Follow the author

John Wood Campbell

+ Follow

More books from this author

Who Goes There?: The Novella That Formed the Basis of the Thing Paperback – 1 April 2009

by John W. Jr. Campbell (Author), William F. Nolan (Writer, Introduction)

4.4 2,776 ratings

See all formats and editions

"Who Goes There?": The novella that formed the basis of "The Thing" is the John W. Campbell classic about an antarctic research camp that discovers and thaws the ancient, frozen body of a crash-landed alien. The creature revives with terrifying results, shape-shifting to assume the exact form of animal and man, alike. Paranoia ensues as a band of frightened men work to discern friend from foe, and destroy the menace before it challenges all of humanity! The story, hailed as "one of the finest science fiction novellas ever written" by the SF Writers of America, is best known to fans as THE THING, as it was the basis of Howard Hawks' The Thing From Another World in 1951, and John Carpenter's The Thing in 1982. With a new Introduction by William F. Nolan, author of Logan's Run, and his never-before-published, suspenseful Screen Treatment written for Universal Studios in 1978, this is a must-have edition for scifi and horror fans!

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rocket Ride Books (1 April 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 168 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0982332203
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0982332207
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.7 x 0.64 x 19.05 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 250,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3,608 in TV, Film & Game Tie-In Fiction
- 17,896 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- 21,621 in Horror (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 2,776 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

John Wood Campbell

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs, and more

Review this product

Write a customer review

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Mr Lewis V Taylor

loved it

Reviewed in Australia on 21 April 2021

Verified Purchase

Quite a bit of a different flow to the Carpenter Movie, which I love.
Anyone who is a fan of the Howard Hawkes, or Carpenter movies will enjoy reading the source material.

Helpful

Marcus Cowen

Some suffer slightly like many early sci fi in that they try to ...

Reviewed in Australia on 16 July 2015

Verified Purchase

A group of short stories starting with the 5 star story that gave us films such as John Carpenter's THE THING. The rest of the stories are random, well thought out and interesting. Some suffer slightly like many early sci fi in that they try to imagine a fantastic future that with our improved understanding of today means that they are a little too crazy, but definitely well thought out and worth a read.

Helpful

Robert Manzoni

Basis of the movie "The Thing".

Reviewed in Australia on 25 November 2020

Verified Purchase

Full of suspense, fear and paranoia set in a lonely Antarctic base. Things are not what they seem!

Helpful

E. A. Solinas

The thing in the cold

Reviewed in Australia on 12 January 2015

Shameful confession time: I have never actually seen John Carpenter's sci-fi/horror movie, "The Thing." But I have read John W. Campbell's classic novella "Who Goes There?", which the movie is based on -- a lean, dialogue-heavy novella that is brimming with paranoia and uncertainty. Even the reader won't know who is what.

A team of scientist in Antarctica discover a strange alien craft, buried in the ice for millions of years. After they accidentally destroy the craft, they find a frozen alien creature and take it back to the base -- only to discover that it's not truly dead. When the ice thaws, the creature vanishes out from under their noses.

But soon the scientists discover that the creature is very much alive -- and even worse, it can absorb and mimic living creatures perfectly. Nobody on the base is free of suspicion, and they must find and kill every part of "the thing" before it has a chance to spread across the Earth. If they don't, all life is doomed.

"Who Goes There" is a story with no padding -- every character has a reason to be in the story, and every scene ramps up the intensity and paranoia. It's kind of top-heavy with dialogue (there are several scenes with just people hanging around asking, "What should we do?") but at least the dialogue is all necessary.

And Campbell does a brilliant job with the simple plot, slowly building up the sense of suspense and paranoia -- one person goes nuts and hides in a room singing hymns, while others just lie in their bunks and throw up. It especially helps that this is a third-person narrative, so even the READER doesn't know who is an alien and who isn't.

Campbell also errs on the side of leanness when it comes to the characters. We don't hear anything about their families, pasts or personal quirks -- he shows what their mettle is by what they say and do over the course of the story. And really, it works.

The only problem is the test the scientists perform on the dog -- it doesn't seem to make sense in context, and creates a plot hole near the end.

Considering that two successful movies were spawned by it, "Who Goes There?" is kind of underrated. But it's also a tight, lean little horror/sci-fi novella.

Reviewed in Australia on 14 April 2015

Verified Purchase

Classic SF from wayyyyyyy back. The basis for John Carpenter's classic movie The Thing.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

Luis

Excelente

Reviewed in Mexico on 6 February 2024

Verified Purchase

Lo compré para saber la historia original de The Thing y la verdad sí fue una excelente compra. La calidad del papel se siente algo frágil en comparación a otros libros, pero la verdad es que por cien pesos mx que costó no me quejo. Fue una gran compra a un exclenete precio y no tardó en llegar. Tome sus 5 estrellas buen hombre.

Translate review to English

Steve Young

Good

Reviewed in Canada on 8 May 2021

Verified Purchase

Good

Cliente Kindle

Quem vem lá?

Reviewed in Brazil on 8 October 2020

Verified Purchase

Comprei este livro após ter assistido às três adaptações feitas para o cinema.
Foi legal comparar as obras e ver as diferenças presentes neste material que serviu de base.
E diferente dos filmes, o final aqui não parece aberto ou pessimista. Não que isso tenha me desapontado. Só esperava um término menos draconiano.

4 people found this helpful

Translate review to English

Bestetti Emanuele

Bellissimo libro

Reviewed in Italy on 16 August 2019

Verified Purchase

Un capolavoro letterario che ha permesso ad uno dei migliori registi dei nostri tempi di poter produrre uno dei migliori film horror degli ultimi 30 anni.

One person found this helpful

Translate review to English

Cliente Amazon

An excellent book!

Reviewed in Spain on 12 August 2017

Verified Purchase

I saw the moveie "The thing" long time ago and I didn't knew that there was a book behind the movie.
So it took me less than two days to finish the book. I love it.

Translate review to English

See more reviews