In his second novel, Damon Swift takes us through the trials and tribulations he must go through in order to build his eponymous nuclear research and power facility in New Mexico, the Citadel. He finds that Washington DC is not ready for someone with new and different plans fora nuclear reactor and runs int more stupidity, un-education and "It's not my job" problems as he attempts to get the necessary licenses to build, fuel and operate a small reactor that will be the absolutely safest reactor in the world. This is the story about how he bumps into a man who will become his champion and his friend and help cut the red tape. It is also about how they must continue to fight for what Damon knows to be right an his friend, Senator Peter Quintana, whole-heartedly believes in.

The Tom Swift adventure about his Rocket Ship doesn't tell much of the real tale other than the build and launch. In fact it just assumes that things like Fearing Island exist and his own father, Damon, has nothing better to do than stand and watch his son shoot into space. The truth is Damon also built a privately-funded rocket as part of an X-Prize competition. His was unique with a series of obstacles to overcome and began even before Tom had finished his Flying Lab. This included locating and building out Fearing Island off the coast of Georgia and everything that went into that massive operation. This is the story of how Fearing island came to be, how Damon became very good friends with the U.S. Senator who would play a large part in their lives, how he designed and built something more like a monstrous child's toy than a heavy-lifting rocket, and how he and Tom went into a friendly competition to see whose rocket would be launched first. It is a unique look into the father of Tom Swift.

Within weeks of putting his outpost in space into geosynchronous orbit, Tom got it into his mind to build a bigger station farther out in an orbit where it will be safe from space debris and where he can have much more room for everything he hopes to accomplish in space. A combination of attacks and events on him and his company make it look like a necessity and much sooner than he would have imagined. But what can he do to get around the logistical nightmare such an undertaking will bring? An elevator from the ground straight up into space has been a dream of writers and engineers for more than a century. Tom puts development of a space elevator on the front burner at Swift Enterprises. His only hope is that it is actually possible.

The 18th book of the series. Like many people, Tom Swift-and his father, Damon-have dreamed of the days when the personal jet backpacks we've heard about since the 1940s become reality. When a movie director from Hollywood comes to Tom to create the real thing-he demands reality in his science fiction films with special effects-it intrigues the young inventor enough to see what he might create. It's a lot harder than it first appears! He must convince the director that his plans to have a 1940's period piece with leather jackets and bullet-nosed SCUBA tank-shaped rockets has to be updated to match what he believes might be deliverable as a real device. The suit is hijacked by the stuntman and ends up shooting him into space making necessary a search and rescue mission. In the end, it is up to Bud Barclay to save the day and fly the suit for the film. But, a sudden attack might be sending him on a collision course with death. Can Tom rescue his best friend and save the movie?

It seems that no matter how far out from a populated area an airport is built, it is a fact that people will build and buy homes nearby and complain about the noise. It has finally hit the point where something must be done to make aircraft quieter than ever. The problem Tom Swift must face is that everything possible has been tried and no new progress has been made. Try as he might, Tom just can't do much to reduce the noise coming out the back of a typical jet engine. Then it hits him: he must create an entirely new engine, one that functions on a different level than anything else to date.

In this hardbound edition of the third book in the series, the President, desperate to leave some sort of legacy, has promised the nation that a great freight-hauling bullet train system will cross the country starting in just one year. The biggest problem? Nobody has started to design or build anything on a project that should take 10 years. When his advisors hatch a plan to split the work into dozens of manageable pieces, only a small handful of companies sign on. Tom Swift believes that he can figure a way to dig the massive tunnels under the various mountain ranges on the western half of the country, and may even be able to build the locomotive engines, but the other companies begin to abandon their work, making it necessary for Enterprises to take on more and more. A rival company owner has it in for Tom, and a mysterious source of governmental sabotage is somewhere in Washington DC. With time and so many other things against him, is it going to be a mission impossible for the young inventor?