SF authors born 1864-73: 1872

1. Ludwig Anton
2. Howard R. Garis

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Ludwig Anton (1872-?)

* Interplanetary Bridges (Brücken über den Weltraum, Holzwarth, Düsseldorf, 1922) (Trans — K. Schmidt) (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Winter 1933). One of the foreign works imported by H. Gernsback. Pioneer flight to Venus.

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Howard R. Garis (1873-1962)

Howard Roger Garis (Amherst, Massachusetts) was an American author, best known for a series of books, published under his own name, that featured the character of Uncle Wiggily Longears, an engaging elderly rabbit. Garis also wrote many books for the Stratemeyer Syndicate under various pseudonyms. As Victor Appleton, he wrote about the enterprising Tom Swift; as Laura Lee Hope, he is generally credited with writing volumes 4–28 and 41 of the Bobbsey Twins; as Clarence Young, the Motor Boys series; as Lester Chadwick, the Great Marvel series and books featuring Baseball Joe; and as Marion Davidson, a number of books including several featuring the Camp Fire Girls.

His son, Roger Garis, penned a biography of the writing Garis family My Father Was Uncle Wiggily (McGraw-Hill, 1966). Forty years later, Howard Garis' granddaughter Leslie Garis wrote a more revealing memoir, The House of Happy Endings (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2007).

As Victor Appleton, Garis wrote the first 35 Tom Swift stories for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. The first series was launched in 1910 and ran into the late 1930s, over 14 million copies being sold by Grosset & Dunlap Publishers (New York).

Tom Swift is the young protagonist in several series of juvenile adventure novels which began in the early twentieth century and continues to the present. Each such series stars a hero named Tom Swift who is a genius inventor and whose breakthroughs in technology (especially transport technology) drive the plots of the novels, placing them in a genre sometimes called "invention fiction" or "Edisonade". Some of the later heroes might be considered the same character after a rebooted continuity, but in at least one series, Tom Swift was identified as a relative of the original Tom Swift. The first books were outlined by Edward Stratemeyer and his Stratemeyer Syndicate, written by ghostwriters and all credited to the house name of Victor Appleton.

The locale is the little town of Shopton in upstate New York, near Lake Carlopa. In comparison to son Tom Jr., Tom Sr.'s aerial, mechanical, and electrical inventions are closer to the real world state-of-the-art at the time of their writing. While some of Tom Sr.'s inventions are not well-founded in a scientific sense, others elaborated developments in the news and in popular magazines aimed at young science and invention enthusiasts. Presenting themselves as a forecast of future possibilities, they now and then hit close to the mark. Some predicted inventions that came true include "photo telephones", vertical takeoff aircraft, aerial warships, giant cannons, and "wizard" cameras. However some other devices, such as magnetic silencers for motors, have not appeared yet.

Tom's adventures are also more closely tied to events and public issues of the time than are the later series. Tom used his Electric Runabout to avert a run on a bank. During the Great War, Tom was secretly working on his War Tank and could not enlist, leading to fears that he was a slacker. Several of his inventions related to the war. He was called Tom Swift Senior after Tom Swift Junior appeared in the subsequent series.

Several researchers and authors (most notably John Dizer) have noted a parallel between Tom Swift's early career and that of real-life aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss.

