Not The Prisoner, V, or Defying Gravity, perhaps; but the Toms have had their villains.

We all know who the bad guys were in TSJ. Those familiar with the non-TSJ series might weigh in on this. From TSS I only really recall (of course) Andy Foger. From TS-III, David Luna; TS-IV, someone called The Black Dragon (plus evil mirror-world "Thomas" and mobsters in QUANTUM FORCE). No clue as to TS-V.

But Charlie mentioned my FanFic series. My TOM SWIFT LIVES! continuity has a varied lineup of villainy. Kranjovia is the new Brungaria: and it's not a rogue state or faction, but an honest-to-goodness nominally communist dictatorship on the Baltic Sea with its own despotic dictator with an evil-sounding name ("Ulvo Maurig". Doncha just hate him already?). It's only played "major bad guy" in one story, EARTH BLASTER--as in the canonical original. Appears as "special guest evil" a couple times.

Brungaria is now a reformed dictatorship and westernizing ally of the US. So far, "official" Brungaria has only been an adversary in PHANTOM SATELLITE, for understandable patriotic motives. (Col. Mirov becomes a good guy.) Here's where the rogue faction comes in: a group within the Brungie state wants to return to the old ways and "will stop at nothing". These are the guys who race Tom to the moon, engineer a short-lived coup in PLANET X...and that's it, pretty much.

Terrorists? A terrorist attacks Tom & Co. in RACING AQUADISK, and certainly the bad guys use (nonlethal) terrorist tactics in my SONIC SILENTENNA (my version of the canonical SONIC BOOM TRAP, which uses the same gimmick).

But most of my plot villains are individuals plus cronies, including Rotzog (2 times) and Robert Turnbull (2 times). Other than that, the usual run of mad scientists; a Hungarian ship-builder; the CYCLOPLANE treasure-hunters; mobsters; corrupt government officials versus rebels in FLYING LAB; a couple appearances of a sort of anti-globalization group called Zed Zed Sept (get it?); a delusional dentist; a conniving attorney; Ngombian rebels; the wealthy and corrupt Mr. Vaxilis; international drug-runners; two weird guys trying to kill a psychiatrist; a group protecting a family secret; agents of a Central Asian country trying nuclear blackmail against Russia; a corrupt Korean scientist trying to kill his ex-lover (who knows too much); a crazy cyber-game nerd; and a disgruntled ex-employee who gets Tom and Bud involved in a plot against a Bill Gates type.

Have I overlooked anyone? Well...there is this guy named The Black Cobra who appears several times.

In essence, I've tried for diversity in my type of villainy in TSL. Really, terrorist factions and spy-types have only appeared a few times. All very modern--what they call "non-state actors".

Scott

www.tomswiftlives.com

Very cool! Thanks for the update. I've been wondering how that project
was coming along. If they are able to get the film made and if it is a
success (two bigs if's, I admit) it might go far to help bring Tom Swift
back into the mainstream.

--Jon Cooper



James Keeline wrote:
>
>
> There has been relatively little news about the current Tom Swift
> option. This one showed up in my Google news alert this morning.
>
> James
>
>

There has been relatively little news about the current Tom Swift option.  This
one showed up in my Google news alert this morning.

James
_____

http://insidemovies.moviefone.com/2009/11/16/tom-swift-producer-talks-invention-\
adventure-plot/

'Tom Swift' Producer Talks 'Invention' Adventure Plot

     * November 16, 2009|
     * By: Nicholas White

Are inventors the new sexy? The producers of 2011's 'Tom Swift' movie adaptation
are hoping so.

"It's about invention is the new adventure, and this is an invention family,"
producer Albie Hecht, who is developing 'Tom Swift' for Sony, with Barry
Sonnenfeld directing, told Moviefone at Saturday's 'Planet 51' premiere in
Westwood, Calif.

"If you look at all the heroes that are out there, it is inventors, like Steve
Jobs," Hecht explains. "Who do we admire nowadays? People who are inventing
things and changing the world. I think that's my inspiration for the movie."

