The Tom Swift Series (Magill’s Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Victor Appleton, II
- Type of Work: Novels
- Type of Plot: Science fiction—technocratic
- Time of Work: Primarily the present; the third series is set in the distant future
- Setting: New York State, California, elsewhere on Earth, and in space
- Genres: Long fiction, Science fiction
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Twentieth century, Future, Other worlds, California, West, U.S., Earth, Inventions or inventors, Submarines
- Locales: California, New York, Space, Earth
The Plot
The first three Tom Swift series were produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book packager that hired writers to complete manuscripts based on a title, story outline, and cast of characters. Edward Stratemeyer (1862-1930) established this literary agency around 1904 to purchase existing stories and create new stories to be completed by hired writers. Many of the policies he used were similar to the “story paper” industry, in which Stratemeyer had been a writer and editor, including the use of pseudonyms, continuing characters, and a flat fee paid to writers for...
[The entire page is 1504 words long]
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