Allen Steele was a journalist who covered the space program. He later turned to fiction writing and his first novel, Orbital Decay, published by Ace, was chosen Best First Novel of the Year by Locus. Allen himself went on to be twice nominated for the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer. He began writing and selling to the science fiction magazines and is a three-time Hugo award winner (and frequent Nebula nominee) for his short fiction. In 2012, he received the Robert A Heinlein award for outstanding published works in science fiction. He and his wife Linda, who is a DJ, now live in Massachusetts.