Books in the original Tom Swift series

1. Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle; or, Fun and Adventure on the Road, 1910. Tom purchased a very expensive motorcycle from a nearby town. The model year would have been 1909 or 1910. Tom tweaked the sprocket ratios, spark levers and overall performance of his machine by 15%, as well as increasing its range. Barton Swift, Tom's father, was working on a new turbine design, which would increase performance of motors. Turbines are used all over the world today in the same way. About the same time Barton Swift was working on this design, Nikola Tesla was working to patent his own model - the bladeless turbine, which may have been the basis for Barton's work.
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2. Tom Swift and His Motor Boat; or, The Rivals of Lake Carlopa, 1910. Tom purchased a used two-cylinder "family cruiser" lake boat at auction with the intention of customizing it. The model he purchased would have been from between the years 1900-1910 and was twenty-one feet in length. Among his modifications were: ignition system, water pump, oil system, spark plugs, and fuel tank. In the end, the cruiser's two-cycle engine was able to outpace the three-cylinder engine of his nemesis, Andy Foger. Barton Smith, Tom's father, was perfecting his latest invention: an electric gyroscope to be used in airplanes.
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3. Tom Swift and His Airship; or, The Stirring Cruise of the Red Cloud, 1910. Tom Swift, and his friend (John Sharp - aeronaut extraordinaire), designed and built the Red Cloud: an airship that was half blimp/dirigible and half airplane. In fact, it had two wings (like the WWI biplanes) extending out from a spacious gondola which sat beneath the rather voluminous gas-filled balloon. It was fast, achieving over 80mph if pressed, and could stay in the air for two weeks at a time, if Tom wanted. Perhaps the most fantastic element of the craft was the gondola, which was luxuriously appointed with multiple rooms; e.g., a kitchen, an engine room, and a first-rate observation room from which Tom would steer the ship, while looking out the surrounding windows. Barton Smith, Tom's father, is nearing completion of a submarine design that promises to be the most advanced in the world.
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4. Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat; or, Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure, 1910. Barton Smith, Tom's father, has designed an innovative submarine - The Advance - that can outperform anything even the government has in its arsenal. At 100ft from nose to stern, and 20ft at the beam, the submarine has a triple layered hull (which can handle depths of more than three miles). It runs normally on gasoline, but also has the advantage of a hydrodynamic drive for auxiliary and silent propulsion. The craft is armed with electric cannons both at the rear and fore of the ship as well as a ram on the prow, should it come to the worst. There are many rooms, both luxurious and well-appointed, including a lounge, bedrooms, and, of course, an airlock through which the crew can exit when exploring the ocean floor in their specially designed deep-water diving suits.
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5. Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout; or, The Speediest Car on the Road, 1910. Tom Swift invents a ground-breaking, powerful new rechargeable battery with half the recharge time (allowing Tom to leave other battery-powered race cars far behind while at the track). More importantly, Tom has taken electric vehicles to a whole new level with his convertible sports car, both with the inclusion of his revolutionary battery, but in other wonderful design features as well. His custom vehicle was designed from the ground up for performance and speed, with a top rate of 100mph and a range of 400 miles (on a single charge). Even almost 100 years later, electric cars can't match what Tom designed in his spare time. His aerodynamic convertible was painted a glossy purple that was sure not to be overlooked when barreling down the speedway.
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6. Tom Swift and His Wireless Message; or, The Castaways of Earthquake Island, 1911. The island is not entirely uninhabited, as the survivors of a shipwreck are also stranded on the island. Both groups quickly come upon each other, and working together, they are able to survive as Tom Swift builds a spark gap transmitter radio from salvaged parts. Tom Swift used the older and more established CQD distress call, which had been in use since 1904. The newer SOS distress call was adopted two years prior the timeframe of the story, in 1908. In contrast, in 1912 when the Titanic sank, the wireless operator transmitted their distress in both CQD and SOS formats.
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7. Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers; or, The Secret of Phantom Mountain, 1911. Although the story still revolves around invention, Tom did not have any part in the invention. In this story, the major invention, and plot device, is a diamond-making machine, utilizing the power of harnessed lightning. Unfortunately for Tom and friends, they were never able to get close enough to the machinery to determine the secret to making diamonds.
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8. Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice; or, The Wreck of the Airship, 1911. Another story where no major invention is produced by Tom. He did create a special new lifting gas for his airship, needed to overcome the atmospheric problems they may encounter in the arctic north. As a side-invention, Tom has been working on a new electric rifle, but it is not properly introduced in this story.
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9. Tom Swift and His Sky Racer; or, The Quickest Flight on Record, 1911. Tom's Sky Racer, known as the Humming-Bird, is a two-seater monoplane, like his previous monoplane the Butterfly. However, the Sky Racer, is smaller and faster - making it ideal for air racing. It uses a single gasoline, air-cooled engine, which can attain air speeds of well over 100mph with a minimum thrust of 1000lbs at 2000rpms. Tom also invented an automated stabilizing unit which allowed the Sky Racer to handle adverse weather conditions without loss of control. The Sky Racer's design was compared to that of the Blériot_XI and the Antoinette VII, however its wings were patterned after that of the hummingbird, rather than standard rectangular wings.
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10. Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle; or, Daring Adventures on Elephant Island, 1911. Tom builds two major inventions in this volume. The first is a replacement airship, known as The Black Hawk. This new airship is to replace The Red Cloud, which was destroyed during his adventures in Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice. This airship is of the same general construction as The Red Cloud, but is smaller and more maneuverable.

