Travel to Mars - on a one-way ticket? "I would go, but where would I find tonic water on Mars?" was Jack's initial response. Logistics resolved, his life in the Outpost on Mars centers around tending his vegetable garden and playing simulated golf on the state of the art entertainment system. This tranquil scientific assignment changes when budget cuts create new alliances and foreign space agencies start sending their own Martian explorers. The author began writing Jack's Outpost, when she received a newspaper article from the Houston Chronicle on one-way missions to Mars from her Uncle Jack Morledge. Who in real life is a 90-year-old retired NASA employee. She sent him the first chapter and Jack responded with storyline and technical suggestions. Over a period of two years, this book was created in this way.