Fran Striker Books In Order

Publication Order of The Lone Ranger Books

Publication Order of Tom Quest Adventure Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Fran Striker was a renowned American writer of children’s fiction, western novels, and literature & fiction novels. He was also a reputed editor, producer, and publisher. Fran was particularly well known as a writer for comics and radio and is best known for writing the Lone Ranger series, Tom Quest Adventure series, Sgt. Preston series, and the Green Hornet series. He was born on August 19, 1903, in Buffalo, New York and completed his schooling from the Lafayette High School. Fran later studied at Buffalo University and was one of the Theta Chi Fraternity members. After dropping out of college, Fran worked with a newly opened theatrical company in New York for a short duration. After coming back to Buffalo, he got a job in the WEBR radio station as an announcer.

Fran relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1929 and started working for WTAM, where he was given the position of continuity writer and announcer. It was here that he wrote the first drama script for the radio of his career. It was Stephen Foster’s biography. Later, WEBR made a luring offer to Fran and made him return to the company on the position of a station manager. Following this, Fran wrote material that ranged from half-hour mysteries to skits and Western fiction scripts as he had started enjoying the work very much. Shortly after, he started drifting towards freelance work. Fran created and wrote his own stories and sold them to radio stations throughout the United States. He even started a long association with WXYZ radio station and the station owner named George Trenle in Detroit. At that time, the station was trying to make a name for itself in the field of producing radio dramas.

George Trendle found Fran’s work quite interesting and decided to produce his work so as to achieve fame. Subsequently, Fran wrote and created an early series that introduced the character of Mike Axford, who went on to feature as a supporting character in the Green Hornet series. Fran began writing the Lone Ranger scripts from 1932 onwards. The earliest scripts of this series were largely re-written from Fran’s earlier series called Covered Wagon Days. George Trendle gave Fran the credit for creating the lead character by writing a letter on January 30, 1933. However, Fran was pressured by him to sign over the rights to him in 1934. After that, Trendle started taking credit for the creation. This incident led to a long-running controversy related to Lone Ranger’s creation that extended up to 1960. Fran was considered quite prolific in his work. He is credited to have written 156 scripts based on Lone Ranger and many more scripts featuring other interesting characters.

The death of author Fran occurred on September 4, 1962, in Elma, New York due to a car accident. He was just 59 years old. The final work of Fran, which is a historical novel titled One More River, was released posthumously. Many papers penned by him are present in Buffalo University’s archives. A 1981 movie called The Legend of Lone Ranger features a couple of characters named Amy Striker and Lucas Striker, which are named in Fran Striker’s honor. In 1998, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Buffalo Broadcasting, posthumously. Most of the later work of author Fran included scripts for the TV adaptation of his radio dramas. The TV series was being produced while the radio series was still in the run. Fran provided stories for numerous television episodes by rewriting several of old scripts. Many other writers adapted his work for TV and received credit as the ‘scriptwriter’. The writers of this generation study his work for inspiration.

A popular book series written by author Fran Striker is known as the Tom Quest series. It began in 1947 and consists of a total of 8 books published up to 1955. Each book of this series features the central character in the role of Tom Quest. He is depicted as the son of a popular explorer and scientist. Tom indulges in adventures along with a newspaperman named Whiz Walton and a Texan gargantuan named Gulliver. After going through several adventures, Tom Quest discovers that his father may still be alive. He was believed to be dead for many years. After the discovery, Tom joins Whiz and Gulliver to visit Central America in search of his father. The series shows a continuation of plots up to the fourth book and the books that follow later are just standalone novels.

Every plot usually involves some type of criminal activity that gets thwarted by Tom Quest and his friends. An exciting book of this series is entitled ‘The Secret of the Lost Mesa’. It was released by the Grossett & Dunlap publication in 1949. This book opens by depicting that Tom Quest plans a quiet holiday trip to Mexico along with his friends, Whiz Walton and Gulliver. But, it takes the form of an adventure filled with mystery and excitement. The mystery begins when Tom comes across a small waterproof camera attached to a tiny parachute, floating at Tampico.

Inside the camera, Tom finds a 35 mm film that contains the image of a mesa that holds an ancient city. It appears in the captured picture that Aztec city has not been touched by progress for about a thousand years. With his father’s enthusiasm by his side, Tom sets himself to locate the unknown mesa. Shortly after beginning their quest, Tom, Gulliver, and Whiz sense that someone in the present is trying to prevent them from unraveling the hidden secret. But, they are unmoved by the dangers that lay in their path and move ahead with firm determination to uncover the mystery of the ancient city and the lost mesa.

Another popular book of the series is called ‘The Secret of Thunder Mountain’. It was also published by Grossett & Dunlap in 1952. This novel’s setting takes place on a ranch in Texas. In a nearby cavern, several ruthless killers take shelter. A few years before, the killers had carried out a robbery on an armored truck and robbed 3 million dollars worth of gold. To melt the gold and transport it without any suspicion, they arrange a high-powered furnace. But, the problem arises when the electric-powered furnace starts producing static interference on the radio bands and television networks. When an elderly friend asks Tom Quest to track down the location of the static to rectify his TV reception, Tom develops a radio direction-finder. With the help of this direction finder, he goes on to track down the culprits on the Thunder Mountain.