Of foremost notice is Tom's invention of the electric rifle, a gun which fires bolts of electricity. The electric rifle can be calibrated to different levels of range, intensity and lethality; it is capable of shooting through solid walls without leaving a hole, as well as powerful enough to kill a rampaging whale, as in their steamer trek to Africa. With the electric rifle, Tom and friends not only bring down elephants, rhinoceroses, and buffalo, but also manage to save their lives multiple times in pitched battle with the red pygmies. In addition to its more "military" like features, the electric rifle has the capability of discharging a globe of light that was described as being able to maintain itself, like ball lightning, making hunting at night much safer in the dark of Africa. In appearance, the rifle looked very much like its contemporary conventional cousins. Sixty years later, the Taser was invented by Jack Cover and marketed by Taser International. The trademark is an acronym for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle. The middle initial is gratuitous, as Tom's full name is unknown.
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11. Tom Swift in the City of Gold; or, Marvelous Adventures Underground, 1912. Tom continues to improve on his airship designs, which are combined bi-plane and dirigibles. This time, a much smaller version of the Blackhawk is designed, with many of the same features.
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12. Tom Swift and His Air Glider; or, Seeking the Platinum Treasure, 1912. While testing out one of his many airships, Tom needs to make emergency landing for repairs. He complains of the poor quality platinum used for his magneto, and is overheard by an escaped Russian exile. The man tells Tom of a secret platinum mine, deep in Siberia. The man also explains that his brother is still in exile, and will be more useful in locating the mine. Tom organizes an expedition to save the exile and find the platinum mine. Note that the Russian revolutionaries in the book are referred to as the Nihilist movement. However, given the time in which the book takes place, the author would more likely have been referring to Bolsheviks. For this adventure, Tom needs to build the Vulture, a special glider that can withstand the high-velocity winds in the vicinity of the mine. Also, to transport the glider and his friends over the Atlantic, across Europe, and into Siberia, Tom builds his largest airship yet, the Falcon.
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13. Tom Swift in Captivity; or, A Daring Escape by Airship, 1912. Inventions are not a major part of the story. Prior to the story opening, Tom has already built The Lark, a new version of his sky racer, The Hummingbird. This is a more traditional prop job than his previous airships. In the background is mentioned that Tom is also working on a new "silent airship". Tom's electric rifle also makes a regular appearance in this adventure.
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14. Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera; or, Thrilling Adventures While Taking Moving Pictures, 1912. Mentioned in a previous volume, Tom continues to work on his noiseless airship. When Tom finally takes up Mr. Periods proposal, a new motion picture camera must be designed and built. This is a wonderful camera that can run on battery power or from a dynamo, being fully automatic. It can also be operated by a hand-crank. Built especially for this trip is a new airship, The Flyer. With a longer range, and accommodations for long-term trips, this is probably the biggest airship Tom has built to date.
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15. Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight; or, On the Border for Uncle Sam, 1912. In previous volumes, but only mentioned peripherally, Tom has been working on a noiseless airship. These are basically modifications to the engine: a new muffler and sparking device. Built for use in this adventure is Tom's giant searchlight, as the title of the story suggests. A device utilizing a mixed electrical current, the searchlight can be seen for miles and miles, and is used specifically to search for smugglers during the night.
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16. Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon; or, The Longest Shots on Record, 1913. The cannon Tom invents is the largest gun to date. Measuring 100 feet in length, it has a 30 inch caliber, and Tom estimates he can launch a 2 ton projectile 30 miles.
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17. Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone; or, The Picture That Saved a Fortune, 1914. The photo telephone is a modification to normal telephones. A third wire is used to transmit the image, which is displayed on charged selenium plates. The image is not a live video image, but rather a static one-time image, a photograph, used mainly for identification of the remote end. The plates can be reused, or can be developed to produce a permanent copy. A side-improvement to the whole system is done when Tom attaches a phonograph cylinder recorder to the telephone system, preserving not only a visual image but an audio recording.
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18. Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship; or, The Naval Terror of the Seas, 1915. Tom creates two new inventions for this story: a huge airship for military use, and a method of dealing with recoil on the weapons to be used.
Image of a Zeppelin in flight.

