Story Problems | Printing | The Illiterate Artists

Story Problems

These are inconsistencies in the stories themselves.

• The flight time to the moon

  As far as I know it takes a little bit longer than "...almost a minute and a half." (The Rocket's Shadow, page 189).

   

• Mrs. Brant's first name

  She never has one, kind of like Mrs. Howell on "Gilligan's Island".

   

• The disappearing scientist

  Dr. Wisecarver is never mentioned again after The Lost City. He also never had a first name. Pretty poor treatment for a guy who comes up with a rocket fuel that can get a rocket to the moon in 90 seconds.

   

• The disappearing cat

  Jan Miller's cat Shah is never mentioned again after first being introduced in The Electronic Mind Reader. Perhaps Dr. Wisecarver took him for a walk (Thanks to Barry Baker).

   

• The case of the disappearing telephone

  Rick and Scotty use the upstairs hall phone to talk to Capt. Mike in Smugglers' Reef and Scotty calls State Police Capt. Douglas from the same phone in Caves of Fear. The phone is apparently just down the hall from the boys rooms. In Stairway to Danger the phone is gone; Rick has to run downstairs to answer the phone in the library because the only upstairs phone is in his parent's bedroom. Yet in The Electronic Mind Reader the phone is back in the upstairs hall, Rick uses it to take a call from Steve Ames at 5 AM, then goes downstairs to continue the conversation on the scrambled phone in the Library. (Thanks to Peter King)

   

• The tied-up Tibetan

  In The Caves of Fear Rick had tied him up and left him in the dark, (page 160) but no one ever went back to untie him.

   

• Reversing physics

  In The Blue Ghost Mystery dry ice is used to make a cloud of smoke. "...through the white rising mist..." (pages 23-24). The problem is that when dry ice is put in water the cloud does not rise as the carbon dioxide gas is heavier than air. (Thanks to Dave Baumann for pointing that out.)

   

• Hobart Zircon's career change

  In The Rocket's Shadow, Zircon's profession was "famed electronics scientist". In The Wailing Octopus, Zircon's profession has been changed to a "Nuclear Physicist"(chapter 1, page 2). (Thanks to Jim Lamantia)

   

• Hartson Brant's "promotion"

  In The Rocket's Shadow, Hartson has a Master of Arts. In The Whispering Box Mystery he has a doctor of science in physics.

   

• Which University?

  In The Flaming Mountain on page 3 it says that Hartson was at the University of Florida and on page 4 it says Florida University. (Picky, I know, but not if you are from the Univeristy of Florida.).

   

• Dot - Dash or Dash - Dot?

  Here's another minor mistake that I remember noticing when I read "the Lost City" as a kid (I was already a 'ham' radio operator). On page 178 Rick is giving Scotty a quick lesson in sending Morse code. He tells Scotty to "Hold the key twice as long for a dot as you do for a dash." Duh. (Thanks to Manfred Franke).

   

• On the wing?

  On page 10, third paragraph of The Blue Ghost Mystery, "Barby and Jan were up on the wing before the boys had a chance even to unbuckle seat belts." I had always pictured the Skywagon as being something like a Cessna 180. At least a high wing aircraft which should preclude climbing on the wings. Also I believe several pictures in other books indicate a high wing design.. (Thanks to Wes Connally)

   

• Do what I say not what I write?

  I just finished reading Stairway to Danger, and came across, for me, at least, the most glaring (and kinda embarrassing) error I've ever seen in a Rick Brant book.

  Allow me to transcribe from Page 209: Tony Briotti smiled at the boys. "Howard has a good idea. We're sailing in about two weeks, and we can take you and your new plane with us. You can get one in that time, I'm sure. We're off to a place called Banaue, pronounced Ban-ow-ee." Holy mackerel! Seems Mr. Goodwin was rushing to finish the book--didn't realize he was using a text description within someone's dialogue! I mean, if you actually say, out loud, Tony Briotti's last sentence (as Tony would have), you realize how embarrassingly silly it is. (Thanks to Ken Copel)

   

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Printing

There were several irregularities involved in the printing of the books.

• Who is "Dan" Scott?

  The blurb at the beginning of The Flaming Mountain says "... Rick Brant and his pal Dan Scott". In The Ruby Ray Mystery it says "Rick Brant and his good friend Dan Scott..." Scotty was adopted, could this be his long lost evil twin?

   

• The changing titles

  At the end of 100 Fathoms Under the next book is said to be "The Whistling Box". At the end of Smugglers' Reef the next book is "The Caverns of Fear". These were never even fixed in later printings.

   

• The missing list.

  With the printing of The Phantom Shark, a list of books in the series is included at the beginning of the all the books up to #16 except #5 The Whispering Box Mystery. Why this book never has a list is unknown.

   

• ...18, 19, 20, 22, Oops!