The 'Tom Swift' script, based on the series of books created in 1910 by Edward
Statemeyer, is "about halfway there," Hecht says, who reveals no cast choices.
"It's going great. It's going to be a big tent-pole movie for Sony."

The storyline will be a re-imagining of the Tom Swift character, Variety
reported over the summer, with a father-son team who are among the greatest
inventors of all time.

Hecht is an executive producer on the animated comedy 'Planet 51,' out Nov. 20.
Besides his movie's all-star cast, 'Planet 51' has the daunting task of opening
against 'New Moon.'

"Different audience," Hecht says. "I think there is plenty out there. People are
going to the movies, it's a big time for movies. I think it's going to embrace a
lot of audiences out there, from kids to families to sci-fi folks to conspiracy
theorists, I think we are going to get them all."
_____

>>>But it also lacks the whimsy, and can one make    light of terror without
>> > whimsy?
>>    Utterly confused by this...

>>    I guess one could retcon T_P (or Tom Swift) into conflict with
>>    'terrorists'.

> Oh come on whimsey was essential to the original T_P (I hate
> acronyms, but if you can take them, I'm man enough also.) The village
> was filled with whimsical items, the whole seaside resort played into
> that.  And that made the danger, hidden below the happy surface, all
> the more terrifying.
     Perhaps the definition of whimsy escapes me.  Thugs
     grabbing beating folk in the street, not to mention
     roving Rovers are not quite wot I'd call whimiscal...

> The current TP (I prefer that, in terms of "TP'ing someone's house")
> lacks that. In fact they appear to have an somewhat organized
> underground, which seems an anathema to the original, where it was
> one man against all.

     The original had at least one, and I think two, eps with
     in-Village underground(s).  The one that comes specifically
     to mind involved 'jammers' and an attempt to assassinate
     whichever Number 2...

     best
      dwp

>
> > But it also lacks the whimsy, and can one make light of terror without
> > whimsy?
>    Utterly confused by this...
>
>    I guess one could retcon T_P (or Tom Swift) into conflict with
>    'terrorists'.
>    best
>     dwp

Oh come on whimsey was essential to the original T_P (I hate
acronyms, but if you can take them, I'm man enough also.) The village
was filled with whimsical items, the whole seaside resort played into
that.  And that made the danger,  hidden below the happy surface, all
the more terrifying.

The current TP (I prefer that, in terms of "TP'ing someone's house")
lacks that. In fact they appear to have an somewhat organized
underground, which seems an anathema to the original, where it was
one man against all.

Charlie Campbell

At 08:15 PM 11/16/2009, you wrote:


>I think that's a little unfair to Nowhere Man.  It was an obvious
>homage to The Prisoner.  I don't think it deserves quite the same
>view as the X-Files conspiracy stories or Lost or the like.  It was
>however cancelled too early.  And maybe I am jaded, as it was
>another favorite of mine.
>S


Well that says little for the new Prisoner.

But as I watch the third episode, I cannot help but wonder if the
writers have confused obscurity with the inscrutability of the original.

Charlie Campbell

[...disclaimer: I'm on T_P lists, do not propose to debate here
8)>>.  I've been to Portmeirion...]

> The old Prisoner was a product of the Cold War - well actually, it
> was a product of a belief in James Bond within the setting of the
> Cold War. The context that made it work was the idea that a nameless
> spy resigns, but has too much sensitive information and is sent to an
> anonymous village where everyone is anonymous.
    perhaps.  IF T_P is about Spies and Such.  Perhaps T_P is
    about everyman.  (hint: check the name of P_McG's production
    company:  Everyman Productions.]

> In the original, there is the image under the credits where his
> resignation is robotically filed in a robotically opened file
> cabinet. Is the resigner any more than a number to begin with?
>
> IIRC, even though he complains about being a number, he never tells
> us his real name.
     ...that would be telling...

