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Well, to tell the truth, there was no author named Victor Appleton. The
name was a pseudonym for a number of ghost writers employed by the
Stratemeyer Syndicate, a publisher of fiction for
boys and girls. The Stratemeyer Syndicate published several series of
novels, each series based upon a central continuing character (or set of
characters). The series that were published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate
included The Bobbsey Twins, The Motor Boys, Jack Ranger,
Tom Swift, Nancy Drew, The Hardy
Boys and others. Victor Appleton was the name chosen by the
Stratemeyer Syndicate for the author of the Tom Swift series.
The core of the Stratemeyer Syndicate was Edward Stratemeyer (the founder)
and his two daughters, Harriet and Edna. The way that the Syndicate worked
was that someone (usually Harriet or Edna) would write an outline for a book,
and then a ghost writer would be commissioned to write the book. There were
at least a half dozen ghost writers that worked regularly for the firm, most
of whom specialized in one or more of the different series.
In the case of the Tom Swift series, the usual ghost writer was
Howard
Roger Garis (1873-1962), who is known to be the author of numbers 1-24,
28-36, and 38 of the Tom Swift series. In all, Garis is thought to
have written as many as 285 novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
Most of the Stratemeyer series were targeted at pre-teen and early
teen-age boys and girls. Tom Swift is a series that was targeted
for boys, The Bobbsey Twins was a similar series targeted for
girls. Garis was the principal ghostwriter for both series (using a
different pseudonym for the Bobbsey Twins series).
Tom Swift is a boy who lives with his father and a housekeeper. Tom's
father is an inventor, and Tom is his father's protege. The two of them
are always creating new inventions and making improvements in the mechanical
and electrical gadgets that surround them. The stories generally focus on
some new technological gadget in Tom's life and involve some bad guys that
are up to no good.
Tom Swift and his Motor-Cycle (1910 - #1 in the series)
Tom Swift and his Motor-Cycle
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 124 KB |
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Tom Swift and his Motor-Boat (1910 - #2 in the series)
Tom Swift and his Motor-Boat
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 126 KB |
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Tom Swift and his Airship (1910 - #3 in the series)
Tom Swift and his Airship
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 128 KB |
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Tom Swift and his Submarine Boat (1910 - #4 in the series)
Tom uses his submarine to search for sunken treasure in the southern
Atlantic.
Tom Swift and his Submarine Boat
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 128 KB |
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Tom Swift and his Electric Runabout (1910 - #5 in the series)
Tom builds an electric automobile to claim the land speed record.
Tom Swift and his Electric Runabout
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 126 KB |
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Tom Swift and his Wireless Message (1911 - #6 in the series)
Tom uses his aeroplane to fly to an island, where he crashes the plane
and then invents a wireless telegraph device to signal a passing ship.
Tom Swift and his Wireless Message
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 124 KB |
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Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers (1911 - #7 in the series)
Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 126 KB |
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Tom Swift and his Big Tunnel (1916 - #19 in the series)
Speleological fantasies drive a teen-age boy to take matters into his
own hands.
Tom Swift and his Big Tunnel
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 136 KB |
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Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders (1917 - #20 in the series)
Tom travels to Honduras to search for a golden Mayan idol.
Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders
by Victor Appleton |
Size: 132 KB |
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These ebooks are formatted for the
eReader.
You can get a free copy of the eReader
here.
The eReader was formerly known as the
PalmReader.
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