series. We briefly meet Mary Nestor, whose horse runs away with her, but she figures more prominently in later volumes. With a more significant role, we also meet Eradicate "Rad" Sampson, and African-American man-of-all-work. Unfortunately he is given the stereotypical speech patterns given to black characters in the period this is written, but his characterization is usually quite positive (he often provided some comic relief, as he\'s reluctant to go on some of Tom\'s inventions later on). Rad, in this first book, is shown as industrious and repeatedly acquires better tools throughout the book (although Tom either fixes or improves the tools), and it is Rad that gives Tom the clue that tracks down the thieves. Ned Newton, Tom\'s friend, and Andy Foger, Tom\'s enemy, are also introduced, but their parts are small; like Mary, they become more significant later. American boys\' fiction under pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate who produced Tom Swift series, Nancy Drew mysteries, the Hardy Boys, Dave Fearless and many others.A number of scientists, inventors, and science fiction writers have also credited Tom Swift with inspiring them, including Ray Kurzweil, Robert A. Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. The Tom Swift, Jr. adventures were Steve Wozniak\'s favorite reading as a boy and inspired him to become a scientist. According to Wozniak, reading the Tom Swift books made him feel "that engineers can save the world from all sorts of conflict and evil."
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Tom Swift and His Airship

Tom Swift and His Airship

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

Tom Swift has finished his latest invention: the Red Cloud, a fast and innovative airship and he’s anxious for a cross-country trial. But just before he and his friends take off, the Shopton bank is robbed. No sooner is Tom in the air than he blamed for the robbery without his knowledge. Suddenly, he’s a wanted fugitive, and doesn’t know why until he’s half-way across the country. With no safe harbor or friend on the land below, Tom must race back to Shopton to clear his name before he’s shot out of the sky. Victor Appleton was used as a pseudonym by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books. Created by Edward Stratemeyer, the Stratemeyer Syndicate was the first book packager to have its books aimed at children, rather than adults. The Syndicate was so successful that at one time it was believed that the overwhelming majority of the books children read were from the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
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Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat; Or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure

Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat; Or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
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The Drone Pursuit

The Drone Pursuit

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

The Hardy Boys meets Alex Rider in this start to a brand-new series starring everyone's favorite inventor—Tom Swift!When your dad funds the Swift Academy of Science and Technology, you're bound to have a bunch of tech at your disposal. So no one bats an eye when Tom and his best friend, Noah, test their new virtual reality drone before class. At the academy, once class starts and the drone is parked, their brainiac friends then launch into farfetched discussions about the curriculum. And when they watch a documentary about the FBI's most wanted hackers from the eighties, they quickly start speculating that the academy custodian is one of them. At first, Tom dismisses the idea as another one of his friends' conspiracy theories. But using their new drone, he spies the custodian acting suspiciously around school. As Tom and his friends search for evidence that the custodian is the missing hacker, the signs become impossible to ignore when Tom gets...
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The Virtual Vandal

The Virtual Vandal

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

Tom and his friends attend a science camp in this fourth novel in Tom Swift Inventors' Academy—perfect for fans of The Hardy Boys or Alex Rider. Every year, Swift Academy students go to a nearby summer camp to field-test their inventions. Tom and his friends have been working hard on all their projects, but they're most thrilled about Noah's new virtual reality simulation. They can't wait for it to go live, and everyone is looking forward to running tests at the camp. Nothing dulls their excitement, not even when a mysterious prankster starts messing with people's inventions. But things take a nosedive when the pranks turn into vandalism. To make matters worse, clues point to Tom's friend, Sam, as the one responsible. With Sam's reputation and student projects on the line, it's up to Tom and his friends to unmask the true vandal. And when Noah's simulation enters the arena, they quickly discover they're not the only ones meeting in virtual reality...
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The Robot Olympics

The Robot Olympics

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

ROBOTS + TERRORISTS = TROUBLE FOR TOM Tom's been training his entry, SwiftBot, for the upcoming Robot Olympics — a major event being sponsored by the White House's Office of Science and Technology. Teenage inventors from around the country will be bringing their homemade robots to compete in a series of athletic competitions. The Road Back, an antiscience terrorist group, has issued a statement condemning the event, and Tom hopes that the tight security at the Robot Olympics will keep TRB from causing trouble. But no such luck. Someone is playing dirty . . . and things are going to get dangerous.
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Tom Swift and His War Tank; Or, Doing His Bit for Uncle Sam

Tom Swift and His War Tank; Or, Doing His Bit for Uncle Sam

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

The Stratemeyer Syndicate was the producer of a number of mystery series for children, including Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. Ceasing his restless walk up and down the room, Tom Swift strode to the window and gazed across the field toward the many buildings, where machines were turning out the products evolved from the brains of his father and himself. There was a worried look on the face of the young inventor, and he seemed preoccupied, as though thinking of something far removed from whatever it was his eyes gazed upon. I Past Memories II Tom\'s Indifference III Ned is Worried IV Queer Doings V "Is He a Slacker?" VI Seeing Things VII Up a Tree VIII Detective Rad IX A Night Test X A Runaway Giant XI Tom\'s Tank XII Bridging a Gap XIII Into a Trench XIV The Ruined Factory XV Across Country XVI The Old Barn XVII Veiled Threats XVIII Ready for France XIX Tom Is Missing XX The Search XXI A Prisoner XXII Rescued XXIII Gone XXIV Camouflaged XXV Foiled
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Restricted Access

