Robert E. Margroff (1930-2015) was born on a farm in Fayette County, Iowa. After training as a typesetter, he worked for various newspapers, eventually returning to the farm in the wake of his father's death. Margroff published his first science fiction short story, "Monster Tracks," in If magazine in 1964 and saw a rise in popularity when he published his first novel of many with Piers Anthony, The Ring, in 1968.