Gary Phil Brandner (May 31, 1930 – September 22, 2013) was an American horror fiction author best known for his werewolf themed trilogy of novels, The Howling. The first book of the series was adapted loosely as a motion picture during 1981. Brandner's second and third Howling novels, published during 1979 and 1985 respectively, have no association with the movie series, though he was involved with writing the screenplay for the second Howling movie, Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf. The fourth movie of the Howling series, Howling IV: The Original Nightmare, is actually the closest adaptation of Brandner's original novel, though this too varies to some degree.