Ray Hogan (1908-1998) was born in Willow Springs, Missouri, but moved to New Mexico with his parents at the age of five. Before he began his writing career, Hogan worked as a truck salesman, a bookkeeper, and a tire store manager. He took a correspondence course in journalism as well as some English courses and began to write short stories for magazines, later becoming a regular contributor to sports journals such as Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, and Hunting & Fishing. Hogan's first book, Ex-Marshall, was published in 1956. He went on to write over a hundred novels.
