Teenage inventor and scientist, Tom Swift, begins an all new series of adventures. In this first story he must find ways to tackle two seemingly disconnected problems: repair the fragile ozone cap over the Antarctic; and bring a vital supply of water to a small African nation on the verge of death by dehydration.Thwarting him on both fronts are the appearance of several unmarked, black MIG fighter jets that attack him and his projects without warning or provocation. But, who is behind them? And, why are the pilots seemingly willing to die rather than be captured?Never one to bring politics into anything he does, Tom finds that he is deeply embroiled in the political situation between his small nation and a neighboring nation's fiendish dictator bent on taking over everything, even if that means killing all of the people of the smaller country.These new adventures of Tom Swift bring the young inventor back to modern times rather than having him set a couple hundred years in the future as with several of the previous series. There are at least 15 books planned (11 already written and awaiting publication) with the possibility of as many as 18-20 in the series. They are written in a style that may be enjoyed by any reader from 9-10 through 100.
About the Author: Victor Appleton II (and his predecessor, Victor Appleton) is the blanket pen name for a group of authors-for-hire who wrote all the Tom Swift novels starting back in 1910. The V.A. II for this "Tom Swift Invention Series" is a single author who grew up entranced by the world of Tom Swift Jr. He is now quite a long way from being a young reader, but still still remembers the thrill of reading about the famous teen inventor who could do anything from rocketing into space, building robots, communicating with aliens, and creating a road that could float in the air. He now lives in the Pacific Northwest-the author, not Tom!-where his time is divided between writing and being a lazy retired guy. While he hopes that both old and new readers will enjoy the stories, he offers a word of caution: The innocence and naiveté of the original Tom Jr, along with some of the lesser characters, do not appear in these books. Some have been replaced by "stronger" individuals. There are a few people with similar names but this series is not just an add-on to the 1954-1971 books. It takes place in the near future to today that sees our hero more involved in issues concerning all of mankind rather than just building stuff. They are still meant to be enjoyed by readers as young as 8-9 who possess good reading skills, and can be enjoyed by people the author's own age bracket, that being below, at or above the 60-year mark. A total of at least 20 books are planned with the first 12 written as of December 2013.