Ralph Compton stood six foot eight without his boots. He worked as a musician, a radio announcer, a songwriter, and a newspaper columnist. His first novel, The Goodnight Trail, was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Medicine Pipe Bearer Award for best debut novel. He was the USA Today bestselling author of the Trail of the Gunfighter series, the Border Empire series, the Sundown Riders series, and the Trail Drive series, among others.

Robert J. Randisi has authored more than five hundred published books and has edited more than thirty anthologies of short stories. Booklist magazine said he "may be the last of the pulp writers." He cofounded and edited Mystery Scene magazine and cofounded the American Crime Writers League. He founded the Private Eye Writers of America in 1981, where he created the Shamus Award.