Robert Albert Bloch, 1917-1994, was an American author known for horror stories. He was a member of the Lovecraft Circle, a collaborative literary group founded by H. P. Lovecraft, 1890-1937, who mentored Bloch. Bloch produced numerous screenplays, television series scripts, novels, and short stories, and works predominantly in the science fiction and mystery fields, concentrating on macabre or horror tales. His most famous work is the 1959 novel Pyscho, on which the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film was based. He also wrote pulp pieces for Weird Tales magazine and produced several other popular works including the novel American Gothic (1974), the screenplay Torture Garden (1967), and radio episodes for Stay Tuned for Terror (1945). He served on several committees, including as president of the Mystery Writers of America (1970) and Science Fiction Writers of America. He married Eleanor Alexander (née Zalisko) in 1964. Bloch died in 1994.

Michael Avallone, 1924-1999, was an American author who published many mystery novels and a friend of Bloch's. Bloch wrote an introduction to one of Avallone's novels, The Night Walker (1964), published under the pseudonym Sidney Stuart. Some of Avallone's other works include the novel The Tall Dolores (1953), the novelization of the screenplay for the film The Main Attraction (1963), and the novel High Noon at Midnight (1989). Avallone died in 1999. Both he and Bloch wrote under several pseudonyms in addition to their own names.