> And then there is the Village, a place that looks like an whimsical
> English seaside village paradise, left out of time. The inhabitants
> dress like Victorians and some ride on large wheeled bicycles, while
> in a control room there are watchers, some who ride up and down on a
> seesaw, ignoring the man on the other side while watching the outside
> through a monitor.  In the Cold War, especially in the world of James
> Bond, one can imagine that such a place might just be built, by our
> side or the other side, as a psychological way of extracting information.
    USSR had one such, used for training covert operatives.

> But now we are back in the Village with today's man in today's time
> and transported from the UK to the US.
    This version was filmed in Africa....
    Perhaps, T_P, then, as now, is about an individual's place, and
    responsibilities in society.  (Perhaps the Spy overlay is a
    'theme', (or scam), used to sell a concept to backers.  (one
    may, perhaps, compare this to the 'Wagon Train to the Stars'
    used  to sell Star Trek.)

> It seems to me that it fails - largely because the context makes no
> sense. How could the Village exist to extract information unless that
> information has the value it had in the Cold War?
    Information still has value.  New #6 May or may not have
    been a spy: he may have been a commercial data miner.
    (and, perhaps, the place of an individual in society may
    still be ad rem...)

> Tom Swift Content? Much of the Tom Jr series depended on having
> cold-war level villains, The obvious  examples are the Brungarians
> and the Kranjovians, but there were cold war overtones even in the
> rebels in Flying Lab, who in those days were often communist
> inspired, but built a prison in a cave with bars  riveted into the
> rock. Why would they make such an elaborate prison, without any
> prisoners until the Hemispak scientists showed up? Would there be a
> village without potential villagers?
     Perhaps there are still those who would control an individual.

> As I've watched Scott update the Tom Jr series, he ran into the same
> problem. He needed a national Russia-like opponent and created
> instead sub-national, rogue states within the old communist structure
> that filled the same roles. There was no getting away from the
> context of the original stories.

> And I fear the new Prisoner lacks that context.
     Perhaps it rather depends on whether T_P (then or now) is
     about spies or individual's place in Society...

> But it also lacks the whimsy, and can one make light of terror without
> whimsy?
    Utterly confused by this...

    I guess one could retcon T_P (or Tom Swift) into conflict with
    'terrorists'.
    best
     dwp

Rick I also had the same problem that you have with dustjackets, even though I
tried to keep them really nice and pristine by leaving them at home whenever I
went out to school or work with the book.  But I still had the problem of having
the dustjackets getting more brittle as the years went by.  Even when I got my
first Tom Swift Sr. (or Tom Swift TOS) Grosset & Dunlap books that still had
dustjackets, a lot of them were still in full condition, but just from the acid
leaking out of the book pages over the years, the dj's felt as thin as wax
paper.   A few of the other collector's on this group and a few other groups
that I'm on suggested some dustjacket protector's that Brodart and Demco
produce.  Here's the type that I prefer to use (and I tend to get them in in the
sheets): Just A Fold III Archival
http://www.brodart.ca/shop/cb/Product.aspx?pgID=6423
They're acid-free, which is what you want in order to preserve the paper used in
the dustjacket.


Hope that helps.

Trevor
--- In Tom-Swift@yahoogroups.com, "rheckber" <rheckber@...> wrote:
>
> Also, my old copies were mostly dust jacket versions and that is what I've
been trying to collect.  Over the years mine have suffered the usual
deterioration.  I see the origanal series (sounds like Star Trek - Tom Swift
TOS) has a number of dustjackets in the public domain.  Are these available for
Tom Swift Jr?  I could scan the ones in I have and maybe clean them up but I'd
hate to duplicate work someone has already done.  Would be nice to put the
originals away and just display the books with the copies.
>
> Rick
>

Charlie:

You pretty much echo my own sentiment regarding the new Prisoner.  The original
series worked consciously to go "outside the box" in terms of what had been
experienced to that point in the genre.  It became iconic.  The new version is
simply a bud from the same tree which produced "X-Files", "Nowhere Man" and
similar fare where Obscurity is a production element (but not too Obscure as to
frighten away the advertisers).  Unless something serious happens with the
remaining installments, this will be quickly forgotten.