Restricted Access

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

Tom and his friends are trapped in a quarantine lockdown in this third novel in Tom Swift Inventors' Academy—perfect for fans of The Hardy Boys or Alex Rider. Tom has always tried to play down his pseudo celebrity status at the academy. So, the last thing he wants is for a reporter's son to follow him around for an article on the school. When this extends to one of the biggest field trips of the year—an overnight lock-in at Swift Enterprises—Tom couldn't be less pleased. With his new shadow in tow, Tom expects the night to be uneventful at best. But when the facility suddenly goes into quarantine mode, the overnight lock-in turns into a building-wide lockdown. Tom and his friends are left trapped in their respective rooms, with no way to communicate the outside world. As they make their way through the facility using methods that are a little more...creative...than normal, Tom and his friends start realizing that there is more to this...
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Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; Or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land

Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; Or, Daring Adventures in Elephant Land

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

CHAPTER I TOM HOPES FOR A PRIZE "Father," exclaimed Tom Swift, looking up from a paper he was reading, "I think I can win that prize!" "What prize is that?" inquired the aged inventor, gazing away from a drawing of a complicated machine, and pausing in his task of making some intricate calculations. "You don\'t mean to say, Tom, that you\'re going to have a try for a government prize for a submarine, after all." "No, not a submarine prize, dad," and the youth laughed. "Though our Advance would take the prize away from almost any other under-water boat, I imagine. No, it\'s another prize I\'m thinking about." "What do you mean?" "Well, I see by this paper that the Touring Club of America has offered three thousand dollars for the speediest electric car. The tests are to come off this fall, on a new and specially built track on Long Island, and it\'s to be an endurance contest for twenty-four hours, or a race for distance, they haven\'t yet decided. But I\'m going to have a try for it, dad, and, besides winning the prize, I think I\'ll take Andy Foger down a peg. "What\'s Andy been doing now?" "Oh, nothing more than usual. He\'s always mean, and looking for a chance to make trouble for me, but I didn\'t refer to anything special He has a new auto, you know, and he boasts that it\'s the fastest one in this country. I\'ll show him that it isn\'t, for I\'m going to win this prize with the speediest car on the road." "But, Tom, you haven\'t any automobile, you know," and Mr. Swift looked anxiously at his son, who was smiling confidently. "You can\'t be going to make your motor-cycle into an auto; are you?" "No, dad." "Then how are you going to take part in the prize contest? Besides, electric cars, as far as I know, aren\'t specially speedy." "I know it, and one reason why this club has arranged the contest is to improve the quality of electric automobiles. I\'m going to build an electric runabout, dad." "An electric runabout? But it will have to be operated with a storage battery, Tom, and you haven\'t—" "I guess you\'re going to say I haven\'t any storage battery, dad," interrupted Mr. Swift\'s son. "Well, I haven\'t yet, but I\'m going to have one. I\'ve been working on—" "Oh, ho!" exclaimed the aged inventor with a laugh. "So that\'s what you\'ve been tinkering over these last few weeks, eh, Tom? I suspected it was some new invention, but I didn\'t suppose it was that. Well, how are you coming on with it?" "Pretty good, I think. I\'ve got a new idea for a battery, and I made an experimental one. I gave it some pretty severe tests, and it worked fine." "But you haven\'t tried it out in a car yet, over rough roads, and under severe conditions have you?" "No, I haven\'t had a chance. In fact, when I invented the battery I had no idea of using it on a car I thought it might answer for commercial purposes, or for storing a current generated by windmills. But when I read that account in the papers of the Touring Club, offering a prize for the best electric car, it occurred to me that I might put my battery into an auto, and win." "Hum," remarked Mr....
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Depth Perception

Depth Perception

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

Tom and his friends' service project cleaning up a local lake becomes a deep dive into suspicious behavior in in the eighth novel in Tom Swift Inventors' Academy—perfect for fans of The Hardy Boys or Alex Rider.Tom and his friends are excited to be spending their spring break out at Lake Carlopa, where they'll be camping and testing inventions to clean up the shores as part of a service project sponsored by Swift Enterprises. Rock star of the engineering world Jonathan J. Jefferson is even set to make an appearance as part of the event. Tom's also really looking forward to using the trip as an opportunity to test out his most ambitious creation yet—a two-man submarine! Lake Carlopa is a haven for scuba divers because of its clear waters, and it will be the perfect place for the sub's maiden voyage. But when a scuba diving team shows up at the campsite and seems to be there for more than just pleasure diving, Tom and his friends wonder what they're...
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Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel; Or, The Hidden City of the Andes

Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel; Or, The Hidden City of the Andes

Victor Appleton

Science Fiction / Fiction / Childrens

The Titus Brothers Contractors company have won a government contract in Peru to blast a tunnel through a mountain and connect two isolated railroad lines. The deadline is approaching, and the contractors have hit a literal wall: excessively hard rock which defies conventional blasting techniques. The company is under pressure to finish, or else the contract will default to their rivals, Blakeson & Grinder. Mr. Job Titus has heard of Tom Swift and Tom\'s giant cannon, which is used in protecting the Panama Canal, and wants to hire Tom to develop a special blasting powder to help them finish the excavation.
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