The first novel.
Written by Harold L. Goodwin and Peter J. Harkness (who use the pen name John Blaine), Rick Brant is a science fiction series that lasted from 1947 to 1968 (with one unpublished book finally being released in 1990). The series shares many similarities with the Tom Swift books (especially the second series), but the science and the stakes of the adventures are more realistic. Teenaged Rick Brant is the adventurous son of the founder of the Spindrift Foundation, a benevolent scientific organization based on an island off the coast of New Jersey. Many of the books are set in exotic locales the protagonists travel to for foundation business.
Books
- The Rocket's Shadow (1947)
- The Lost City (1947)
- Sea Gold (1947)
- 100 Fathoms Under (1947)
- The Whispering Box Mystery (1948)
- The Phantom Shark (1949)
- Smugglers' Reef (1950)
- The Caves of Fear (1951)
- Stairway to Danger (1952)
- The Golden Skull (1954)
- The Wailing Octopus (1956)
- The Electronic Mind Reader (1957)
- The Scarlet Lake Mystery (1958)
- The Pirates of Shan (1958)
- The Blue Ghost Mystery (1960)
- The Egyptian Cat Mystery (1961)
- The Flaming Mountain (1962)
- The Flying Stingaree (1963)
- The Ruby Ray Mystery (1964)
- The Veiled Raiders (1965)
- Rocket Jumper (1966)
- The Deadly Dutchman (1967)
- Danger Below! (1968)
- The Magic Talisman (1990)
Tropes in the series:
- Abnormal Ammo: In The Pirates of Shan, Zircon fires tacks out of a cannon at the eponymous villains. Later, Chahda sprinkles the leftover tacks on the deck of their ship to injure any barefoot pirates who try to sneak aboard at night.
- Amusement Park of Doom: Most of the action in Stairway to Danger takes place in a run-down amusement park that was closed after the rollercoaster proved to be dangerous.
- Big Brother Instinct: The villain of Stairway to Danger causes a car accident that injures Rick's younger sister Barby while fleeing the police. Rick has a personal beef with the guy for the rest of the book.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Spindrift scientists Hobart Zircon (a towering Genius Bruiser physicist) and Julius Weiss (a short mathematician) frequently appear together.
- Evil Poacher: Cunner, a henchman from Sea Gold, is locally despised for his illegal and unethical fishing methods.
- Faking the Dead: The villain of the first book leaps off a cliff to his apparent death, but its later revealed that he swam back to shore, as he reappears as the villain two books later.
- Friendly Sniper: Rick's good-natured sidekick Scotty is a World War II veteran who is very attached to his rifle and uses it to injure or intimidate villains in several books.
- Harpoon Gun: Rick, Scotty, and a trio of villainous divers shoot at each other with spear guns in The Wailing Octopus.
- Hidden Elf Village: The Lost City feature a valley inhabited by the descendants of Genghis Khan's subjects, who have had almost no contact with the modern world since Khan's death.
- I Ate WHAT?!: In The Phantom Shark, Barty is appalled when her dinner turns out to be a kind of bat.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Tag Along Kid Chahda is the fourteenth child of his parents.
- Precious Puppy: The Brant family's puppy Dismal is a bright and adorable dog who shows even fewer signs of aging than the human characters.
- Really 17 Years Old: Scotty lied about his age to join the army in his early teens.
- Ruthless Modern Pirates: The villains of The Pirates of Shan are a massive gang of heavily-armed South Pacific pirates who kidnap and threaten people at will, although they also have enough Pragmatic Villainy not to commit needless murders that will attract the authorities.
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: The Blue Ghost Mystery features an apparent ghost from The American Civil War as part of a real estate scam.
