<b>Henry Beam Piper</b> (March 23, 1904 &ndash; c.&thinsp;&nbsp;November 6, 1964) was an American science fiction writer. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of &quot;Paratime&quot; alternate history tales.&nbsp;<br /><br />Piper published his first short story, &quot;Time and Time Again&quot;, in 1947 in Astounding Science Fiction; it was adapted for the radio program Dimension X and first broadcast in 1951, and was re-produced for X Minus One in 1956. He was primarily a short story author until 1961, when he made a productive, if short-lived, foray into novels. He collected guns and wrote one mystery, <b>Murder in the Gunroom</b>.