The airship is built on a similar model as the German-built zeppelins. These are huge craft, Tom's measuring at 600 feet in length and 60 feet in diameter. It is built of a semi-rigid airbag with several separated gas compartments, which would permit lift even if one or more of the gas compartments was damaged. Three cabins are hung below the airship: at the front is the pilot house, in the middle is the general quarters, and at the rear is the engine. A non-flammable gas is used for lift, and a single gas-powered engine provides forward momentum. Storage batteries, coupled with an electric motor, are used as backup power in the event of main engine failure. Tom hoped to sell this to the United States government, with an eye on the hostilities occurring in Europe at the time of the story. Secondary to the airship, Tom needs to conceive of a way to neutralize recoil from the guns which he plans to mount: two 4-inch cannon, and several unspecified machine-guns. When fired, the cannon would generate enough recoil to rip the ship apart, but Tom is inspired by Ned's observation of how an automatic door closer operates. Tom's invention is similar to the recoil system used in the French 75mm field gun.
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19. Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel; or, The Hidden City of the Andes, 1916. Early in the book, Tom is working a new gyroscope, but events soon overtake that project, and Tom puts that aside for the time being. In Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon, Tom has developed a new propellant to launch the projectiles from his giant cannon, and when Mr. Titus requests Tom's help, Tom begins to develop a new blasting powder. Ultimately Tom finds a suitable solution which can blast through heavy rock with ease. While on the job site, several blasts into the mountain, the rock changes into an even harder substance. Tom needs to modify his formula from a "quick burn" into a "slow burn" blast; rather than blasting the rock via concussion alone, the new formula first builds high pressure in the fissures of the rock, before the concussion splits the rock.
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20. Tom Swift In the Land of Wonders; or, The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold, 1917. Professor Bumper, introduced in the previous volume, is on the trail of another lost city, this time the lost city of Kurzon, somewhere deep in Honduras. The Professor has come into some documents which he thinks will help him locate the city, and the documents make mention of a huge idol made of solid gold. Professor Bumper would very much like Tom Swift to accompany the expedition.Inventions take a back-seat in this story. Prior to Professor Bumper's arrival, Tom Swift is working on a new gyroscope, which was also briefly introduced in the previous volume. In Europe, World War I continues to rage, and several European governments have expressed an interest in Tom Swift's new gyroscope, as safety devices for use in the aerial aspect of the war. When envy drives Tom to join the expedition, Tom hands the gyroscope project over to his father, Barton Swift, and it is not heard of for the rest of the story.
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21. Tom Swift and His War Tank; or, Doing His Bit for Uncle Sam, 1918. When the United States joins in The Great War, it seems that everyone has war fever. A military base close to Shopton is training soldiers in the art of trench warfare, while pilots are learning aerial combat. Ned Newton has quit his job to sell liberty bonds full-time. Many of the young men have enlisted, or even hoping for the draft. Everyone seems to be doing their bit, except for Tom Swift, which raises many concerns that Tom is a slacker. Tom does not let his country down; the reason he appears to be idle is that he has secretly been developing a new tank for use in combat. The project is so secret that Tom does not even let his close friends know, which causes the concerns being raised about Tom's patriotism. Even though the development is in secret, that does not stop German nationals from trying to steal his tank. Tanks are a new wartime technology, and the British army has deployed them for use on the western front. Tom's tank is bigger, and able to travel at twice the speed of current models, with a max of 12 miles per hour. At the expense of limited firepower with four unspecified machine guns, the tank has heavier armor plating than the British tanks. Tom further refines the tank with an innovative built-in bridging mechanism, which will allow the tank to roll over wider trenches than the existing models.
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22. Tom Swift and His Air Scout; or, Uncle Sam's Mastery of the Sky, 1919. World War I still rages on in Europe, and Tom Swift is still inventing wartime technology, but inspiration comes in the form of infatuation: while taking Mary Nestor for a brief flight, he is unable to communicate due to the noise of the engine, which sets Tom onto the track of developing a totally silent airship. While Mary Nestor was the spark, Tom intends to offer this to the United States government for use on the western front. While this is still a germ of an idea, Tom is approached by Mr. Gale and Mr. Ware, representatives of the Universal Flying Machine Company, a competing airship manufacturer. Tom is offered a lucrative salary to join the firm, but Tom is disinterested in the money. Tom's refusal infuriates the men, and events are set in motion, which include the (accidental) kidnapping of Mr. Nestor, Mary's father. Tom builds a special silencer for airship engines. The silencer consists of several components: a new type of propeller, retooling the engine compression, but most importantly, a new type of muffler. The muffler system is simply described as a series of baffles. The end result is an airship which produces no discernible noise, to be used on scouting missions in the war.
