Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race. Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux. Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.

Gene L. Coon was an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best remembered for his work on the original Star Trek series. Often referred to as 'the forgotten Gene' (a reference to Gene Roddenberry), Gene Lee Coon was one of the most important creative minds behind "Star Trek" (1966). He is credited with inventing the Klingons and the 'Prime Directive', and with developing the interpersonal dynamics between Spock and McCoy (in particular, the invariably humorous verbal banter). He established the enlightened image of the Federation and often ended episodes with an anti-war allegory. A robust-looking, heavy-set man possessed of seemingly boundless creative energy, Coon was a prodigious reader and an immensely focused writer of prolific output. It was said, that he authored his novels and teleplays by assuming a state of near self-hypnosis, which he himself called 'automatic writing'. In one instance, he managed to produce the script for the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark" in the course of a single weekend. Either as writer, or line producer, Coon had extensive, often critical input into some of the show's best-loved episodes, including "Arena", "Space Seed", "A Taste of Armageddon", "The City of the Edge of Forever" (generally regarded as the best of the series), "Mirror, Mirror" and "The Doomsday Machine". He left Star Trek in March 1968, likely the result of personality clashes with members of the cast (in fact, Coon had a reputation for not getting along with actors in general), but continued to write several more episodes under the pseudonym 'Lee Cronin' in order to fulfill his contract with Paramount. The Nebraskan-born Coon had served in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years from 1942. He had seen action in the Pacific and was later stationed in Japan as part of the occupying forces. He was subsequently posted for eight months to northern China, where he published a small English language newspaper. As a member of the Marine Corps Reserves, he returned to active duty during the Korean War, from 1950 to 1952. Upon his demobilisation, Coon found work first as a radio newscaster before turning to free-lance writing. From 1956, he was primarily involved in scripting teleplays for popular western and action shows like "Dragnet" (1951),"Wagon Train" (1957), "Maverick" (1957) and "Bonanza" (1959). At Universal in the early 60's, he turned "McHale's Navy" (1962) from a one-hour drama into a successful 30-minute sitcom. Together with the writer Les Colodny, Coon floated the idea for "The Munsters" (1964) as a satirical spin-off from "The Donna Reed Show" (1958) to MCA chairman Lew Wasserman. The result was yet another hit show. After Star Trek, Coon worked as writer/producer on "It Takes a Thief" (1968), while at the same time founding one of the first 'cartridge TV' video companies, UniTel Associates, with Colodny as executive vice president. A chain smoker for most of his life, the man whom fellow writer/producer Glen A. Larson referred to as 'the spirit and soul of Star Trek', died of lung and throat cancer one week after being diagnosed, in July 1973, aged just 49.

Drexel Jerome Lewis Bixby (January 11, 1923 Los Angeles, California – April 28, 1998 San Bernardino, California) was a American short story writer, editor and scriptwriter, best known for his comparatively small output in science fiction. He also wrote many westerns and used the pseudonyms D. B. Lewis, Harry Neal, Albert Russell, J. Russell, M. St. Vivant, Thornecliff Herrick and Alger Rome (for one collaboration with Algis Budrys). He was the editor of Planet Stories from Summer 1950 to July 1951; and editor of Two Complete Science Adventure Novels from Winter 1950 to July 1951. Probably his best-known work is the Star Trek: The Original Series 1967 episode "Mirror, Mirror", which introduced the series' concept of the Mirror Universe, also "Requiem for Methuselah" (Episode 76, Season 3:) about 'Flint' a 6,000 year old man. He also wrote the short story "It's a Good Life" (1953), adapted as a teleplay for The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling and parodied in the Simpsons Halloween episode "Treehouse of Horror II". His 1968 Star Trek episode "Day of the Dove" is also much respected by fans of science fiction. Bixby also conceived and co-wrote the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, later novelized by Isaac Asimov. Jerome Bixby's last work, a screenplay The Man From Earth, was conceived in the early 1960s and completed on his deathbed in April 1998. In 2007, Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth (as it is now called) was turned into an independent motion picture executive produced by his son Emerson Bixby, directed by Richard Schenkman and starring David Lee Smith, William Katt, Richard Riehle, Tony Todd, Annika Peterson, Alexis Thorpe, Ellen Crawford and John Billingsley. Bixby wrote the original screenplay for 1958's It! The Terror from Beyond Space, which was the inspiration for 1979's Alien. The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine seventh season (1999) Mirror Universe episode, "The Emperor's New Cloak," is dedicated to Bixby's memory.

Theodore Sturgeon (1918–1985) is considered one of the godfathers of contemporary science fiction and dark fantasy. The author of numerous acclaimed short stories and novels, among them the classics More Than Human, Venus Plus X, and To Marry Medusa, Sturgeon also wrote for television and holds among his credits two episodes of the original 1960s Star Trek series, for which he created the Vulcan mating ritual and the expression “Live long and prosper.” He is also credited as the inspiration for Kurt Vonnegut’s recurring fictional character Kilgore Trout. Sturgeon is the recipient of the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the International Fantasy Award. In 2000, he was posthumously honored with a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.