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Kearney is situated in the Platte River valley in south-central Nebraska. The Platte River has always been an important route across the Great Plains. Native American tribes such as the Pawnee followed the river to their western hunting grounds. Soldiers at nearby Fort Kearny guarded the Oregon and Mormon Trails while the Pony Express skirted through the county. The Union Pacific Railroad pushed through the region in 1866, and when the Burlington Railroad reached the area in 1871, Kearney (originally Kearney Junction) was born. By the early 1900s, the automobile began to make its mark. The Lincoln Highway, the nation's first paved transcontinental highway, traveled through the heart of town. Today Kearney sits on Interstate 80, and the Archway Monument, a museum that celebrates the region's transportation history, spans the thoroughfare.
About the author
Mark Ellis is a novelist and comics creator whose credentials include Doc Savage, The Wild Wild West, The Justice Machine, King Solomon's Mines and Death Hawk among many others. His 50-plus books include Cryptozoica, The Spur: Loki's Rock, The Everything Guide to Writing Graphic Novels, Knightwatch: Invictus X, and novels in the Executioner and Deathlands series. In 1996, he created the best-selling Outlanders series for Harlequin Enterprise's Gold Eagle imprint, writing under the pen name of James Axler. Outlanders was consecutively published for over eighteen years, making it the most successful mass-market paperback series of the last 30 years. He lives in rural Ireland, with his wife, best-selling author Melissa Martin Ellis.
