History Creator / RaymondZGallun

** Also, the inhabitants of a planet [[ApocalpyseHow whose]] [[EarthShatteringKaboom destruction]] (by the Martians) caused the Asteroid Belt (and in the process [[PyrrhicVictory also devastated Mars]]).

* {{Terraform}}ing: Several of Gallun's stories hinge on attempts to terra- (or other-) form planets.

* YouAreNumberSix: Gallun's Martian StarfishAliens are named by numbers within their lineage. Unlike in much Interwar Era science fiction, this shows not so much Martian rationality as their [[UtilitarianTotalitarian extreme collectivism]].

* UnderTheSea: Location of the [[EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods squid-folk]] civilization discovered in "Davey Jones' Ambassador" (1935).
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Very much [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Gallun in general considers all sapience to have value, especially against the backdrop of an often harsh Cosmos, and that what is relevant is not how humanoid is a species, but rather to what extent it behaves ethically toward other species. Races which are friendly may find friends and survive; races which are hostile often make enemies and perish.
** In "Seeds of the Dusk" (1938) the [[AbsoluteXenophobe Itorloo]], the [[DepravedDwarf dwarfish]] "[[AlwaysChaoticEvil cruel]] children of [[HumansAreBastards Man]]" ultimately descended from modern humans, [[MasterRace oppress]] all other sapient races on Earth and [[KickTheDog needlessly attack]] the arriving [[PlantAliens Seeds]]. In consequence the [[TheDogBitesBack Seeds]] [[FinalSolution wipe]] [[RudeToCallItGenocide out]] the [[AssholeVictim Itorloo]], but seem to spare the other Earthly races, probably including the Prairie Dog people who are central to "The Eternal Wall" (1942) a half million years later. Gallun presents this as a good thing, since otherwise the Itorloo would have destroyed all other life on Earth.

* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: An entire civilization of vaguely-octopoid dwellers in the ocean deeps features in "Davey Jones' Ambassdor" (1935).

* FossilRevival: What [[MoleMen Prairie Dog]] [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist scientist]] [[TheProfessor Loy Chuk]] does to Ned Vince in "The Eternal Wall" (1942). Ned's corpse had beem bathed in cold alkaline water and then buried in sediments for a million years, in the process suffering petrification and various forms of mechanical damage: Loy Chuk uses [[Main/AppliedPhlebotinum advanced Prairie Dog technology]] to reconstruct it at a molecular level.

Raymond Z. Gallun (1911-1994) was a science fiction writer of the 1930's through 1980's. Dropping out of college around 1930, he became a drifter, wandering through America and Europe, writing his most famous stories in between odd jobs. His most notable works include the short stories "Old Faithful" (1934) and "Seeds of the Dusk" (1938), and the novel ''The Eden Cycle'' (1974).

* MasterRace: The [[AbsoluteXenophobe Itorloo]] from "Seeds of the Dusk" (1938) who consider themselves this (despite being confined to a single dying planet), cruelly treat the numerous other sapient races inhabiting the Earth and plan to invade Venus and exterminate its inhabitants for no better reason than that they want a younger, warmer world. This story was written in 1938, when the ''real'' [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] were already well embarked on the career of aggression which would result in [[WorldWarII global cataclysm]].

* FossilRevival: What [[MoleMen Prairie Dog]] [[OmnidsiciplaryScientist scientist]] [[TheProfessor Loy Chuk]] does to Ned Vince in "The Eternal Wall" (1942). Ned's corpse had beem bathed in cold alkaline water and then buried in sediments for a million years, in the process suffering petrification and various forms of mechanical damage: Loy Chuk uses [[Main/AppliedPhlebotinum advanced Prairie Dog technology]] to reconstruct it at a molecular level.

** In "Seeds of the Dusk" (1938) the goal of the titular [[PlantAlien Seeds]] is to turn a (dying) far-future Earth into an (Interwar Era concept of) Mars, complete with planet-girdling canals, in which form Earth life will be able to survive much longer. The story's loose sequel "The Eternal Wall" (1942), set half a million years later, makes it obvious that the plan of the Seeds succeeded.

** In "Seeds of the Dusk" (1938) the [[AbsoluteXenophobe Itorloo]], the [[DepravedDwarf dwarfish]] "[[AlwaysChaoticEvil cruel]] children of [[HumansAreBastards Man]]" ultimately descended from modern humans, [[MasterRace oppress]] all other sapient races on Earth and [[KickTheDog needlessly attack]] the arriving [[PlantAlien Seeds]]. In consequence the [[TheDogBitesBack Seeds]] [[FinalSolution wipe]] [[RudeToCallItGenocide out]] the [[AssholeVictim Itorloo]], but seem to spare the other Earthly races, probably including the Prairie Dog people who are central to "The Eternal Wall" (1942) a half million years later. Gallun presents this as a good thing, since otherwise the Itorloo would have destroyed all other life on Earth.