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The Original, Unedited, Magazine Text: THE ALIEN MACHINE-Cal Meacham was proud of his scientific talents till he found himself faced with alien products that could only have come from another culture! THE SHROUD OF SECRECY-Cal Meacham's new job is an engineer's heaven, until he's led to peer beneath- THE GREATER CONFLICT-At last Cal Meacham of the Peace Engineers finds the answer to his problem, but he does not find it anywhere on Earth! Published as three short novelets in Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1949-50, these three stories were later combined, slightly rewritten, and a fourth part added on to form the complete novel published in 1952-later to become a major motion picture from Universal-International.
About the author
Raymond Fisher Jones (15 November 1915 24 January 1994) was a science fiction author from the United States. He is most known for his 1952 novel This Island Earth, which was made into the 1955 film of the same name. Jones was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has always been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1994, he died in Sandy, Utah. The majority of Jones' short fiction was published in publications such as Thrilling Wonder Stories, Astounding Stories, and Galaxy during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Between 1951 and 1978, he authored sixteen novels. His short tale "Rat Race," which initially appeared in the April 1966 edition of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, received a Hugo Award nomination. "Correspondence Course," which first appeared in the April 1945 issue of Astounding Stories, was nominated for a Retro Hugo award for best short story in 1996. Another short story, "The Alien Machine," which first appeared in the June 1949 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories, was later combined with two other short stories, "The Shroud of Secrecy" and "The Greater Conflict," and expanded into the novel This Island Earth, which inspired the film of the same name.
