The Thing has long been my favorite horror movie--one of my favorite movies, period--and so reading the source material for the movie was long overdue. I ended up reading this extended version which was only published more recently, long after the original WHO GOES THERE? inspired the films. This longer version of the novella, discovered among Campbell's papers at Harvard, includes a longer and more developed introductory section of three chapters that were essentially cut prior to the initial publication.

First, I want to note that the preface and introduction here are well worth reading. In discussing Campbell's history and writings, they not only give context for the work (both long and short), but offer up a fantastic reading list for any reader who came to sci-fi late (like me) and is hoping to go back and read more of the classics. The novella itself is more than worth reading, of course. From a writer's perspective, it's fascinating to look at the decisions Campbell made and wonder what changes he might have made to the early chapters if he'd chosen to publish the full novella as a work initially. Now, there's certainly good case for understanding why he made the cuts, but I was still glad to read the whole.

This novella moves fast--especially in the final few chapters--and it was sometimes difficult for me to separate my hyper-awareness/memory of the movie from the story. I think, for me, that probably made the story even more encompassing and enjoyable, and that I might have felt it read too fast otherwise. But on the whole, I loved it--it's a fantastic piece of science fiction horror, worthy of time from any lover of the genre.

Absolutely recommended. ( )

3.5

Frozen Hell is the previously unpublished extended version of Campbell's influential novella, Who Goes There?, best known for inspiring film adaptations such as Hawks'/Nyby's The Thing from Another World and Carpenter's The Thing. The latter is notable for more accurately representing the shapeshifting nature of the creature, whereas the original 1951 film merely has the creature as a vegetable-based monster visually akin to Frankenstein's creation.

The main difference between Frozen Hell and the originally published version is the addition of 3 chapters at the start of the story. These chapters do provide a bit more context for events and some nice foreshadowing and dread for what's to come, but they are also overlong and sometimes tedious. I have not read the story in its original form, but I do not doubt that it is more effective in its brisker state. As soon as the initial three chapters are over, the pace picks up significantly and the strength of the piece is Campbell's selling of the feeling of paranoia, as well as some Lovecraftian descriptions of the indescribable "Thing" itself. Although the prose can be a bit clumsy and the characters all blur into one, I still found it to be an entertaining read, though I think my familiarity with the film adaptations aided my imagination somewhat.

This edition comes with two introductions, one from Robert Silverberg. It seems the consensus, even among those presenting the book, is that the newly discovered material makes for an inferior version, but I'm glad I got to read it in its entirety all the same. Either way, the story remains a relatively brisk and entertaining slice of sci-fi horror. Carpenter's film without a doubt brought the concept to life in the best way possible, but it couldn't exist without this little nugget. And I think that is probably the best compliment that can be paid.

Also included in my edition was a preview for an as-yet unpublished sequel, based specifically on Frozen Hell. The writing is cleaner than Campbell's, but it seemed to me to be an overlong setup for what looks to be more or less the same story. Time will tell whether the complete version sees light, and whether or not it brings anything new to the table conceptually. ( )

It's swift, dry, and dull, but it's contributions to the science fiction and horror genres cannot be denied. ( )

I vividly remember reading "Who Goes There?" as a child, in a sci-fi short story compilation I checked out from the library whose name I can't recall. I've completely forgotten the other stories, which were of the kind that fellow sci-fi veteran Robert Silverberg fondly but firmly sums up in the Introduction here as "wordy epics in which grim, methodical supermen repeatedly saved the world from menacing aliens by mastering, with the greatest of ease, such things as faster-than-light travel, the fabrication of matter-destroying rays, the release of atomic energy, and the penetration of hyperspace." Campbell's story about an Antarctic expedition's struggle against a shapeshifting alien was incredibly different - intensely-paced, relentless, eerie, and genuinely frightening to young me. It was a great bridge for me between more "literary" short stories like Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and other fantasy horror like H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, which coincidentally was also published in serial form in the same Astounding magazine about 2 years before "Who Goes There?", which Campbell of course went on to become the phenomenal editor of.

This extended version, based on a manuscript recently discovered in a Harvard archive, adds 3 intro chapters and a few thousand words of additional verbiage throughout. Campbell was wise to cut the extra material, which is overly didactic and not strictly necessary to the plot. The Preface has a good discussion of the importance of firm editing; as newly-minted editor Campbell would advise Asimov years later, "When you have difficulty with the beginning of the story, that is because you are starting in the wrong place, and almost certainly too soon. Pick out a later point in the story and begin again" However, interestingly I didn't find that the extra baggage diluted the power of the story much for me, although perhaps that was because it still had the force of memory behind it. It's still the immensely influential Ur-sci-fi-horror work that inspired John Carpenter, Ridley Scott, Cris Carter, and so many more, and if you had never read the short story I don't think the impact would be much lessened. At the end there is a preview of a "faithful sequel" set in the present day written by John Betancourt, who helped compile this project. I wish that Peter Watts' wonderful tribute "The Things", which retells "Who Goes There?" from the alien's perspective, had been included, but otherwise this is a delight to read, and Betancourt has done the world a real service by raising this 80 year old story out of the ice of obscurity back to the land of the living. May it continue to spread its tentacles of influence! ( )

Frozen Hell's an earlier draft of Campbell's novella Who Goes There?, which is both a classic SF story and the basis of a classic SF film--Carpenter's The Thing. Campbell biographer Alec Nevala-Lee found a couple references to this version during his research, and tracked the manuscript down at Harvard's library. Wildside Press is in the process of issuing a version of the longer/earlier version as a Kickstarter project, which is where I got my copy. They're promising a more elaborate copy soon; it will presumably be for sale through more usual channels.

This version's a good story; the version published in Astounding is better. So: Why read this book?

* Nevala-Lee's preface, which explains the discovery of the novel in some detail, and covers the context very well.
* Robert Silverberg's introduction, which talks a bit about working with Campbell and gives context for other matters.
* The joy you might get from comparing the two versions of the story. Campbell was a good editor; this comparison shows some of the reasons and methods.

Apart from that, reading 'em back-to-back wasn't a lot of fun. They're the same story, with pretty much the same words. ( )