The Tom Swift Unofficial Home Page (original) (raw)

The Tom Swift Saga

Tom Swift was first released in 1910 and has to date spawned 114 volumes in six series and one spinoff with the Hardy Boys, in addition to a pilot TV show in the 80s and a short lived CW series starting in May 2022.

Books in the Tom Swift saga.

  1. Tom Swift Sr.: 38 volumes + 2 Better Little Books
  2. Tom Swift Jr.: 33 volumes + Activity Book
  3. Tom Swift III: 11 volumes
  4. Tom Swift IV: 13 volumes
  5. Hardy Boys-Tom Swift Ultra Thriller: 2 volumes
  6. Tom Swift Young Inventor: 6 volumes
  7. Tom Swift Inventors' Academy: 8 volumes

Created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, Tom Swift Sr. is the eponymous hero in the Tom Swift series published by Grosset & Dunlap and Whitman. The stories are basically adventure tales with Tom's latest invention being heavily involved in the plot.

Tom Swift Jr. is the son of Tom Sr. & Mary Nestor Swift. Tom Swift Sr. is now the head of Swift Enterprises, the sprawling facility in Shopton, NY where inventions are dreamed up and manufactured. Tom Jr. is now the primary genius of the family and shares his all adventures with his pal, Bud Barclay. This series prompted Parker Bros. to make a limited edition Tom Swift board game.

The eleven volume third Swift series was scifi based and Tom spent his time flying around outer space.

The fourth Swift series Tom Swift Jr. is the son of Tom Swift Sr. and Mary Nestor. The series is set mostly on Earth, with occasional space trips to the Moon. Swift Enterprises is now located in California. The stories are adventures with science fiction driven plots.

The six volume fifth series finds a younger Tom Swift back in Shopton, New York, once again the son of Tom Swift and Mary Nestor.

The eight volume sixth series again finds a younger Tom Swift and his adventures at his dad's Inventors' Academy.

Cultural influence

The Tom Swift books have been credited with assisting the success of American science fiction and with establishing the edisonade (stories focusing on brilliant scientists and inventors) as a basic cultural myth. Tom Swift's adventures have been popular since the character's inception in 1910: by 1914, 150,000 copies a year were being sold. By 2009, Tom Swift books had sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The success of Tom Swift also paved the way for other Stratemeyer Syndicate creations, such as The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. The series' writing style, which was sometimes adverb heavy, suggested a name for a type of adverbial pun promulgated during the 1950s and 1960s, a type of wellerism known as "Tom Swifties". Originally this kind of pun was called a "Tom Swiftly" in reference to the adverbial usage, but over time has come to be called a "Tom Swifty". Some examples are: "'I lost my crutches,' said Tom lamely" and "'I'll take the prisoner downstairs', said Tom condescendingly."

Tom Swift's fictional inventions have apparently inspired several actual inventions, among them Lee Felsenstein's "Tom Swift Terminal", which "drove the creation of an early personal computer known as the Sol", and the taser. The name "taser" was originally "TSER", for "Tom Swift Electric Rifle". The invention was named for the central device in the story Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle (1911); according to inventor Jack Cover, "an 'A' was added because we got tired of answering the phone 'TSER'."

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. Gone with the Wind author Margaret Mitchell was also known to have read the first series as a child. The Tom Swift Jr. series was also a source of inspiration to many. Scientist and television presenter Bill Nye said the books helped "make me who I am", and inspired him to launch his own young adult series. Microsoft founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates also read the books as children, as did co-founder of competing company Apple, Steve Wozniak. Wozniak, who cited the series as his inspiration to become a scientist, said the books made him feel "that engineers can save the world from all sorts of conflict and evil".