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Stamped Caution
"Stamped Caution" is science fiction story by Raymond Z. Gallun.
It's a funny thing, but most monsters seem to be of the opinion that it's men who are the monsters. You know, they have a point. Ten minutes after the crackup, somebody phoned for the Army. That meant us. The black smoke of the fire, and the oily residues, which were later analyzed, proved the presence of a probable petroleum derivative. The oil was heavily tainted with radioactivity. Most likely it was fuel from the odd, conch-like reaction-motors, the exact principles of which died, as far as we were concerned, with the crash. The craft was mainly of aluminum, magnesium and a kind of stainless steel, proving that, confronted with problems similar to ones we had encountered, aliens might solve them in similar ways. From the crumpled-up wreckage which we dug out of that Missouri hillside, Klein even noticed a familiar method of making girders and braces lighter.
It's a funny thing, but most monsters seem to be of the opinion that it's men who are the monsters. You know, they have a point. Ten minutes after the crackup, somebody phoned for the Army. That meant us. The black smoke of the fire, and the oily residues, which were later analyzed, proved the presence of a probable petroleum derivative. The oil was heavily tainted with radioactivity. Most likely it was fuel from the odd, conch-like reaction-motors, the exact principles of which died, as far as we were concerned, with the crash. The craft was mainly of aluminum, magnesium and a kind of stainless steel, proving that, confronted with problems similar to ones we had encountered, aliens might solve them in similar ways. From the crumpled-up wreckage which we dug out of that Missouri hillside, Klein even noticed a familiar method of making girders and braces lighter.
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First published July 27, 2010
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About the author
Raymond Z. Gallun
190 books12 followersAka William Callahan, Arthur Allport.
Raymond Zinke Gallun (March 22, 1911 - April 2, 1994) was an early science fiction writer.
Gallun (rhymes with "balloon") was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He lived a drifter's existence, working a multitude of jobs around the world in the years leading up to World War II. He sold many popular stories to pulp magazines in the 1930s. "Old Faithful" (1934) was his first noted story. "The Gentle Brain" was published in "Science Fiction Quarterly" under the pseudonym Arthur Allport. Another of his pseudonyms was William Callahan.
Raymond Zinke Gallun (March 22, 1911 - April 2, 1994) was an early science fiction writer.
Gallun (rhymes with "balloon") was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He lived a drifter's existence, working a multitude of jobs around the world in the years leading up to World War II. He sold many popular stories to pulp magazines in the 1930s. "Old Faithful" (1934) was his first noted story. "The Gentle Brain" was published in "Science Fiction Quarterly" under the pseudonym Arthur Allport. Another of his pseudonyms was William Callahan.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 17, 2024
Stamped Caution is a novelette that originally appeared in the August 1953 of H.L. Gold's Galaxy digest magazine. Written in the heyday of the post-Roswell flying saucer craze, it's about a stranded Martian hatchling who's raised and studied by Earth scientists, who then take him home and it's their turn. It's a good story, but not exceptional. (It wasn't included in the 1978 Del Rey Best of Gallun collection that was edited by J.J. Pierce.) Gallun (whose name rhymes with balloon, not a pail of water) had a career in science fiction that lasted more than half a century (his Old Faithful from 1934 was an early classic, and his last novel came out in 1985), and it's nice that some of his work is remembered and still available. I enjoyed listening to this one via LibriVox.
December 12, 2019
I love reading old scifi. I am weary of the rubber stamp new scifi coming out now where authors only seem to know dire war and conflict, some evil alien race trying to destroy earth, and tells of either the decimation of or the struggle to save the human race. So much of the older scifi from the Golden Age was about great ideas, the exploration of unknown adventure and possibilities. This story, Stamped Caution, is about how a small group of reasonable and forward looking men handle first contact. They are willing to sacrifice their lives, and resist fear and xenophobia to create hope for a peaceful future of mutual exchange. It's dated, of course, but the personalities, and ideas, are current. I am happy to have the chance to revisit these gems from the past. I accessed this book for free on Loyal Books, a website which publishes thousands of public domain titles.
May 5, 2022
Entertaining space fantasy listening 🎶🔰
Another will written fantasy space Sci-Fi adventure thriller short story by Raymond Z. Gallun about a young Marian spends four years on earth 🌎 then travels to Mars where contact and relationships are established. I would recommend this novella to readers of fantasy series novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of books 📚 and novels 🔰. 🏡🔰😤⌚ 2022
Another will written fantasy space Sci-Fi adventure thriller short story by Raymond Z. Gallun about a young Marian spends four years on earth 🌎 then travels to Mars where contact and relationships are established. I would recommend this novella to readers of fantasy series novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of books 📚 and novels 🔰. 🏡🔰😤⌚ 2022
March 16, 2014
STAMPED CAUTION, By Raymond Z. Gallun, (sounds like Ballon) Galaxy Science Fiction August 1953
This story might have had roots in the Roswell story of 1947 and the story of 3 bodies lost in the damage of a wrecked UFO... This where we start, although this story doesn't have all the drama and hype you might hear today that keeps the little town of Roswell the center of UFOology.
The 3 bodies are totally destroyed and burned. The researchers soldier on with studying the wreckage. After all is collected and returned to the labs near St. Louis, the public is getting news updates regularly.
Among the wreckage is a lump of clay that interests the researchers studying the crash. Turns out to be biological.
To avoid spoilers lets jump way ahead to a trip to Mars and the crew happens to be the same folks who attended the earlier crash.
Like many of the stories of this time period, Mars is barren but not without its speculations on the canals, and various life... brush and vegetation.
The ending is
The title, Stamped Caution, is a bit curious, but I'll leave that to the next reader to decide. I didn't think it had much to do with the story. Perhaps, but that there were parts of the story I just didn't believe. That happens a lot reading the old Golden Era science fiction.
This is a short story, or Chapter book, not quite two hours to read (Free from Feedbooks, Project Gutenberg, etc.) And about the same time it takes to listen to it free from Librovox, with the great reader Gregg Margarite (1957-2012 RIP Gregg, and thanks for all your reading projects) My edition is an epub, not Kindle. Kindle was the closest edition to review.
February 16, 2016
Martian
Light reading. Was not sure what the end held. Could have gone anyway but good. The title is aptly done.
Light reading. Was not sure what the end held. Could have gone anyway but good. The title is aptly done.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews