Frequent readers of this blog and/or my fanzine, MAZES, will be amazed to learn I was pretty much a non-reader in Third Grade. Somehow Dick and Jane, Spot and Fluff, did nothing to excite my imagination. My Mom, in desperation, bought me a copy of Tom Swift and the Caves of Nuclear Fire for a Christmas present. When I unwrapped the book, I immediately started reading it. I didn’t put it down until I had finished reading the book. I noticed several other Tom Swift titles listed on the dust jacket and said, “I want these other books, too.” So the very next day, my Mom took me to a bookstore and she bought every Tom Swift book they had, all in all about eight more titles. My Mom’s worries about her non-reading son disappeared forever. After I had read all the Tom Swift books, the Hardy Boys were next, and even some Nancy Drews. And then there was no stopping me. But it all started with Tom Swift and the Caves of Nuclear Fire. I’m eternally grateful that my Mom was concerned enough to take an action that changed my life so profoundly at such a young age.
I’ve always wondered who wrote this second series of Tom Swift books. I read a lot of them when I was a kid, including this one.
“Victor Appleton II” was a house name used by several writers, James. But, thanks to the power of the Internet, here’s the listing of who wrote what:
Series
Tom Swift Jr
1. Tom Swift and His Flying Lab (1954) (by William Dougherty)
2. Tom Swift and His Jetmarine (1954) (by John Almquist)
3. Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship (1954) (by John Almquist)
4. Tom Swift and His Giant Robot (1954) (by Richard Sklar)
5. Tom Swift and His Atomic Earth Blaster (1954) (by Jim Lawrence)
6. Tom Swift and His Outpost in Space (1955) (by Jim Lawrence)
7. Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter (1956) (by Jim Lawrence)
8. Tom Swift in the Caves of Nuclear Fire (1956) (by Thomas Mulvey)
9. Tom Swift on the Phantom Satellite (1956) (by Jim Lawrence)
10. Tom Swift and His Ultrasonic Cycloplane (1957) (by Jim Lawrence)
11. Tom Swift and His Deep-Sea Hydrodome (1958) (by Jim Lawrence)
12. Tom Swift in the Race to the Moon (1958) (by Jim Lawrence)
13. Tom Swift and His Space Solartron (1958) (by Jim Lawrence)
14. Tom Swift and His Electronic Retroscope (1959) (by Jim Lawrence)
15. Tom Swift and His Spectromarine Selector (1959) (by Jim Lawrence)
16. Tom Swift and the Cosmic Astronauts (1960) (by Jim Lawrence)
17. Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (1961) (by Jim Lawrence)
18. Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung (1961) (by Jim Lawrence)
19. Tom Swift and His Triphibian Atomicar (1962) (by Jim Lawrence)
20. Tom Swift and His Megascope Space Prober (1962) (by Jim Lawrence)
21. Tom Swift and the Asteroid Pirates (1963) (by Jim Lawrence)
22. Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway (1963) (by Jim Lawrence)
23. Tom Swift and His Aquatomic Tracker (1964) (by Jim Lawrence)
24. Tom Swift and His 3-D Telejector (1964) (by Jim Lawrence)
25. Tom Swift and His Polar-Ray Dynasphere (1965) (by Jim Lawrence)
26. Tom Swift and His Sonic Boom Trap (1965) (by Jim Lawrence)
27. Tom Swift and His Subocean Geotron (1966) (by Jim Lawrence)
28. Tom Swift and the Mystery Comet (1966) (by Jim Lawrence)
29. Tom Swift and the Captive Planetoid (1967) (by Jim Lawrence)
30. Tom Swift and His G-Force Inverter (1968) (by Thomas Mulvey)
31. Tom Swift and His Dyna-4 Capsule (1969) (by Richard M McKenna)
32. Tom Swift and His Cosmotron Express (1970) (by Richard M McKenna)
33. Tom Swift and the Galaxy Ghosts (1971) (by Vincent Buranelli)
I never read the Tom Swift books, though my brother did. I felt the same way about the Hardy Boys, however, wanting the rest of the books on the list after reading hte first one.
And even then I tried to read them in order!
Same here, Jeff. I always try to read a series in order. The problem gets more complicated when someone like Bernard Cornwell wrote his SHARPE series somewhat randomly. Do you read the books in the order Cornwell wrote them or do your read them in the true chronological order? I opted for the chronological order.
It’s amazing to me that any of us developed an interest in reading with having to read those horrid books in school.
Let’s just say FUN WITH DICK AND JANE was a long way from MAD MEN, Patti. Once my Mom found books that engaged my interest, my reading skills improved.
Great story and a fine tribute to your mother.
I’m probably the only person alive who kind of liked Dick and Jane, but then I liked SILAS MARNER, too, later on.
I liked SILAS MARNER, too, Bill. But there was something lacking in DICK & JANE that I found in TOM SWIFT AND THE CAVES OF NUCLEAR FIRE.
Bill: That was the first sign you were meant to teach.
George: I was lucky enough that my parents, particularly but not exclusively my mother, taugh me how to read well before classroom boredom got ahold of me and my colleagues…Dick and Jane and Spot (don’t remember Fluff in our texts of sorts) were the least of our troubles. My second-grade reading teacher was insanely hostile over, it seemed, my reading ability being well beyond the cirriculum.
Internal chronology usually makes the most sense, of course, but I usually don’t worry too much about that. From Keith Robertson’s Henry Reed books through Gregoray MacDonald’s Fletches to the Travis McGees and Sharon McCones, I pretty much read them as I come across them.
