John W. Campbell, Jr. (1910–1971)

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 show more 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. show less

The stories in this collection are pretty solid, from the sci-fi horror of the title story and the currently topical horror of Dead Knowledge, through the maguffin-based gadget stories, to the far-future tales about the Heat Death of the universe. The tone runs from an optimistically plucky "Good Ole American Grit Will Overcome", to a decidedly pessimistic "What's the Point?", even if that end is untold billions of years in the future.

I like to do a bit of reading about authors, and looked show more up Campbell on Wikipedia, where I was disappointed to be reminded that he was the editor of the sci-fi magazine who rejected A [author:Samuel R. Delany|49111] story with a Black protagonist because he considered that his readers wouldn't accept a Black character. From which, I suddenly understand that all the characters I've just read about are, without any statement as such, White. There is just one outright racist view expressed in the book, not out of keeping for the time and audience for which it was written, but jarring and shocking to see on the page now.

Reading of other writers' (including [author:Isaac Asimov|16667]) condemnation of Campbell's racist and right-wing views reminded me of a note by [author:Philip K. Dick|4764] for his story The Golden Man in [book:The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, Volume 3: The Father-Thing|165913], in which he spoke of an editor who insisted that stories submitted on the subject of mutants would only be accepted if they were presented as superior to the common run of people, and ready to shepherd the "inferior" races into a utopian paradise. Sure enough, this editor turns out to be Campbell, by whom PKD refused to be constrained and sold his stories elsewhere, feeling unable to work with Campbell's supremacist views, which PKD explicitly compares to Nazi ideology.

Does it matter after all the years which have passed, and with Campbell's own passing? I think so. I'm put in mind of the Star Trek DS9 episodes in which Captain Sisko believes himself to be a 1950s sci-fi writer whose latest story, "Deep Space 9", is rejected by his editor because the captain of the space station is Black. Those episodes, surely inspired by Campbell and Delany, graphically illustrate the evil of systemic racism, of which Campbell was, as an influential editor, a significant part, and which system of oppression we clearly see continues today.

This understanding of Campbell's character and beliefs casts a different light on his stories of alien invaders determined to wipe out humanity (by which we now know he means Whites), of shapeshifting infiltrators able to pass as human instead of the sub-human beings they 'really' are, so that they can overrun us, and that "just one" instance of undisguised racism can be recognised as the tip of a most unpleasant iceberg.

Otherwise, pretty solid sci-fi. show less

Four centuries in the future, humanity has colonised the solar system and is doing great when an alien race from a capricious and erratically-behaving star decide that the côterie of resource-rich planets around our much more stable Sun will be their new home. After an alien scouting party shows off their superior technology, a lone millionaire physics genius serving in the navy only has limited time to bring humanity's tech up to a level where they can compete with the Strangers. On top of show more that, he's got to do it single-handedly, and develop not only atomic power, but also faster-than-light space travel and a host of other militarily useful science.

This science fiction short was dated in so many respects that I found it hard to enjoy. First, there's the Van Vogtesque millionaire genius who, largely by himself, invents increasingly hand-wavey technological wonders to the point of ridiculousness (protective magnetic shielding, destructive UV rays, faster-than-light travel, culminating in his harnessing the power of Uncertainty itself). Then there's its naive conception of atomic power as consequence-free (the story was published in the 1930s) and easily neutralised with a "neutron gun". And finally, there's the complete lack of female characters: everyone is a strong-jawed male with a background in the military, and the whole thing reeks of mid-20thC American exceptionalism (historical and mathematical references are to 20thC USA).

A time capsule more than genuinely fun to read. show less

Creepy novella that packs all the horror thrill my weak stomach can handle; I can't carry that stomach anywhere near the 1982 film version that director John Carpenter cooked up. An awful-looking alien being is found frozen in the Antarctic and thawed out by researchers in the name of science. Foolish, foolish researchers. The horror is generated first by the alien's appearance, then by its awful abilities. Campbell was great with description and his characters prove their smarts as they show more creatively analyze and seek to correct their mistake. Very gripping once things start rolling, and just the right length for its subject. There's good reason why it keeps inspiring. show less