Wildomar resident Danny Bedford Jr., 15, is the first author in his family’s history to publish a book – and at age 13, no less.

Titled "Shadow Phantom Begins" and published by Publish America, Danny was inspired to write the novel from his personal passion and interest in comic book reading.

Unlike many kids his age, Daniel did not start life off in a normal healthy baby fashion.

According to his father, Daniel Bedford Sr., "In 1993 Danny was born premature at 33 weeks. During the delivery the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck too long, which resulted in a permanent condition called cerebral palsy.

"It’s a condition resulting from lack of oxygen that damages a particular part of the brain. In Danny’s case, damage occurred to the part of his brain that controls muscle movement.

"The doctors only gave Danny a 10-percent chance of living while at Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania, where he was born.

"He was in intensive care on respirators to help him breathe. We brought him home after six months and he still couldn’t breathe on his own. Danny didn’t begin to walk with assistance [of a walker] until he was 6 years old.

"I’m an active Marine, so we can move a lot. We moved to Wildomar in 2005 to get Danny away from the painful cold."

Danny quickly commented, "I’ve been pain-killer-free since 2005. I’m proud of that – not one drop."

At a recent press conference hosted by the Friends of the Wildomar Library for the Bedford father-and-son team, many questions came from the packed room of parents, children, Rotarians and historians.

"How the hero starts out… he didn’t know the limits of his powers. He’s just bouncing off the walls and all over the place trying to learn to control them," explained Danny.

An unidentified mother said, "My daughter wants to be an author. What advice would you give her?"

"Focus on your dream and just do it," Danny advised. "Actually, it’s a lot of fun. It really depends on what you enjoy reading. Just write down your thoughts."

Joseph Cook, 13, of Honolulu asked, "Does the hero’s suit give him extra powers?"

"It is the suit that gives him the powers," answered Danny, "but I’m not going to give out the secret. You’ll have to read it for yourself."

Javier Carrauza, a father from Temecula, asked, "Have you decided to market the characters in the book into figures for children to buy and play with?"

"We’ve been discussing it," Danny responded.

"Currently we’re working on a Web site and designing business cards," added Daniel.

A mother sitting on the floor playing with her bouncing infant said, "My son Advertisement
has a huge interest in reptiles. How can he start writing a book on his passion?"

"Contact Publish America and see what they already have on the subject of books on reptiles," Daniel said. "Maybe your son could write something that hasn’t already been covered."

Rookie writer

"We’re shooting to sell 1,000 books," said Daniel. "Right now we’ve sold 500 copies. A thousand books is what it takes to get you into Barnes and Noble on their bookshelf.

"Currently, you can buy the book from Publish America’s Web site or through Amazon. Our Publish America online comment rate is an outstanding 94 percent. Ninety-four percent of the readers really liked Danny’s book, from all ages."

"I like that," stated Danny.

Danny, a Lake Elsinore High School student, has consistently achieved Student of the Month status for helping other students throughout the years.

"I’m like a teacher’s assistant, but I’m not there every day like a teacher’s assistant," Danny explained. "I help classes with lower scores from time to time."

Daniel added, "That’s how I was raised. To give back to the community – old-school thinking."

On a side note

Daniel belongs to a special group at Camp Pendleton called the Exceptional Family Member Program. It focuses on the fathers of children with special needs.

"Military fathers are very inspirational," Daniel said. "They don’t give up on their kids like I sometimes see in the civilian world.

"I guess it’s a ‘hurt ego’ thing with some parents when their child gets injured or sick. Not us. We focus back on the children’s goals.

"Providing and protecting for our families is what it’s all about. It all started with the US Constitution.

"Hard work, respect, honor, commitment and courage are virtues that our recent society has gotten away from these days. A lot of this is a lack of self-motivation and not having pride in who they are as a person.

"In order to be a leader, champions need to work hard when nobody is looking."

Danny noted that the people who encouraged him the most were "my dad, my Aunt Kailey and well-known Christian author Michael Ortiz. Michael is a really nice guy and helped me a lot with this book.

"Also, George Lucas is a big inspiration to me. He was one of the most successful writers ever when he wrote ‘Star Wars.’

"That movie is the all-time universally known box office hit on the planet. That movie gets played in every country on the globe."

"Shadow Phantom Begins" is 129 pages and written for the sixth- to ninth-grade reading level.

To view the book online, visit www.publishamerica.com and run a search by title or author name.

1. Sarah.L says :

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2. grandpa and granma Bedford says :

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3. (Mrs. Rita Carroll) says :

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4. Eric says :

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