  On the back of the Grosset & Dunlap version of The Deadly Dutchman book #21, Rocket Jumper is missing from the list of books.

   

• Typo in The Flying Stingaree

  At the end of Chapter V on page 30 the second to last paragraph is all switched around. (Thanks to Jay Gannett)
  Rick grinned back. "Not bad predicting. Actually,
  I was going to wait for the right opportunity, then
  By the way, when does the hunting season open for
  say, 'Wonderful hunting and fishing country, Steve.
  flying stingarees?"

   

• Electronic or Science Adventures?

  • On the dust jackets of books 1-4 the front and spine logo says "A Rick Brant Electronic Adventure".
  • On books 5 & 7-15 the DJ front and spine logo says "A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story".
  • On book 6, The Phantom Shark, the front says "A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story" and the spine logo says "A Rick Brant Electronic Adventure".
  • On book 16, The Egyptian Cat Mystery, the front says "A Rick Brant SCIENCE Adventure" while the spine says "A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story".
  • On the covers of the red and tweed books they all say "A Rick Brant Electronic Adventure".
  • The red versions of 1-4 says "A Rick Brant Electronic Adventure" on the title page.
  • The rest of the reds and all the tweeds say "A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story" on either the title or book list page.
  • When the picture covers came it out the situation changes yet again. All the spine logos say "A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story".
  • However, 2 & 3 still say "A Rick Brant Electronic Adventure" on the cover.
  • 1 & 4-15 say "A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story" and 16-23 say "A Rick Brant SCIENCE Adventure".

  Grosset & Dunlap was nothing if not consistently inconsistent!

   

• Right Illustration/Wrong caption or Right Caption/Wrong Illustration?

  On page 13 of The Scarlet Lake Mystery is an illustration of 2 men looking at a drawing of the earthman on the launching pad, which is described on page 15. However the caption, "Etched on the bar was a puzzling inscription", refers to an incident on page 12. (Thanks to Rick Tinling)

   

• Nast/Nash

  In The Golden Skull on page 62, the 2nd to last paragraph, the American whose name is "Nast" is called "Nash" in one sentence. (Thanks to Jeff Escue)

   

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The Illiterate Artists

The Rick Brant series suffered from the fact that the artists hired by Grosset & Dunlap were not paid too well and the results showed.

• The part in Rick's hair

  If you look at the covers of the books you'll notice that the part in Rick's hair is constantly changing sides. Sometimes it's on the left and other times it's on the right.

   

• Knife/Screwdriver

  The cover of Sea Gold shows Rick using the knife blade of his scout knife to undo the screws. The book however clearly says that Rick used the screwdriver blade (page 101).

   

• Pram/Rowboat

  In The Electronic Mind Reader, a blunt-nosed boat known as a pram plays a big part in the story. However, the illustration on page 115 clearly shows a pointed boat.

   

• Private/Pirate

  On the cartoon about The Rocket's Shadow on the back of some of the early dust jackets the map of Spindrift Island has a Private Field instead of a Pirate's Field. This has to be the worst, the artist couldn't even copy correctly. (Thanks to Jim Schenk.)

   

• More on the Cartoon

  After looking at the cartoon about The Rocket's Shadow on the back of some of the early dust jackets I found even more problems. Scotty was a sergeant in the Marines but he only has two stripes. Rick is wearing a pilot's cap with goggles. The Cub is an enclosed plane, so I don't think he would be wearing that, unless that's what people driving roadsters in 1947 wore. In the panel where the boys are held captive Scotty is still in his uniform.

   

• Holograms in 1960?

  In The Blue Ghost Mystery the picture on the cover shows a fully three dimensial ghost. From the angle of the illustration it should have been a mirror image, not the back of Captain Costin. (Thanks to Ross Sims)

   

• Torch/Electric Light

  In The Caves of Fear the cover shows Chahda using a torch for light at the entrance of the buddha, the book clearly states they are using a big electric or gas light, see page 131 at the bottom of the page. (Thanks to Jeff Escue)

   

• Scuba/Rebreather

  In The Flying Stingaree the cover shows Rick shooting a spear at the "flying stingaree" while wearing scuba equipment (i.e. a tank on the back). The story says that Rick was using a "rebreather" which is a mask with a small tank attached to it. The rebreather recirculates the air and their are no exhaust bubbles. (Someone told me of this but I forgot who it was. I apologize for being absent-minded.)

   

• Scotty/Tony

  In The Golden Skull the cover shows Scotty holding the golden skull. However on page 171: The skull is found/Tony cleans it only to be interrupted by Ifugaos. Scotty never handles the clean skull. (Thanks to Jeff Escue)

   

• The Phantom Shark

  In The Phantom Shark, the fake shark that was constructed from an old P-40 fuselage was described in many places as being "silver colored". However, the picture on the cover shows it painted red. (Thanks to Jack Glaize.)