Larry Jeff McMurtry (born June 3, 1936) is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas.[1] He is known for his 1975 novel Terms of Endearment, his 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Lonesome Dove, a historical saga that follows ex-Texas Rangers as they drive their cattle from the Rio Grande to a new home in the frontier of Montana, and for co-writing the adapted screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. Lonesome Dove was adapted into a television miniseries and both the film of Terms of Endearment and Brokeback Mountain won Academy Awards. He also awarded Brian Allen Carr the inaugural Texas Observer Story Prize.

Horseman, Pass By, is the first novel written McMurtry. The 1961 western portrays life on a cattle ranch from the perspective of young narrator Lonnie Bannon. Set in post-World War II Texas (1954), the Bannon ranch is owned by Lonnie's venerable grandfather, Homer Bannon. Homer's ruthless stepson, Hud, stands as the primary antagonist of the novel. The novel inspired the film Hud starring Paul Newman as the title character. The film was a critical and commercial success. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Director for Ritt. Patricia Neal won Best Actress, despite the brevity of the role which might have relegated her to Best Supporting Actress, and Melvyn Douglas won the first of his two Best Supporting Actor statuettes. James Wong Howe won the Best Black and White Cinematography Oscar.

The title of the novel derives from the last three lines of the poem, "Under Ben Bulben" by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), and are carved on his tombstone: "Cast a cold eye On life, on death. Horseman, pass by."