What is Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle better known as?
Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle the rifle looked very much like contemporary conventional rifles. Although the book exists in a historical context, a modern reading reveals bold racism in the plot. Sixty years later a non-lethal weapon delivering an electric shock was developed by Jack Cover and marketed by Taser International under the name "Taser", an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle". The middle initial 'A' is gratuitous to produce a word more pronounceable than "TSER", as no other name than "Tom Swift" is used for the book's hero. The cinematographic adaptation rights were acquired in 2007. "Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle" is
Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle the least of their worries, as they find out some old friends are being held hostage by the fearsome tribes of the red pygmies. Swift builds two major inventions in this volume. The first is a replacement airship, known as "The Black Hawk". This new airship is to replace "The Red Cloud", which was destroyed during his adventures in "Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice". This airship is of the same general construction as "The Red Cloud", but is smaller and more maneuverable. Of foremost notice is Swift's invention of the "electric rifle", a gun which fires bolts of