Raymond Z. (Raymond Zinke) Gallun

Born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, in 1911, Raymond Z. Gallun became one of the early writers who helped popularize science fiction in the pulp magazines. After leaving college, he traveled widely and worked a range of jobs before World War II, experiences that gave his fiction an adventurous, wide-open feeling.

Gallun published many stories in the 1930s and later became especially remembered for imaginative tales such as Old Faithful and The Planet Strappers. His first book, People Minus X, appeared in 1957, and a later collection, The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun, helped introduce new readers to his earlier work.

He died in Forest Hills, New York, in 1994. Though he is less widely known than some of his contemporaries, Gallun remains an important part of early American science fiction, admired for the energy and inventiveness he brought to the field.