Raymond Z. Gallun

Raymond Z. Gallun (rhymes with “balloon”; his family was Dutch) was born on this date, January 22, in 1911.  Gallun passed away in 1994.)

This post is going to serve triple duty.  First, it’s a birthday post. Second, it’s going to be a 90th Anniversary of Astounding post. Third, it’s also a pre-Campbell SF post.

Gallun  is largely forgotten now, but he was pretty prolific from 1929 through the early fifties. If he is remembered at all, it’s for his story “Old Faithful”, which was first published in the December 1934 issue of Astounding.

I first read “Old Faithful” in Asimov’s anthology Before the Golden Age when I was in middle school.  Later I managed to sang a copy of The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun.  I don’t remember when I read that book. It was part of the Ballantine Best of series that introduced me to so many authors from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.It was one of the last I found and read.  (I think The Best of Phillip K. Dick was the last one I managed to track down.)

I do remember thinking at the time I read it that many of the stories weren’t that good, certainly not compared to the contents of the other volumes in the series. Ballantine was publishing the series to a large extent to support authors they were publishing at the time, although it is easy to find exceptions.  I still think they should have done a Best of Ross Rocklynne or a Best of Nelson S. Bond volume, and if I ever get my hands on a time machine…

I reread “Old Faithful” for the first time in I don’t know when.  I also reread the introduction to The Best of Raymond Z. Gallun, written by J. J. Pierce. Pierce argues that Gallun was one of the most influential writers in the history of the field, citing the logic he used in developing his aliens. I may give some of the stories a second try over the next few months if I can fit them in.

“Old Faithful” starts out slow. It tells of a Martian given the title Number 774 who has begun communicating with someone on Earth. When the story opens, he has just be given notice that he is to die in one month. Mars is an old and dying world, with few resources. If the work done by citizens is not considered essential, they are given a termination date. Being an astronomer isn’t considered essential.

There is a comet that will pass near both Earth and Mars, and Number 774 figures out a way to hitch a ride before he has to die.

Meanwhile on Earth, a scientist, his beautiful daughter, and his handsome assistant (who will end up marrying the daughter) are wondering why for the first time in nine years, they haven’t heard from Old Faithful, which is what they call Number 774. Old Faithful had sent a cryptic message and then fallen silent.

They suspect maybe he is going to try to hitch a ride to Earth on the comet. Turns out they’re right.

“Old Faithful” was a departure from a lot of the aliens appearing in the pulps of the day, if what Pierce says is true. He was logical and his motivations were understandable. Gallun understands that communication between two planets with little common reference will be slow and full of false steps. Old Faithful and the humans begin communicating by flashing lights, first using a sequence of numbers: one, two, three, etc, and working up to Morse Code.

The story doesn’t have a happy ending.  This is another point in its favor. Gallun takes the differences between the two planets into account and correctly shows the consequences of travel between them, at least within the confines of what was known at the time.

Raymond Z. Gallun

“Old Faithful” spawned two sequels, but I’ve not read them.  I might.  I’ve got copies of them. (My Father’s Day gift to myself last year was a set of CD’s with digital scans of complete runs of a number of SF pulps.)

Many of the writers of the 1930s who published in Astounding under F. Orlin Tremaine didn’t make the transition to Campbell’s editorship of the magazine. Gallun was a Tremaine writer who didn’t seem to publish much under Campbell’s tenure. In fact, Gallun dedicated his Best of volume to Tremaine. I find this kind of odd, since Gallun was a writer who didn’t write typical pulp adventure stories.

I may give some of Gallun’s other works in in the future.