Michael



--- In Tom-Swift@yahoogroups.com, Charlie Campbell <campbell@...> wrote:
>
> The old Prisoner was a product of the Cold War - well actually, it
> was a product of a belief in James Bond within the setting of the
> Cold War. The context that made it work was the idea that a nameless
> spy resigns, but has too much sensitive information and is sent to an
> anonymous village where everyone is anonymous.
>
> In the original, there is the image under the credits where his
> resignation is robotically filed in a robotically opened file
> cabinet. Is the resigner any more than a number to begin with?
>
> IIRC, even though he complains about being a number, he never tells
> us his real name.
>
> And then there is the Village, a place that looks like an whimsical
> English seaside village paradise, left out of time. The inhabitants
> dress like Victorians and some ride on large wheeled bicycles, while
> in a control room there are watchers, some who ride up and down on a
> seesaw, ignoring the man on the other side while watching the outside
> through a monitor.  In the Cold War, especially in the world of James
> Bond, one can imagine that such a place might just be built, by our
> side or the other side, as a psychological way of extracting information.
>
> But now we are back in the Village with today's man in today's time
> and transported from the UK to the US.
>
> It seems to me that it fails - largely because the context makes no
> sense. How could the Village exist to extract information unless that
> information has the value it had in the Cold War?
>
> Tom Swift Content? Much of the Tom Jr series depended on having
> cold-war level villains, The obvious  examples are the Brungarians
> and the Kranjovians, but there were cold war overtones even in the
> rebels in Flying Lab, who in those days were often communist
> inspired, but built a prison in a cave with bars  rivetted into the
> rock. Why would they make such an elaborate prison, without any
> prisoners until the Hemispak scientists showed up? Would there be a
> village without potential villagers?
>
> As I've watched Scott update the Tom Jr series, he ran into the same
> problem. He needed a national Russia-like opponent and created
> instead sub-national, rogue states within the old communist structure
> that filled the same roles. There was no getting away from the
> context of the original stories.
>
> And I fear the new Prisoner lacks that context.
>
> But it also lacks the whimsy, and can one make light of terror without whimsy?
>
> Charlie Campbell
>
> P.S. When he first walks into the village he must wonder, "Is this A-Frame
up?"
>

on 11/15/09 11:07 PM, Charlie Campbell at campbell@... wrote:

> It seems to me that it fails - largely because the context makes no
> sense. How could the Village exist to extract information unless that
> information has the value it had in the Cold War?

It fails on every level except 'cute reference' like 'Way Out' being written
on doors, stuff like that.  I can't imagine this is enjoyable to anybody
that wasn't a fan of the original, and even to us, only barely.

I saw Magneto say that the original series was about the evil of Socialism,
but now the world has changed, so this series is about the evil of
Capitalism.  This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of The Prisoner, not
to mention Socialism and Capitalism.

Also, if it really is about the evil Capitalism, they totally screwed up the
'buy a map' scene (well, they did that anyway); it was the closest they'd
had to an exact remake of a scene, and it showed that it wasn't holding up
to McGoohan (of course, how could it?) -- they traded the "bigger area only
in color sir, much more expensive" bit for "hey, if you buy one map, you get
one free, makes a great gift!"

And, come on, the goofy black cab driver is from Total Recall for cripe's
sake; I keep waiting for him to say he's got a wife and five kids to feed!

I was ambivalent about the first hour until the end when Rover showed up --
the real Rover (well, Rover's mother, ala Gorgo) and not some reimagined
Rover (I was so scared the guys with guns at the beginning who were supposed
to be something mysterious but obviously were just guys with guns were going
to be Rover) and they finally got me.  But then the second hour was a mess,
and having Rover be the finish AGAIN didn't work.

I don't get the lead.  I know he's supposed to be a complete jerk in real
life, and he's not a very good actor either, at least not in this.  I
understand why he's drunk and loopy in the Village, and in the later
flashbacks he's got a bottle in his hand so he's got an excuse for being
drunk and loopy, but why is he drunk and loopy when he resigns?  Is drunk
and loopy all he plays?

We found ourselves more interested in the location, and what was found and
what was built, than any part of the plot.

