The Eternal Wall

by Raymond Z. Gallun

This is many of the old books which has been considered important throughout the human history. They are now extremely scarce and very expensive antique. So that this work is never forgotten We republish them in high quality, using the original text and artwork so that they can be preserved for the present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Dystopia

22 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1942

About the author

Aka 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.

Reviews

[Adam Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a drunken evening gone awry, Ned Vance crashed his car into the frozen waters of a nearby lake. A million years later the Earth is ruled by a species of super-intelligent marmots. A scientist named Loy Chuk stumbles across the frozen remains of Ned Vance and decides to reanimate him, but will Ned Vance be able to cope with the knowledge that he is the only man left on Earth without any way of going home?

This was a weird one. I mean super weird. It didn't really go anywhere, but the final few lines that explained the title hinted at a much more interesting story yet to come. Pity. Still it was interesting to read.

Read as part of The Time Travel Megapack: 26 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Stories.

[for-much-deliberation ... · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting tale of a young man called Ned Vince who, whilst on his way to meet his girlfriend, runs off the road and crashes into a rather alkali lake which mummifies his body. He wakes up a million years later on a rather strange earth and is taken to the city of Kah-Rah, he was found by a scientist there called Loy Chuk who must communicate with him via a black box. Ned wants to go home to Earth so, since a time machine doesn't exist an illusion of his Earth is created......

[Akrabar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant short story....

"It is hard to escape the present even by an instant"

Audiobook from

https://ia802905.us.archive.org/11/it...

[Ray Daley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly weak. After killing the protagonist so early, it was hard to go anywhere at all from that.

A brave attempt but it fell short in my opinion (as a writer and reader).

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Short Piece of Writing that has some Interesting Ideas in it. Unfortunately these Ideas are Never Developed and basically the Story doesn't go anywhere.

Some Guy, Ned Vince, gets in a Car Accident and falls into a deep, deep pool of alkalyne water which preserves His Body. A Million Years in the Future, there are no more Humans left on the Earth. All Humanity has evolved into SuperHumans and they all now Live Among the Stars.

A Group of Rodents has now Evolved into the Dominant Species on Earth, Big Brains and all. They discover Ned Vince's Mumified Body, and using Their Highly-Developed Science, They bring Ned Vince Back to Life.

Loy Chuck, a Scientist Rodent, uses a fancy Scientific Translator Box to communicate with Ned Vince. Ned Vince freaks out because He is so out of place and tries to escape. He is recaptured.

Awakening a second time, Ned Vince tells the Intellegent Rodents He wants a Time Machine to send Him Back into Past. The Intellegent Rodents, dispite Their Superior Science, can't build such a machine.

Instead, using thoughts They have pulled from Ned Vince's Brain, They build a Dome, and recreate the world Ned Vince lived in in the Past. They even build an Android of His Old Girlfriend Betty. And "Ned Vince did not know anything about the invisible radiations beating down upon him, soothing and dimming his brain, so that it would never question or doubt, or observe too closely the incongruous circumstances that must often appear to him"

Ned Vince is now a Mouse in a Cage for the Intellegent Rodents to Study.

And then the Story just ends with Loy Chuk, the Scientist Rodent having a Meditation on "The Eternal Wall" of Time that Prevents someone from Going Back to the Past.

And that's it. It a Nice Start to what could have been an Interesting Short Novel or something. But ultimately it just becomes an Ephemeral bit of Sci-Fi that will soon be Forgotten about. Too Bad. There are some Wasted Fun Ideas Here.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Available from Audible. Sci-Fi Shorts, V.1 narrated by Felbrigg Napoleon Herriot.
After crashing into an alkaline lake Ned Vince meets an untimely death. A million years later the mummy of Ned Vince is brought back to life like Frankenstein only to discover he is on an Earth a million years after his death. It is an Earth more like Planet of the Apes than the world he remembers since mankind has moved on to the stars and another species has evolved intelligence and rules the planet. Will the Earth's new inhabitants, a prairie dog like species, take a page from H.G Wells and create a time machine to send Ned home or will he spend the rest of his days in the unrecognizable future?
This is an interesting story, particularly the new species who reanimate Ned in order to study ancient man.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining fantasy listening 🎶🔰

Another will written fantasy futuristic world 🌎 adventure thriller short story by Raymond Z. Gallun about a young man's 🚹 car 🚗 accident and being discovered one million years later by the new inhabitants of earth 🌎 and bring him back to life. I would recommend this novella to readers of fantasy futuristic novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶 to Alexa as I do. 🏡🔰😤⌚ 2022

[Scott Shjefte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age of 50's SF short story.


Part of collection borrowed using Libby library The 25th golden age of Science Fiction Mega pack.
1st story.

2nd story in collection. Man dies and is resurrected 1 million years later by aliens.

Read Kindle book using Alexa audio asset.
Also obtained for free from Amazon.

[Phil Giunta · Rating 2 out of 5]

On his way to see his girlfriend, Ned Vance crashes his car into a lake. His mummified corpse is uncovered one million years later and reanimated by a group of scientists that resemble large prairie dogs. I guess you had to be there.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sci fi short

A similar story to buck rodgers . Man preserved for one million years is revived in the future. Realistic ending.

[Zvonimir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would be interested in more of the prerie dog world.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

strange tale , but great science fiction.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ned Vince was on his way to Hurley to meet his girl. Unfortunately, he was driving too fast along Pit Bend. When another car came around the curve, he was blinded by its headlights and swung his steering wheel to the right. The tires skidded on the loose gravel. The car went through the barrier and over the embankment. It struck a boulder that sent it and Ned sailing through the air and then down into the inky waters the Pit, 50 feet below. It didn’t take long for the car to sink into the alkaline waters, but it took a little while longer for Ned, unable to get out of the car, to drown. He thought of the machine shop he and his dad ran, and of Betty, of how they were planning on going to the university this fall and of eventually marrying.

Please read the rest of the review here.