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One of the things for us Science Fiction writers and fans to be thankful for this Thanksgiving is the greats of the genre’s golden age which was roughly from the 1930s to ‘50s. One of those greats is John W. Campbell. He had a big influence on science fiction and helped popularise the genre especially as editor of his Astoundingmagazine, now known as Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact. You can also say his novella, “Who Goes There?”, eventually influenced the mixed genre of science fiction horror when it was adapted into the 1950s film, The Thing from Another World, which in turn lead to two remakes: John Carpenter’s The Thing in 1982 and director Matthijs van Heijningen’s 2011 version (that some refer to as a “prequel”). So when Alec Nevala-Lee uncovered the manuscript of an earlier, unpublished,full-length novel version of Campbell’s story, it must had been as thrilling as it is for the Antarctic expedition in “Who Goes There?”/”The Thing” when they uncover the shape shifting alien frozen in ice which later terrorizesthem.
Alec Nevala-Lee was doing research for his book, Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction,when he uncovered themanuscript in an archives collection at Harvard. Entitled Frozen Hell, Campbell had derived from it the shorter, novella version that made it to publication as “Who Goes There?”, as explained at SyFy.com. According to The Verge, the manuscript was fragmented when Nevala-Lee found it. Not long after, John Gregory Betancourt, manager of independent publishing house Wildside Press and of Cambell’s literary property, edited the novel manuscript into a completed version and has been raising funds through Kickstarter in order to get the book published. The funding goal of $1000 has been surpassed by more than $100,000 (as of the writing of this post). Betancourt, an award winning author, will write a sequel to the science fiction horror novel.
The discovery of the manuscript is definitely a significant addition to Campbell’s known history. I’m a fan of Campbell, the original “Thing” movie and Campbell’s science fiction horror novella that it was adapted from. I read the novella only about a year ago in a collection of his work, A New Dawn, and it was really well-written along with other stories in the book. However, I’m not a fan of books completed by peopleother than the authors who started them, since it’s easy for contradictions in style and vision to show up. Even so,Frozen Hell, being from a manuscript started by Campbell, will probably give us some good insight on “The Thing” story. That being said, it would probably have been better to market copies of the fragmented manuscript to fans of “The Thing” story line and Campbell. With a good introduction by the editor and maybe some annotations, the unfinished manuscript would be part of a complete book as a study of the author’s work.
Frozen Hellis scheduled to release inebook, paperback and hardcover formats in January 2019, the dead of “arctic” winter. The book will have interior art by award-winning sci fi/fantasy artist Bob Eggleton who will also be doing the art for the cover, says Betancourt athis Kickstarter page.
Do you think Frozen Hellcan live up to John Campbell’s original style and vision of storytelling after being completed by another author? Why or why not? Feel free to leave your answers in the box below.
Until next time . . .
