Frank Belknap Long was a prolific and popular American writer of science fiction and fantasy. During his life, he received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement and the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award.

The Calm Man is one of his best known stories. In it a plain girl meets a quiet man who asks her to be his wife. The birth of their first child, a son, delights her and pleases him. Eight years later she finally learns who he really is, why he is always so emotionless and why their son was so unlike other children.