Additional information
by Thomas Hudson (Author), T. Edward Fox (Author), Victor Appleton II (Author)
In this 12th adventure in the new Tom Swift Invention Series, Tom Swift decides his 4-year-old space station, the Outpost in Space, is now too small. When you outgrow something that you need, you make it larger or you replace it. Tom's plan for a replacement is not just ambitious, it is almost impossible. He want to build a giant space station capable of rotating to provide its 1,000 or more inhabitants with near Earth-like gravity, room to grow, and incredible surroundings. Two problems are in his way: money and getting all the materials up there. When even his own government appears to condemn his efforts and threaten to cut off his supply chain, Tom must turn to an alternate source for his building materials-mining what he needs from asteroids. But he needs a way to transport raw materials to Earth and finished goods into orbit. The solution has never been tried except in science fiction. He decides to build a space elevator. But with so many challenges and even the United Nations looking like they want to take over the new station, he finds that he is just about on his own.
Author Biography
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 Some have been replaced by "stronger" individuals.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.