I read to both my kids from the day they were born, Todd. My son could read by age three and my daughter could read by age four. Both went to Kindergarten way ahead of the rest of the kids. The ability to read at an early age is an invaluable skill.
I liked Dick & Jane too, Bill, but not SILAS MARNER (or THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, for that matter).
When I started reading mysteries heavily int he early 1970’s I read whichever title I could find. This led me to read later books that gave away earlier happenings (like Bert Kling’s checkered love life) more than once. The first Nicolas Freeling book I read was (WARNING!) Van der Valk’s last.
I read the Christies as fast as I could find them and not in order.
Today I wouldn’t do that.
I’m a linear reader, too, Jeff.
Funny, I don’t see “Tom Swift and his Atomic Fertilizer Spreader” on that list, a title once memorably reviewed by the distinguished critic, Webley L. Webster, on Bob and Ray Present the CBS Radio Network.
I would love to read TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC FERTILIZER SPREADER,” Art. There was a brief fad of telling “Tom Swifties” that made fun of the wooden dialogue in most of the series.
One imagines that the Richard M. McKenna who wrote Tom Swift novels isn’t the same Richard McKenna who wrote THE SAND PEBBLES.
The “Richard McKenna” who wrote TOM SWIFT novels could also be a pseudonym, Drongo. Wheels within wheels…
George, I had pretty much the same story of not being a reader until I found series books, but I started with the Chip Hilton boy’s sports books. Then The Hardy Boys, which, yes, Jeff, I read in order. After that it was the Winston science fiction series and I was off and reading.
I think I hated Dick and Jane because we were forced to read out loud in class, in front of the other kids, and I wasn’t very good at it. So reading became an embarrassing, horrifying experience. When I could read in the comfort and privacy of my room at home, it was different, and when I could pick the book, well, I loved it.
I tried the original Tom Swift series not many years ago and they were awful, but the Tom Swift JR. series, which you have here, were a lot of fun. For some reason, they were less available than the Hardy Boys books in my town library and in stores.
I read the Chip Hilton series, too, Rick. When my kids were 7 and 9 years old, I tried to read them TOM SWIFT AND THE CAVES OF NUCLEAR FIRE. It was so awful, I had to stop after one chapter! Memories are tricky.
Yes, indeed, and a pleasure that school can beat out of one, as this testimony suggests. (Another useful skill is typing, which I might actually be worse at as I move through middle age…”cirriculum,” indeed. A cur of a misspelling.)
I hated High School, Todd, and couldn’t wait to go to College where I could pick my own courses and professors. Junior High was a nightmare, too.
Somehow I skipped the “transitional” stage that the kids’ series books represent. I did read a couple of Hardy boys at some point, but essentially I went straight from Dr Doolittle to Sherlock Holmes, and from that point on was reading adult level fiction exclusively.
So far no one has mentioned the Rick Brant science-adventure series. Never read one, but I’ve heard several people speak highly of the series. Bill Pronzini is a big fan.
Oh, yes, RICK BRANT and his scientific adventures! I read almost all of them, Art. The late books in the series are scarce and pricey similar to those late books in the KEN HOLT series.
Drongo, sadly correct…Richard McKenna of THE SAND PEBBLES and “Casey Agonistes” was dead well before 1970…so unless they were held up for quite a long time…
THE SAND PEBBLES by Richard McKenna is another Forgotten Novel, Todd. I may have to dig out my copy and review it some Friday.
Art–Hugh Lofting is already Well ahead of any Hardy Boys novel, of any generation, that I’ve yet seen. All the HB I saw were all so miserably written that I never gave them much of a chance. Even given how much I enjoyed Robert Arthur’s other work, I never could get into even the Hitchcock & the Three Investigators books he hacked out.
I read a handful of the HITCHCOCK & THE THREE INVESTIGATORS, but they didn’t hold my interest, Todd.
Dang! I read a lot of these, but had no idea there were 33.
I read a few of Cornwell’s early Sharpe books some years back, but I’m now reading the series in chronological order, and it’s great to see each story as part of the big pattern.
My favorites of late have been his Saxon series, starting with The Last Kingdom, and there’s a fifth book coming out next month!
Thanks for the heads up on the new Cornwell SAXON novel, Evan. I’ve read the whole series and I wonder how long Cornwell will go with it. His hero takes a lot of punishment in each book. I wonder how the guy can lift a sword!
I’d forgotten the Rick Brandt books. I read a few, but they were even more scarce than the Swift Jr. For that matter so were the Chip Hilton books, but I had a neighbor who had somehow collected a couple dozen of them he let me read.
I liked SEA GOLD in the Rick Brandt series very much, Rick.
At 10:00 a.m. my time I thought “George is sitting in the theater watching Avatar about now. I wonder if he’ll like it?” Review tomorrow, George?
You guessed it, Rick. Until then, my lips are sealed!
Thanks for the list of who wrote what in the series, George.
I’m a big fan of the Rick Brant series, too, and have written about it a couple of times on my blog.
I’m tempted to try to track down those late Rick Brant volumes, James. But they cost a mint!
I HAVE NUMEROUS OLD TOM SWIFT BOOKS EXAMPLE- IN THE CAVES OF NUCLEAR FIRE BY VICTOR APPLETON II BY GROSSET & DUNLAP INC 1956 IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. cAN ANYONE GIVE ME SOME ADVICE AS TO WHERE I MIGHT FIND A VALUE FOR THESE BOOKS OR WHERE I CAN SELL THEM? ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED
Selling those Tom Swift books on eBay is the obvious solution, Tony. However, you might want to contact a reputable bookseller who specializes in that kind of material to see if you could sell your entire collection. ABE.COM might help in your search.