Raymond Zinke Gallun (March 22, 1911 – April 2, 1994) was an American science fiction writer.

Early life

Gallun (rhymes with "balloon") was born in

Beaver Dam, Wisconsin Beaver Dam is a city in Dodge County, Wisconsin, United States, along Beaver Dam Lake and the Beaver Dam River. The population was 16,708 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city primarily located in Dodge County. It is the principal city ...

, the son of Adolph and Martha Zinke Gallun. He graduated from high school in 1928. He left college after one year and travelled in Europe, living a drifter's existence, working a multitude of jobs around the world in the years leading up to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Career

Gallun wrote his first two stories, "The Space Dwellers" and "The Crystal Ray" (both published in 1929), at age 16. He was among the stalwart group of early sci-fi pulp writers who popularized the genre. He sold many popular stories to pulp magazines in the 1930s. "Old Faithful" (1934) was his first noted story. "The Gentle Brain" was published in "Science Fiction Quarterly" under the pseudonym Arthur Allport. His first book, ''People Minus X'', was published in 1957 by Simon & Schuster, followed by ''The Planet Strappers ''in 1961 (Pyramid). The Ballantine collection issued in 1978, ''The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun'', provides a selection of his early work. Gallun was honored with the I-CON Lifetime Achievement Award in 1985 at I-CON IV; the award was later renamed The Raymond Z. Gallun Award. His pen names include Dow Elstar, E.V. Raymond, William Callahan, and Arthur Allport.

Death and posthumous work

Gallun died of a heart attack at his home in the Forest Hills neighborhood of

Queens, New York Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, on April 2, 1994. A posthumous autobiography, ''Starclimber'', authored in part by Gallun and completed by Jeffrey M. Elliot, was published in September 2007. There is an extensive interview with Gallun about his life and career in Eric Leif Davin's '' Pioneers of Wonder''.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Passport to Jupiter'' (1951) * ''People Minus X'' (1957) * ''The Planet Strappers'' (1961) * ''The Eden Cycle'' (1974) * ''Skyclimber'' (1981) * ''Bioblast'' (1985)

Short fiction

*"The Space Dwellers" (1929) *"The Crystal Ray" (1929) *"The Revolt of the Starmen" (1932)Free SF on line *"Old Faithful" (1934) *"Avalanche" (1935, as by Dow Elstar) *"The Son of Old Faithful" (1935) *"Child of the Stars" (1936) *"Seeds of the Dusk" (1938) *"The Machine That Thought" (1939, as by William Callahan) *"A Step Farther Out" (1950) *"Big Pill" (1952) *"Apollo at Go" (1963) *'' The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun'' (collection, 1978)

Nonfiction

*
Editorial
(''

Ahoy! ''Ahoy!'' was a computer magazine published between January 1984 and January 1989 in the US, focusing on all Commodore color computers, but especially the Commodore 64 and Amiga. History The first issue of ''Ahoy!'' was published in January 198 ...

'', March 1984) *
Editorial
(''Ahoy!'', August 1984) * ''Starclimber'' (1991)

References

* Jeffrey Elliot. Interview with Raymond Z. Gallun, ''

Thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that sys ...

'' No. 17, Summer 1981. * John J. Pierce. "Introduction" in ''The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun'', Ballantine, 1978. *

External links

* * * * 1911 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers Novelists from Wisconsin People from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers People from Queens, New York {{US-sf-writer-stub