Gallun may be one of the least-remembered (at the moment) SF authors to come out of the pulps of the 1930s, but he was likely the most mature, scientifically-savvy, and prescient; that the stories in this collection read very well in 2022 with only a patina of being dated is truly brilliant. I had read two of these before, anthologized elsewhere, and was pleased to see that they weren't radical outliers of his work. Many of these remain good, solid SF stories on their own without having to be reckoned as "classics of their time," though I really cannot say the same for the stories of Stanley Weinbaum or Murray Leinster.

Gallun had a good handle on biology and Darwinian evolution. Unlike much SF of the 1930s-'50s, he dove into bioengineering, biotechnology, and genetic modification for his alien species as well as humans. "Davy Jones' Ambassador" is a good example of this, as is "Seeds of the Dusk"; "Davy Jones' Ambassador" will be _very_ familiar to anyone who's seen the 1989 film "The Abyss" and I cannot understand how the latter did not cite the former. "Derelict" and "The Lotus-Engine" both struck me as very modern, contemporary takes on alien-artifact adventures that would make killer short films; they even have humanistic/ethical subtexts that don't preach too hard. "Return of a Legend," the latest story included here (1952) is a nifty, Mars-settling tale that should be as compulsory as "The Martian Chronicles" or "Red Mars".

Not all is equal here, though. Some stories never were as good as the others and some aged poorly. Though Gallun himself stated his fondness for "The Restless Tide," it is of debatable-at-best evolutionary or psychological merit and reads like a preachy essay. And warning must be served that "A Menace in Miniature" really is pulp dross with terrible science, mealy-mouthed dialogue, and WTF for WTF-sake nature. Those two clunkers and what dated nature there is in dialog, in pulpish presentation, and in scarcity of female characters are what hold the rating down.

But if you want to read some SF from the 1930s, read this. Freshness guaranteed. ( )

Indeholder "J. J. Pierce: Introduction: Raymond Z. Gallun: The Quiet Revolutionary", "Old Faithful", "Derelict", "Davey Jones' Ambassador", "Godson of Almarlu", "A Menace in Miniature", "Seeds of the Dusk", "Hotel Cosmos", "Magician of Dream Valley", "The Shadow of the Veil", "The Lotus-Engine", "Prodigal's Aura", "The Restless Tide", "Return of a Legend", "Afterword".

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