> P.S. When he first walks into the village he must wonder, "Is this A-Frame
up?"

I was thinking, in Kier Dullea's voice, "My God, it's full of
Weinerschnitzel"

The old Prisoner was a product of the Cold War - well actually, it
was a product of a belief in James Bond within the setting of the
Cold War. The context that made it work was the idea that a nameless
spy resigns, but has too much sensitive information and is sent to an
anonymous village where everyone is anonymous.

In the original, there is the image under the credits where his
resignation is robotically filed in a robotically opened file
cabinet. Is the resigner any more than a number to begin with?

IIRC, even though he complains about being a number, he never tells
us his real name.

And then there is the Village, a place that looks like an whimsical
English seaside village paradise, left out of time. The inhabitants
dress like Victorians and some ride on large wheeled bicycles, while
in a control room there are watchers, some who ride up and down on a
seesaw, ignoring the man on the other side while watching the outside
through a monitor.  In the Cold War, especially in the world of James
Bond, one can imagine that such a place might just be built, by our
side or the other side, as a psychological way of extracting information.

But now we are back in the Village with today's man in today's time
and transported from the UK to the US.

It seems to me that it fails - largely because the context makes no
sense. How could the Village exist to extract information unless that
information has the value it had in the Cold War?

Tom Swift Content? Much of the Tom Jr series depended on having
cold-war level villains, The obvious  examples are the Brungarians
and the Kranjovians, but there were cold war overtones even in the
rebels in Flying Lab, who in those days were often communist
inspired, but built a prison in a cave with bars  rivetted into the
rock. Why would they make such an elaborate prison, without any
prisoners until the Hemispak scientists showed up? Would there be a
village without potential villagers?

As I've watched Scott update the Tom Jr series, he ran into the same
problem. He needed a national Russia-like opponent and created
instead sub-national, rogue states within the old communist structure
that filled the same roles. There was no getting away from the
context of the original stories.

And I fear the new Prisoner lacks that context.

But it also lacks the whimsy, and can one make light of terror without whimsy?

Charlie Campbell

P.S. When he first walks into the village he must wonder, "Is this A-Frame up?"

--- In Tom-Swift@yahoogroups.com, James Keeline <keeline@...> wrote:
>
> --- On Sat, 11/14/09, rheckber <rheckber@...> wrote:
>
> > Pulled out a bunch of my old Tom Swift Jr. and Hardy Boy
> > books and decided to find out what I could about them. 
> > Found out so much information and so have started to collect
> > slowly. 
> >
> > I searched through here but didn't see anything about how
> > people keep track of their collection?  Is there some
> > software package people prefer?  Excel
> > spreasheets?  Home grown DBs?  Any info would be
> > appreciated.
>
> Welcome to the group.  I've used databases of one form or another since about
1980 but I don't keep all of my collection in one.  I do make web programs in
PHP & MySQL and the Drupal content management system.  Both have some
interesting possibilities for a book collection database.
>
> For your needs it would be important to know some basics.  First, if you want
to run it on your personal computer, which operating system are you using
(Windows, Mac or Linux)?
>
> One interesting idea would be the option to look at your collection online
with a smart phone of some kind so you can check and see whether that book you
see in a store is one you need to fill a hole or upgrade.  For the latter you'd
need to know the condition and format of your copy for a comparison.  Hence,
good images would be helpful to make a visual comparison.
>
> As your collection matures you will learn more about the formats and
estimating the vintage of your copies.  Initially you may be interested in
getting a copy of each title but in time getting dust jackets or having a large
group of books that look similar can become a goal.  Hence, the upgrades become
something that makes photos important.
>
> For a web application some people use http://www.LibraryThing.com
>
> If you want to include modern books that are likely to have barcodes and/or
ISBN numbers (1967+) then you might be interested in a program which can use a
cheap barcode reader and look up the basic book data from an online database.  I
bought a USB modified CueCat barcode reader on eBay for a low price.  The
"modified" part means that it acts like a keyboard character device and type in
the numbers of the scanned barcode.
>
> Obviously only the most recent three Tom Swift series have barcodes so this
may not be an issue for you.
>
> When estimating the vintage of your copies, the normal practice is to look at
all of the series advertised on the dust jacket, back cover, last few pages,
etc.  Look up the last title from each series and look up the publication of
that book.  The most recent date of the ads is the earliest date for your book. 
Ignore any list on the copyright page for the Tom Swift Sr. series, those lists
don't change.
>
> Perhaps this will get you started.  Provide more information and ask questions
and we can take this further.
>
> James Keeline
>

