Growing up in eastern Kansas, I soaked up the stories of the area’s turbulent history—Bleeding Kansas, Border Wars, and the fight to make Kansas a free state.  Much later I learned of the Shawnee Indian Mission, near my home. The rumors of ghosts at the Mission led me to write Orion O’Brien and the Ghost of Samuel Grayhawk. As I wrote, I learned how closely the lives of Native Americans were interwoven with those of slaves seeking freedom. Naturally, the site of Old Quindaro—a hub of Underground Railroad activity—became the perfect setting for the next story: Orion O’Brien and the Spirit of Quindaro.