RW Vanderweel earned a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a Professional Engineer. He worked for more than 40 years in the electric power industry dealing with the construction and modification of everything from Nuclear Power Plants to hydro-electric facilities - ending as the Manager of Generation Engineering when he retired.
Ever since he was a small boy, he has been fascinated by Classic Science Fiction like that of E.E. "Doc" Smith, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. He loved the simple story lines describing believable characters told against the fabric of an entire new universe created solely from the imagination of the author. These stories appealed to his sense of logic and order. All things happen for reasons. Things are how they are because of what came before them and trying to figure out the logic behind the how and the why they happened can be addictive.
The Rebellion Series is an homage of sorts to the concept of Future History envisioned by Robert Heinlein. It began as a simple exercise to see if he could produce his own vision of the future. It was something that he had thought about for many years before finally attempting it.
This Project began more than 20 years ago with a story set 500 years in the future that he entitled - Alien Concept. Alien Concept was about the struggle of a people to break free from the bondage of an Earth dominated empire of many worlds and to reclaim their almost forgotten heritage of freedom. But once completed, he realized that he felt compelled to know just how that future world had come to be. The Rebellion series tells the story of how that new universe of his imagination grew from the roots of present day society and how that struggle to recapture freedom grew from its dark beginnings to its ultimate triumph amid the stars.
RW Vanderweel lives on a small horse farm in Upstate New York with his wife of 42 years and a house full of cats.
