John Shea was born in Rome, the son of a Foreign Service Officer. He graduated from Columbia University, then earned a PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. There, he won Penn's awards for playwriting and for poetry. He may be the only person to have published stories in both Partisan Review and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Other stories have appeared in The Twilight Zone Magazine, The Café Irreal, Literal Latte, and elsewhere.