Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers, or, the Secret of Phantom Mountain

Tom Swift Sr. #7

by Victor Appleton

American boys' fiction under pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate who produced Tom Swift series, Nancy Drew mysteries, the Hardy Boys, Dave Fearless and many others.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure, Childrens, Classics

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...

The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the seventh book in the original Tom Swift series. It was produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, ghost-written by Howard Garis under the house pseudonym of Victor Appleton, and published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1911. It's a somewhat disappointing volume, because Tom doesn't do any inventing and has no new gizmo; he just travels by his airship Red Cloud to the wilds of Colorado where a gang of unscrupulous scallywags have found a way to manufacture diamonds in a mountain via lightning. His pal Ned Newton is not along on this adventure. Tom is in the company of a character from the previous book (Wireless Message), and Mr. Wakefield Damon, his curious and eccentric friend who hides from his wife and habitually blesses unusual and unlikely things. It's a fun adventure but lacks the scientific sense-of-wonder that made the majority of the Swifties so great. There is an unfortunate element of racism, as Tom's servant Eradicate Sampson (who has a beloved pet mule named Boomerang) is used for comic relief. I read the book sixty years ago or so and have revisited it as a Librivox audiobook. The reading was from a selection of several different volunteers, most of whom were very, very good, despite different accents that took a moment to adjust to. A couple were just okay, and in the case of one poor man I'm sure that human speech was not similar to his native tongue. The original Tom Swift books were influential and important, but the modern reader has to remember the time from which they came.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in 1911, this book doesn't have as much interesting science as previous books. It also doesn't have the wonder of previous books.

The return of a character from a previous book has Tom and three others flying to Colorado to find a hidden cave where men are able to make diamonds. It takes a good amount of time to get to Colorado, then to get to the cave, and once there there's no tension as one can predict what will happen.

Granted, this book was intended for younger readers, but there's no sense of joy or wonder in it. I'll still continue to read these old exploits, but my hopes won't be as high.

[Jon E · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the whole book and I liked that it was a fun adventure.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Acting on this belief, Tom Swift is at a local jewelry store buying a diamond pin for Mary Nestor. When the store owner suddenly leaves the store chasing someone who may be planning a heist, Mr. Jenks from Earthquake Island, (a location in the previous Tom Swift book), enters the store and tells Tom not to buy a diamond there. He would get Tom a much better diamond that was manufactured at a place called Phantom Mountain. So begins the next Tom Swift adventure.

In this book, Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers, Tom, along with Mr. Jenks, Mr. Damon, who is always around, and Mr. Parker, the “Debbie Downer” of scientists, go off in the airship Red Cloud in search of Phantom Mountain and the diamond makers there. In the early Tom Swift books, Tom would be against some gang of criminals. In Earthquake Island, the adversary was Mother Nature. This time, both are present as dangers to the hero and his friends.

Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers was an exciting story. You wish you were there along with him. I especially would like to try traveling in the airship Red Cloud. However, the subtitle of the next book, Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice, or The Wreck of the Airship, would cause me to be cautious.

[Rob Bates]

My third diamond industry murder mystery, "Slay It With a Diamond", has just come out (see bio for details), so I’m reading, and reviewing, a lot of classic diamond- and jewelry-related mystery books.

This is the first Tom Swift book I’ve read (or, in my case, heard, via LibraVox), and before I go further, let me make an obvious complaint: its Black character, Eradicate, is an offensive and ugly stereotype. I’ve read stereotypes before in old books but this was bad. Real bad. Worse than Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany bad. Probably the worst I’ve ever read. I wish it could be eradicated from the book.

If you can get past that, and I can certainly see why you may not be able to, the book is better-than-average kid fare, especially considering it’s over 100 years old. The Mr. Damon character seems to have no other reason to exist than to always say, “Bless my [whatever.]” It’s the kind of joke that starts off funny, becomes annoying, and then becomes funny again by sheer repetition.

The style is dated, particularly in how it refers to its characters, often using phrases like “the young inventor said.” (You don’t know want to know how it refers to Eradicate.) This mannered, repetitious style spawned a mocking literary word game—though I did expect more adverbs, he said wordlessly.

There was a surprising amount of science here, and the story is fast-paced and continually recapped so you never lose track of what’s going on. The ending in particular was exciting and well-rendered. While there’s danger, there’s no real violence. I appreciated how no one really dies here, and even the bad guys have moments of humanity. This would be a nice kid’s book if it didn’t have that one character.

But it does, and I’m too conflicted to provide a rating.

[Rhonda Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun, albeit dated adventure book. I really like the science explanations, even those that are now debunked. I enjoy the light hearted adventures and the fact that everything, even the bad guys, are rather gentle and kind. There is no death. There is no true evil. Yes, there is greed but nothing like what is described in many more modern books, even ones for children and young adults.

Unfortunately there are inherent biases that I have no doubt were completely overlooked by the author(s) because they were so endemic to the society of the times when this was written. Having the good girls remain at home waiting patiently for their boyfriends/beaus/husbands is rather obnoxious to my POV. But... the whole kindness and gentlemanly behavior of all the male characters, even the villains is rather nice. Wholesome would be what some generations would call it. I miss that in modern writing.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a fun romp in the mountains of the best state in the union, Colorado. Some of the crew from the last novel reunite for danger and suspense as they fly across the country and nearly get fried by lightning storms. The trend of the travel about in our areoplane books being better than the stay home and invent something books continues. Just a touch of the Hardy Boys yet to come can be found in this adventure.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

While on Earthquake Island, in book 6 Tom Swift and his Wireless Message , one of the passengers was Barcoe Jenks. Mr Jenks comes to town looking for Tom. He knows of people who are making diamonds in the Rocky Mountains. Tom checks and the diamonds are real. All Mr. Jenks needs is a way to get to the mountains so he can learn how the diamonds are made. Tom and the eccentric Mr. Damon go along, as well as Professor Parker, who predicted the destruction of Earthquake Island. They take the Red Cloud to the mountains and try to solve the mystery of how the diamonds were made.

[Daniel Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read these as a kid; like going back to them for the nostalgia, the outdated science and not very amusing lack of political correctness. But they apparently must have been originally published in newspapers or magazines or something, because the entire plot of the story is frequently repeated throughout the book.

[Freder · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the first and only SWIFT book I've read. . . can't say that I liked it enough to pursue the thing any further. Even the Hardy Boys series was more fun.

[David Hibberd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Tom Swift Sr. books as a child and again when I got my Kindle in 2010. They are an easy read and enjoyable. It is interesting to see how writing has changed since these books were written.

[Tim Kretschmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not wonderful.

[Warren · Rating 2 out of 5]

reading the books in order, so far this is a low point. just not that good of an adventure.

[Cindy DeLong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book!

[Tiffany Tinkham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good old classic young readers book about a young inventor that invents this awesome inventions and then goes on these wild and crazy adventures, sometimes getting into trouble in the process.

[Janelle]

DNF. Just wasn't enjoying it.