Thanks for all the replies.  I am using windows.  I agree a web-based or
portable app would be very useful.  I do have a Blackberry Storm so can read
excel files on it so could go that route.  Funny, I have a cuecat in a drawer
around here somewhere I think unless I tossed it in a fit of cleaning. I didn't
even think to modify it to read barcodes.  I'll have to look into that.  I do
work in the systems office at a university so am very familiar with bar code
scanners.   Also with library software although our system would be a bit of
overkill.  I looked at the one page checklist but I'm not sure I'm reading it
right.  Looking at it it shows the first few issues not avaialable in dust
jackets?  Can someone interpret!

Also, my old copies were mostly dust jacket versions and that is what I've been
trying to collect.  Over the years mine have suffered the usual deterioration. 
I see the origanal series (sounds like Star Trek - Tom Swift TOS) has a number
of dustjackets in the public domain.  Are these available for Tom Swift Jr?  I
could scan the ones in I have and maybe clean them up but I'd hate to duplicate
work someone has already done.  Would be nice to put the originals away and just
display the books with the copies.


Off to check out the software recommendations!

Rick

I created a one-page checklist for all the Tom Swift Jr. titles.  I
uploaded it to our files.  Here is the description:

Tom Swift Jr. Checklist
This is a color-coded checklist of Tom Swift Jr. books, in Excel,
Open Office and PDF format. It is a one-page checklist that you can
actually use to check off cells as you acquire different versions of
each title. The titles differ by how many books are listed in the
dust jacket or back cover. Color codes show the dust jacket, blue
spine and yellow spine versions of each title as well.

Fred

on 11/14/09 9:41 PM, flashn9wdq@... at flashn9wdq@... wrote:

> THANKS!!!!!  I have always been thinking of somehow "organizing" my books. Or
> at the least, listing them and where they are. It would certainly help with
> sequels, etc. Naturally this has been a bit of a "some day........" thing.
> This program looks great. Especially since I also recently took the Mac
> plunge.

Cool!  Passed your thanks on to my buddy.  :)
>
> ---- Nestria <nestria@...> wrote:
>> on 11/14/09 1:42 PM, rheckber at rheckber@... wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> New here,
>>> Pulled out a bunch of my old Tom Swift Jr. and Hardy Boy books and decided
>>> to
>>> find out what I could about them.  Found out so much information and so have
>>> started to collect slowly.
>>> I searched through here but didn't see anything about how people keep track
>>> of
>>> their collection?  Is there some software package people prefer?  Excel
>>> spreasheets?  Home grown DBs?  Any info would be appreciated.
>>
>> I asked a friend of mine; he and his wife do a lot of this.  The reply:
>>
>> http://www.bruji.com/
>>
>> They have all kinds of tracking apps and they've worked well. i don't track
>> books, but i should eventually. :)

THANKS!!!!!  I have always been thinking of somehow "organizing" my books. Or at
the least, listing them and where they are. It would certainly help with
sequels, etc. Naturally this has been a bit of a "some day........" thing. This
program looks great. Especially since I also recently took the Mac plunge.

---- Nestria <nestria@...> wrote:
> on 11/14/09 1:42 PM, rheckber at rheckber@... wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > New here,
> > Pulled out a bunch of my old Tom Swift Jr. and Hardy Boy books and decided
to
> > find out what I could about them.  Found out so much information and so have
> > started to collect slowly.
> > I searched through here but didn't see anything about how people keep track
of
> > their collection?  Is there some software package people prefer?  Excel
> > spreasheets?  Home grown DBs?  Any info would be appreciated.
>
> I asked a friend of mine; he and his wife do a lot of this.  The reply:
>
> http://www.bruji.com/
>
> They have all kinds of tracking apps and they've worked well. i don't track
> books, but i should eventually. :)
>

THANKS!!!!!  I have always been thinking of somehow "organizing" my books. Or at
the least, listing them and where they are. It would certainly help with
sequels, etc. Naturally this has been a bit of a "some day........" thing. This
program looks great. Especially since I also recently took the Mac plunge.

