Frozen Hell

By: John W. Campbell Jr.

Narrated by: Yuri Lowenthal

Fans of John Carpenter's The Thing can rejoice - here is the original, previously-unpublished, longer version of John W. Campbell's classic story, Who Goes There?, filmed as The Thing and The Thing from Another World. Recently discovered at Harvard by scholar Alec Nevala-Lee, long buried in John W. Campbell's papers, here is the original version of Who Goes There? It adds astonishing extra material to the classic story.

Included is a preface by Alec Nevala-Lee, an introduction by science fiction grandmaster Robert Silverberg, and the complete text of this newly discovered version of the classic novel.

©2019 Wildside Press and the Estate of John W. Campbell, Jr. (P)2022 Wildside Press and the Estate of John W. Campbell, Jr.

Ben 10 is Narrating Eldritch Horror

As a cosmic horror fan, I was very excited to listen to the story that inspired “The Thing”! I loved the story as an engineer. It’s fascinating to hear the outdated ways in which people understood natural phenomena even less than 100 years ago. The cherry on top is Yuri Lowenthal (who I know from my childhood as Ben 10 and more recently as Spider-Man) does a great job narrating!

Lovely but

I’ve been on a scifi kick for a while and I of course found my way to Mr. Campbell. I plan on reading this and the shorter version who goes there. I read he relentlessly would cut his books down if they messed with the flow. I can see why he cut this one down but all in all it’s great read.

The Blood Test

I can see how John Carpenter made his film "The Thing" from the story. Very good.

What a movie this version would make

I’ve been a fan of The Thing since I first saw the black and white version many years ago. The 1982 version scared me very badly when I first saw it. If it’s been this version, I promise I’d probably never have slept again.
This adds so much. Complexity, things I had wondered about watching the ‘82 version were answered here most satisfactorily. I always thought that the last one they found out about was the actual first one.
This ends on a smidge more hopeful note than the movie. Will they get out? Will anyone who isn’t a monster survive?
Mr Campbell left that up to us. And I can see why it’s so beloved of a story.
My heart is still racing.

Definitely, the better version

With the longer story, slightly better narration, better forward history notes, and nice artwork, I feel this is the much-better version. Not sure why it was pushed as having "earlier-draft flaws." No way. This is the better version. I especially like that it's a more-consistent narrator that doesn't "over-act" the dialogue. Now, if only someone would make a serious film remake of The Thing!