Thomas Hudson

The Wonderful Damon in Oz Thomas Hudson

No, these stories are not about Oz the Great and Powerful, or even the Munchkin-infested land of Oz, they take place, in good part, in Australia. Everyone knows that young inventor Tom Swift creates wonderful inventions, but how many realize his father, Damon Swift, is an even more accomplished inventor? This collection of three novella-length stories tells the tales of three of his, well, odder inventions, all created for use in Australia. These stories are: Damon Swift and the Mechanical Fish - When the Royal Australian Navy finds that no company down under will be able to offer what they want, a desperate Navy Captain sends the specifications to Damon. At first the request for a two-man submarine seems more than reasonable until he gets to the pages that say it must look like a fish, swim like a fish and even sound like a fish! Damon Swift and the Reconnaissance Gull - One year after delivering the submarine, Damon receives a plea from the same Navy woman. Now, no company in Australia or New Zealand will even consider taking on a project calling for 300 autonomous drones, capable of flights 1,000 miles out and back with at least 12-hours on site. Sure, they can build large, jet powered drones complete with weapons if needed, but only Damon will take on a project calling for the drones to look and fly just like seagulls. And, in typical Damon Swift style, he delivers the goods even though an unscrupulous politician and a rogue Admiral are out to see the project fail! Damon Swift and the Rapid Delivery Kangaroo - Just as inevitable as the harshness of the Outback are all the strange animals that abound (and bound around) in Australia is the difficulty in getting things delivered to remote areas. When a woman Damon knows slightly leaves politics and takes on management of a specialty delivery company serving those more remote parts of Oz, she finds herself up agains a company whose former management all but stole the kitchen sink, has an aging fleet of delivery vans and a trio of old and tired aircraft, and is out of ideas. Damon comes to her rescue finding ways to not just save money (and the company) but to make it one of the most organized delivery services around.