Ernest Pratt was a human author in the 22nd century, who wrote a series of books set in the Ancient West, featuring the character Cowboy Ralph. Pratt's stories were favorites of Deanna Troi during her childhood, much to the dismay of her parents Ian and Lwaxana Troi. The former regarded Pratt as a hack writer and thought that his stories were the worst in his extensive Western collection. Ian lamented that his daughter did not have a preference for the far superior writings of Zane Grey and Larry McMurtry.