Henry Mason is a writer who lived in Temple, Texas in the 20th century.

Born in 1910, he briefly served in a military aircraft factory in WWII before an injury forced him to leave.

After his departure from the military, he began a career as a fantasy and science fiction author. He won a small award for his sci-fi drama novel The Polar Valley, and a few of his short stories were published in newspapers. His writing was only moderately successful.

Henry is introverted, thoughtful, and quiet. He lived alone in a house surrounded by farmland, his only company the cows outside. He wrote on a typewriter and owned a radio, but no television. In 1956, when Last Words takes place, he was 46.