Stories from the past inspire both Betty Shaffer of New Wilmington and Janis Fedor of Slippery Rock.

Their most recent works -- Mrs. Shaffer's "Hannah and the Indian King" and Mrs. Fedor's "Girl Lieutenant in Blue" -- will be featured Saturday at Book Quest at Greenville High School.

Writer's Roundtable of Mercer is hosting the book fair, where published authors will be available to sign their works.

Both Mrs. Shaffer's and Mrs. Fedor's books are published by Son-Rise Publications, New Wilmington, which is owned by fellow writer Florence Biros.

"Hannah and the Indian King" is the story of a young girl who gets kidnapped by a tribe of Indians. It is the second book in a trilogy about Mrs. Shaffer's Mayflower descendants. The first book took 10 years to write, while the second one took three years.

A former history teacher, Mrs. Shaffer said her stories are based on her ancestry, but the kidnapping part is pure fiction.

"I was in grade school when I first got interested in writing," Mrs. Shaffer said.

She belongs to the Word Weavers writing group in New Wilmington, but health reasons keep her mostly confined to her house. Mrs. Shaffer's daughter will represent her at Book Quest, she said.

Mrs. Fedor, also a former teacher, wrote her first book, "For the Love of Adam," during her study halls. It was published in 1993.

Both of Mrs. Fedor's books, set in the Civil War era, are based on stories handed down to her by her great-grandparents. She used their farm as the setting in "For the Love of Adam."

Now retired, Mrs. Fedor lives on a 72-acre farm.

"Much of my expertise in my stories comes from my experience on farms and what was handed down to me by word-of-mouth," she said.

Her newest book, "Girl Lieutenant in Blue," is about a girl who disguises herself as a boy in order to find her brother and horse, who have gone off to fight in the Civil War.

Mrs. Fedor said she had read an article once about women who passed themselves off as men to fight in the Civil War. It piqued her curiosity, so she started doing more research and found out 400 known woman passed themselves off as men to fight in the war. The heroine in her book has other goals in mind than war, however, Mrs. Fedor said.

"She wants to get to her brother and her horse and unexpectedly finds herself in the position of fighting the war," she said.

Both "Hannah and the Indian King" and "Girl Lieutenant in Blue" will be for sale at Book Quest, which runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the high school gym. Admission is $1 for adults and free for students.