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Frozen Hell
Frozen Hell
Author: John W. Campbell Jr.
FROZEN HELL is an early version of John W. Campbell's classic novella, Who Goes There? (filmed as The Thing) which tells the story of Antarctic explorers who discover an other-wordly object frozen in the ice and what happens when they defrost it. Recently discovered among Campbell's papers, this version adds another 45 pages to the story...  more »
ISBN-13: 9781479442829
ISBN-10: 1479442828
Publication Date: 10/8/2019
Pages: 158
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1

4 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Wildside Press
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 4
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WhidbeyIslander avatar reviewed Frozen Hell on + 690 more book reviews
On the third page of the originally published story, a character is asked to explain how the expedition wound up with a life-form encased in ice. He says "There is no need for details." But this retelling of Who Goes There? does exactly that -- spending three chapters going into the details of how the alien ship was discovered, how they reached it through the Antarctic storms, how they dug down and retrieved the body of the Thing. It's all a little mind-numbing and understandable why Campbell omitted most of it from Who Goes There? It seems there were a few other alterations before the shorter version saw print, but most of it appears to be the same. It continues to be a gripping account of humans meeting a thing from another world.

The Wildside Book printing includes a few chapters of 25 pages of a proposed sequel to be entitled The Things From Another World, but it doesn't appear to have been published. There is a Kindle story (of about 10 pages) by John Gregory Betancourt available with the title The Nature of the Beast: A Tale of the Things.

While the 1951 movie The Thing From Another World uses the premise of a flying saucer being discovered (in Alaska, this time), the film abandons most of the plot, including the ability of the alien to take on other life forms. This part of the story was evident in 1982's version from John Carpenter.


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