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23. Tom Swift and His Undersea Search; or, The Treasure on the Floor of the Atlantic, 1920. A Mr. Dixwell Hardley approaches Tom with a proposition to help recover sunken treasure. Mr. Hardley was onboard a ship which was carrying gold to help finance an illegal revolution. When the ship sank, Mr. Hardley overheard the captain recording the coordinates. Now he wants Tom's help to recover the gold, under the guise of both financing the expedition as well as rewarding Tom with a portion of the recovered treasure. Unfortunately for Tom, after agreeing to the expedition, he learns that Mr. Hardley is a con-artist, who recently scammed someone out of the oil well rights. Making matters worse, the victim is Barton Keith, a relative of Mary Nestor. Rather than cancel the expedition, Tom decides to carry on in the hopes of restoring Mr. Keith's claims to the oil wells. Invention is almost irrelevant to this story. Tom retrofits his submarine, which he built in Volume #4. The redesign makes use of electric and gasoline powered engines. The hull is doubly-strengthened, as the sunken ship is at a greater depth. An exterior version of the great searchlight is affixed to the newly-remodeled submarine; and finally, newly strengthened diving suits and a special type of diving bell have been built for the expedition.
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24. Tom Swift Among the Fire Fighters; or, Battling with Flames in the Air, 1921. While Tom and Ned Newton are reviewing financial records, a fire breaks out at the fireworks factory in town. Assisting the firemen, they rescue Josephus Baxter, Mr. Baxter is developing a new dye formula, and has hired out laboratory space at the factory. During the mayhem created by the fire and the rescue, Mr. Baxter looses the formula, but he is positive that the owners of the factory have stolen it. Tom feels pity on the man, and allows him use of the labs at the Swift Construction Company. While observing the blaze, Tom wonders that there is not a more efficient way to fight fire, especially having troubles with multi-storied buildings or skyscrapers. These thoughts lead him to develop a new fire suppressant chemical, and an air-borne system to deliver the new chemicals to the upper stories of skyscrapers. The bulk of inventions are centered around various chemical compounds which will be used to suppress fire. Tom has several iterations of a promising chemical, which basically delivers carbon dioxide into the blaze in such quantity as to suffocate the fire in a very short period of time. The formula is contained in special carboys which Tom terms grenades, designed to be dropped (either manually or automatically) from the air. When the formula is considered ideal, the next step will be to develop a delivery system using airships. A four-passenger airship is built, with sufficient storage to carry an unspecified amount of the fire-fighting grenades. To aid in dropping grenades, Tom builds a bomb sight, which, when mechanically adjusted for altitude, air speed, wind, and the weight of the grenades, will permit accurate placement of the grenades over the target.
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25. Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive; or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails, 1922. ichard Bartholomew, president of the Hendrickton and Pas Alos Railroad Company (H&PA) is under pressure to save his company from bankruptcy. If Mr. Bartholomew cannot come up with a means to compete with the Hendrickton & Western railroad, the H&PA will be doomed to failure. Mr. Bartholomew has contracted The Swift Construction Company to build a new electric locomotive which can travel at 2 miles per minute (120 MPH, 193 Km/h). The catch is that the owner of the competing H&W railway, Montagne Lewis, is dishonest and will stop at nothing to prevent Mr. Bartholomew from succeeding. Hired thugs are under orders to destroy Tom's developments. Tom, and his friends Ned Newton and Mr. Damon, have several life-threatening encounters with these hired gunmen. Tom must build a locomotive engine to compete with the best engines of the time, an engine under the patent of Jandel. The result is the Hercules 0001, an electric locomotive measuring 90 feet long, 14 feet tall and weighing almost 275 tons. The engine is powered by a pantograph connection to dual overhead caternary lines providing 3,000 volts DC. The engine is laid out with two non-driven trucks of four wheels on either end, and 12 driving wheels of 70 inch diameter. The layout of the driving wheels is never explicitly mentioned, but the configuration would be either 4-12-4 or 4-6-0+0-6-4 (see Whyte notation). Each axle is independently powered. The output of the engine is estimated at 4400 horsepower. Tom is able to achieve the target specs of 120 MPH on straight tracks, for passenger transport; for hauling freight up a 2% incline, he is able to achieve 45 MPH.
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26. Tom Swift and His Flying Boat; or, Castaways of the Giant Iceberg, 1923
27. Tom Swift and His Great Oil Gusher; or, The Treasure of Goby Farm, 1924
28. Tom Swift and His Chest of Secrets; or, Tracing the Stolen Inventions, 1925
29. Tom Swift and His Airline Express; or, From Ocean to Ocean by Daylight, 1926
30. Tom Swift Circling the Globe; or, The Daring Cruise of the Air Monarch, 1927
31. Tom Swift and His Talking Pictures; or, The Greatest Invention on Record, 1928
32. Tom Swift and His House on Wheels; or, A Trip around the Mountain of Mystery, 1929
33. Tom Swift and His Big Dirigible; or, Adventures Over the Forest of Fire, 1930
34. Tom Swift and His Sky Train; or, Overland Through the Clouds, 1931
35. Tom Swift and His Giant Magnet; or, Bringing Up the Lost Submarine, 1932

36. Tom Swift and His Television Detector; or, Trailing the Secret Plotters, 1933 [not by Garis?]