No great ball of flame erupts from StarDancer's cryogenic tanks, and no white-hot flames engulf the cockpit. Just silence and a trail of debris, frozen fluids and vapor are all that's left of Jeff and Jennifer Bindl's attempt to travel faster than the speed of light.Now, the four sons of the space travelers who lost their lives are thrust into the spotlight as the world's only private space corporation investigates the accident to determine what went wrong and how the impossible feat might yet be achieved.Alec, the oldest brother, must battle internal demons as he seeks to determine whether to join his brothers to pursue what their parents could never accomplish: FTL, or traveling faster than light. Ty and Orion, the twins in the middle, must assume positions of responsibility far earlier than anticipated. And the youngest, Zach, must show that his immense intellect can usher in a new era of creativity for space travel and world security.But in order to accomplish mankind's greatest achievement, the brothers must overcome a myriad of obstacles, danger and surprises as they seek their collective destiny in Mission to the Stars.
Born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Ted started reading Science Fiction as an adolescent. Writing a book in this genre has been a dream of his since that time. When Star Wars came onto the big screen Ted was hooked and a Sci-Fi junkie was born!
Ted left Rockford in 1981 when he joined the Marine Corps. He was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California when he married his wife Joanne in 1983. Married for twenty five years they have two wonderful sons, Christopher and Nathan who don't quite share their dads passion, but enjoy his enthusiasm!
Living back in Illinois since 1985 he is fulfilling a life long dream of writing his first novel. He took a few writing classes at a local college and got started, all while working full time and raising his family. Ted is thrilled to be sharing this novel of the Bindl boys and their quest for FTL! The Following is how Mission to the Stars came about:
I ran into an old friend from grade school. We had run into each other occasionally before that but never really kept in touch with each. We eventualy reconnected and talked about how, since fourth grade, we'd always wanted to write a book together. Mission to the Stars was born. We talked about a really vague story line, trading ideas back and forth. In the following weeks I started on the story.
Within those first few months I had the story taking shape. Unfortunately his work was taking up so much of his time that the project was put on hold. I kept getting back to it, on and off for almost a year, adding bits and pieces to it. In November of 2007, he and I agreed that since he had been unable to really contribute, I should go forth with the book on my own. I was able to free up a lot of my time. So I began writing in earnest, squeezing it in whenever I could. Before work, during lunch, after work and even on vacation. There were many nights that I burned the midnight oil as they say. My family was very supportive during the whole process. There were times I wondered if it would ever end. I learned a whole new respect for writers. One would think that it's, think of a story, write the story and publish. Wrong! The hours of research on the subject and genre alone was staggering. I wanted to strive to make this book believable. Not being a real science geek I was forced into checking out books from my local library which were imported from colleges around the country just for me. The mathmatical formulas and theories were crazy! I still wonder how anyone can read them, let alone understand them. But I got enough out of them to bring my propulsion system and other theories alive. The internet was a very good source also, thank goodness most of those sites were in layman terms!
Finally in Decemeber of 2008 Mission to the Stars was completed (my wife, who helped me with editing, probably has the book memorized!) and the manuscript submitted. Now the next process, publishing, had begun. There were many steps involved during this process but I won't bore you with those details. I hope that you enjoy reading the book as much as I did writing it. I am currently working on Book II of Mission to the Stars and if all goes as planned the Bindls may return in print for many years to come!
