Here is the list of the Rick Brant books I promised in last Thursday’s post. Numbers 1 through 18 were published by Grosset and Dunlap and widely distributed. They are hiding in thousands of dusty attics and can frequently be found in the children’s sections of used book stores, and used onlline through Amazon.

I have never seen books 19 through 24. although I’ve looked for them everywhere. According to Series Books numbers 19 through 23 were also published by G & D; I don’t dispute this, but clearly they were not well distributed. Also according to Series Books, number 24 was published by Manuscript Press. I have little to say about the last six books since I have not read them.

The list below is coded. KS (Kindle, single) means that the book is available for individual download to Kindle through Amazon. U (used) means the book is available used at reasonable prices, if you shop around or order through used bookstores carried by Amazon. $ (Egads!) means it is available used in the same way, but at ridiculous prices. I’ll buy these last six myself when I win the lottery.

GK (Gutenberg/Kindle) indicates an interesting phenomenon. These appear to be public domain works, and were made available for free through Project Gutenberg. Click to go to the Browse By Author:G page, then scroll down to Goodwin, Harold L.

I downloaded one novel into iBooks using EPUB format with images, and another into my desktop Kindle app using Kindle format with images. Both seem equally good. This was just a test for your sake; I still have treasured copies from my youth. While you are at Gutenberg, do yourself a favor and download the non-series SF novel Rip Foster —, under either variant title.

These Gutenberg books are also available from Amazon in the form of The Rick Brant Science-Adventure Series (Halcyon Classics). This Kindle download is a compendium of the eleven books available from Gutenberg. I had no reason to download it, but I have bought compendiums before and find them harder to navigate that individual titles. It’s your call.

KS  1.  The Rocket’s Shadow, 1947
KS  2.  The Lost City, 1947
KS  3.  Sea Gold, 1947
U    4.  100 Fathoms Under, 1947
U    5.  The Whispering Box Mystery, 1948
U    6.  The Phantom Shark, 1949
GK  7.  Smugglers’ Reef, 1950
GK  8.  The Caves of Fear, 1951
U    9.   Stairway to Danger, 1952
GK 10. The Golden Skull, 1954
GK 11. The Wailing Octopus, 1956
GK 12. The Electronic Mind Reader, 1957
GK 13. The Scarlet Lake Mystery, 1958
GK 14. The Pirates of Shan, 1958
GK 15. The Blue Ghost Mystery, 1960
GK 16. The Egyptian Cat Mystery, 1961
GK 17. The Flaming Mountain, 1962
GK 18. The Flying Stingaree, 1963
$    19. The Ruby Ray Mystery, 1964
$    20. Veiled Raiders, 1965
$    21. Rocket Jumper, 1966
$    22. The Deadly Dutchman, 1967
$    23. Danger Below!, 1968
$    24. The Magic Talisman, 1990

I had considered doing a mini-review of each of the first 18, but I found a site that already has good mini-reviews of all 24. Go to http://tomswiftfanfiction.thehudsons.com/TS-Yahoo/author-TH-RickBrant.html . I’ve read these reviews and the eighteen I am familiar with are accurate, so I would trust the rest. This site also offers paperback (print on demand) versions of 19 – 24, but I can’t vouch for their legality regarding copyright issues.

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I have been in contact with the people at Gutenberg. Most of that institution’s work is done by volunteers, including volunteer proofreaders. I would like to do that job myself, but only on a work I already love. Proofreading a novel is not like reading a novel. The experience is both long lasting and intense.

Gutenberg’s copyright research is also by volunteers, so the person I contacted could not tell me if more of the novels were copyright free, and therefore available to be proofread for release by Gutenberg. There are ways of finding out, and I am pursuing them. If anything comes of this, I’ll keep you updated.