Raymond Z. (Raymond Zinke) Gallun

Born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Raymond Zinke Gallun was an American science fiction writer whose career began in the pulp-magazine boom of the 1930s. Reference sources agree that he became known as one of the stronger early magazine writers in the field, and that he also published under several pen names, including Arthur Allport, William Callahan, Dow Elstar, and E. V. Raymond.

His fiction often leaned toward big imaginative themes: distant planets, future evolution, and unusual forms of life. Among the works most often mentioned in bibliographies and encyclopedia entries are People Minus X, The Planet Strappers, and the later collection The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun, which helped keep his earlier stories in circulation for new readers.

Gallun lived from March 22, 1911, to April 2, 1994. Though he is not always as widely remembered as some of his contemporaries, science fiction reference works still single him out as an important early voice whose stories carried a distinctive sense of curiosity and cosmic scale.