---- Nestria <nestria@...> wrote:
> on 11/14/09 1:42 PM, rheckber at rheckber@... wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > New here,
> > Pulled out a bunch of my old Tom Swift Jr. and Hardy Boy books and decided
to
> > find out what I could about them.  Found out so much information and so have
> > started to collect slowly.
> > I searched through here but didn't see anything about how people keep track
of
> > their collection?  Is there some software package people prefer?  Excel
> > spreasheets?  Home grown DBs?  Any info would be appreciated.
>
> I asked a friend of mine; he and his wife do a lot of this.  The reply:
>
> http://www.bruji.com/
>
> They have all kinds of tracking apps and they've worked well. i don't track
> books, but i should eventually. :)
>

on 11/14/09 1:42 PM, rheckber at rheckber@... wrote:

> Hi,
> New here,
> Pulled out a bunch of my old Tom Swift Jr. and Hardy Boy books and decided to
> find out what I could about them.  Found out so much information and so have
> started to collect slowly.
> I searched through here but didn't see anything about how people keep track of
> their collection?  Is there some software package people prefer?  Excel
> spreasheets?  Home grown DBs?  Any info would be appreciated.

I asked a friend of mine; he and his wife do a lot of this.  The reply:

http://www.bruji.com/

They have all kinds of tracking apps and they've worked well. i don't track
books, but i should eventually. :)

--- On Sat, 11/14/09, rheckber <rheckber@...> wrote:

> Pulled out a bunch of my old Tom Swift Jr. and Hardy Boy
> books and decided to find out what I could about them. 
> Found out so much information and so have started to collect
> slowly. 
>
> I searched through here but didn't see anything about how
> people keep track of their collection?  Is there some
> software package people prefer?  Excel
> spreasheets?  Home grown DBs?  Any info would be
> appreciated.

Welcome to the group.  I've used databases of one form or another since about
1980 but I don't keep all of my collection in one.  I do make web programs in
PHP & MySQL and the Drupal content management system.  Both have some
interesting possibilities for a book collection database.

For your needs it would be important to know some basics.  First, if you want to
run it on your personal computer, which operating system are you using (Windows,
Mac or Linux)?

One interesting idea would be the option to look at your collection online with
a smart phone of some kind so you can check and see whether that book you see in
a store is one you need to fill a hole or upgrade.  For the latter you'd need to
know the condition and format of your copy for a comparison.  Hence, good images
would be helpful to make a visual comparison.

As your collection matures you will learn more about the formats and estimating
the vintage of your copies.  Initially you may be interested in getting a copy
of each title but in time getting dust jackets or having a large group of books
that look similar can become a goal.  Hence, the upgrades become something that
makes photos important.

For a web application some people use http://www.LibraryThing.com

If you want to include modern books that are likely to have barcodes and/or ISBN
numbers (1967+) then you might be interested in a program which can use a cheap
barcode reader and look up the basic book data from an online database.  I
bought a USB modified CueCat barcode reader on eBay for a low price.  The
"modified" part means that it acts like a keyboard character device and type in
the numbers of the scanned barcode.

Obviously only the most recent three Tom Swift series have barcodes so this may
not be an issue for you.

When estimating the vintage of your copies, the normal practice is to look at
all of the series advertised on the dust jacket, back cover, last few pages,
etc.  Look up the last title from each series and look up the publication of
that book.  The most recent date of the ads is the earliest date for your book. 
Ignore any list on the copyright page for the Tom Swift Sr. series, those lists
don't change.

Perhaps this will get you started.  Provide more information and ask questions
and we can take this further.

James Keeline