James Duncan Lawrence (author)
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James Duncan Lawrence ( – ), best known as Jim Lawrence, was an American author best known for authoring most of the
Tom Swift Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. First published in 1910, the series totals more than 100 volumes. The character was ...
Jr. series of books (under the pseudonym Victor Appleton II) and
Friday Foster ''Friday Foster'' is an American newspaper comic strip, created and written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Jorge Longarón. It ran from January 18, 1970, to February 17, 1974 and was notable for featuring one of the first African-American w ...
comic strip.


Biography

Lawrence was born in
Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
in 1918. As a freelance writer in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he wrote scripts for a number of radio shows, including
The Green Hornet The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell. Since his 1930s radio debut, the character has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of media ...
and
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon ''Challenge of the Yukon'' is an American radio adventure series that began on Detroit's WXYZ and is an example of a Northern genre story. The series was first heard on January 3, 1939. The title changed from ''Challenge of the Yukon'' to ''Se ...
. In the 1950s and 1960s, he worked for the
Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was a publishing company that produced a number of mystery book series for children, including Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, the various Tom Swift series, the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and others. They published and ...
on a number of series (listed in the Bibliography). In the 1970s, he worked for the Chicago Tribune and the New York News Syndicate with illustrator Jordi Longarón on Friday Foster comic strip. Later in his career, Lawrence co-wrote two
Infocom Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone (software), Cornerstone''. ...
interactive fiction games with
Stu Galley Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone''. Infocom was founded o ...
:
Seastalker ''Seastalker'' is an interactive fiction game written by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence and published by Infocom in 1984. It was released simultaneously for several popular computer platforms of the time, such as the Commodore 64, Apple II, and IB ...
(1984) and
Moonmist ''Moonmist'' is an interactive fiction computer game written by Stu Galley and Jim Lawrence and published by Infocom in 1986. The game was released simultaneously for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Atari ST, Commodor ...
(1986). Lawrence died in
Summit, New Jersey Summit is a city in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The city is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. At the 2010 United Sta ...
in 1994.


Bibliography


Tom Swift Jr. series

He wrote the following books in the
Tom Swift Jr. Tom Swift Jr. is the central character in a series of 33 science fiction adventure novels for male adolescents, following in the tradition of the earlier Tom Swift ("Senior") novels. The series was titled ''The New Tom Swift Jr. Adventures''. Un ...
series under the Stratemeyer Syndicate house pseudonym Victor Appleton II: * Tom Swift and His Atomic Earth Blaster (1954) * Tom Swift and His Outpost in Space (1955)/1977 reissue title: …And His Sky Wheel * Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter (1956) * Tom Swift on the Phantom Satellite (1956) * Tom Swift and His Ultrasonic Cycloplane (1957) * Tom Swift and His Deep Sea Hydrodome (1958) * Tom Swift in the Race to the Moon (1958) * Tom Swift and Space Solartron (1958) * Tom Swift and His Electronic Retroscope (1959)/1972 Reissue Title: …In The Jungle of the Mayas * Tom Swift and His Spectromarine Selector (1960) * Tom Swift and the Cosmic Astronauts (1960) * Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X (1961) * Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung (1961) * Tom Swift and His Triphibian Atomicar (1962) * Tom Swift and His Megascope Space Prober (1962) * Tom Swift and the Asteroid Pirates (1963) * Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway (1963) * Tom Swift and His Aquatomic Tracker (1964) * Tom Swift and His 3-D Telejector (1964) * Tom Swift and His Polar-Ray Dynasphere (1965) * Tom Swift and His Sonic Boom Trap (1965) * Tom Swift and His Subocean Geotron (1966) * Tom Swift and the Mystery Comet (1966) * Tom Swift and the Captive Planetoid (1967)


Hardy Boys series

He revised the following books in the
Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterpa ...
series under the Stratemeyer Syndicate house pseudonym
Franklin W. Dixon Franklin W. Dixon is the pen name used by a variety of different authors who were part of a team that wrote The Hardy Boys novels for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (now owned by Simon & Schuster). Dixon was also the writer attributed for the ''Ted ...
: * The Mystery at Devil's Paw (1959) * A Figure in Hiding (1965) * The Secret Warning (1966) *
The Disappearing Floor ''The Disappearing Floor'' is Volume 19 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap. This book was written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate by John Button in 1940. Between 1959 and 1973 the first 38 volumes of this ...
(1964) * The Sting of the Scorpion (1979)


Nancy Drew series

He wrote the following books in the
Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...
series under the Stratemeyer Syndicate house pseudonym
Carolyn Keene Carolyn Keene is the pseudonym of the authors of the Nancy Drew mystery stories and The Dana Girls mystery stories, both produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate. In addition, the Keene pen name is credited with the Nancy Drew spin-off, ''River H ...
: * Race Against Time (1982) * Clue of the Ancient Disguise (1982) * The Silver Cobweb (1983) * The Haunted Carousel (1983) * Enemy Match (1984) * The Mysterious Image (1984) * The Bluebeard Room (1985) * The Phantom of Venice (1985)


Christopher Cool series

He wrote the following books in the Christopher Cool series under the Stratemeyer Syndicate house pseudonym Jack Lancer: * X Marks the Spy (1967) * Mission: Moonfire (1967) * Department of Danger (1967) * Ace of Shadows (1967) * Heads You Lose (1968) * Trial by Fury (1969)


Binky Brothers series

Along with Leonard P. Kessler, he wrote the following books in the Binky Brothers series: * Binky Brothers, Detectives (1968) * Binky Brothers and the Fearless Four (1970)


Man From Planet X series

Writing as Hunter Adams, he wrote the following books in the Man From Planet X series: * Man From Planet X: The She-Beast (1975) * Man From Planet X: Tiger by the Tail (1975) * Man From Planet X: The Devil to Pay (1975)


Dark Angel series

The Dark Angel books all featured cover art by Lawrence's Friday Foster collaborator, Jordi Longarón. * The Dream Girl Caper (1975) * The Emerald Oil Caper (1975) * The Gilded Snatch Caper (1975) * The Godmother Caper (1975)


James Bond comic strip

In 1969, he took over as the writer for the James Bond syndicated comic strip. Among the titles were: * The Man with the Golden Gun (1966) * Octopussy (1966) * The Spy Who Loved Me (1967) The complete list is given in
James Bond comic strips ''James Bond'' was a comic strip that was based on the eponymous, fictional character created by author Ian Fleming. Starting in 1958 and continuing to 1983, it consisted of 52 story arcs that were syndicated in British newspapers, seven of which ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, James Duncan 1918 births 1994 deaths American children's writers Stratemeyer Syndicate Writers from Detroit Writers from Michigan 20th-century American writers 20th-century American male writers