Ernest Haycox (1899-1950) was an American author of Western fiction. During his life he published over twenty novels and hundreds of short stories. He was a regular contributor to Collier's Weekly and the Saturday Evening Post and both Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway were vocal fans of his work. In 1939 his story "Stage to Lourdsburg" was made into the film Stagecoach, which launched the career of John Wayne and was directed by John Ford. His novel Trouble Shooter was used as the basis for Cecil B. DeMille's film Union Pacific. In 2005 the Western Writers of America voted him one of the twenty-four best Western authors of the twentieth century.