It is common for people to tell writers that they have a great story which the writer should write. One always listens politely, and with interest, but it’s rare for the writer to take up the idea and create a book. Better to work from within.

Smuggler’s Island is one of those rare cases of a received story. Someone I knew—not all that well, actually—simply walked up to me, and said, “I have a great story to tell you, that you should use.” He then proceeded to tell me a tale about how when he was a boy, visiting his grandma who lived on an island off the New Jersey coast, “there were these smugglers who . . .”

He was right. It was the foundation for a good story, and so I took it, reshaped it, imagined it, wrote it.

It was originally called Shadrach’s Crossing, but in later editions, the title was changed to Smuggler’s Island.