:blink: :blink: There’s a novel-length version of ‘Who Goes There?’ And now a Kickstarter?

I may or may not have uttered a twelve-letter obscenity denoting supreme surprise when hearing this news.

While researching his new book, Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, author Alec Nevala-Lee learned that Campbell had actually written a novel-length version of [“Who Goes There?”], which he cut down for publication in the magazine.

Spotting a reference in one of Campbell’s surviving letters to a box of manuscripts the editor had sent to Harvard for archiving, Nevala-Lee tracked down the box at the university and discovered that it contained Frozen Hell, the full-length original version of Campbell’s story.

There’s also a Kickstarter to get this book published. They’re bringing in people like Silverberg and Alan Dean Foster and Pamela Sargent to write more Thing stories, and there’s definitely an interest in this project.  I am quite keen to see how it got condensed, myself.  Campbell was an extremely influential editor in the science fiction field, but “Who Goes There?” is a solid piece. I wonder what it’ll look like as a full novel.

Moe Lane

PS: It might turn out that Campbell’s editorial instincts were spot on, of course.  Still, I’ll read an Alan Dean Foster Thing story, sure.