A review by markyon
Frozen Hell by Bob Eggleton, Robert Silverberg, John W. Campbell Jr.
4.0
This is another recent ‘discovery’ of an earlier version of what is regarded as a science fiction classic. As his Preface to this book explains, Alec Nevala-Lee (author of the recent biography Astounding) found this in a discovery worthy of the story itself, whilst going through boxes of author and editor John W. Campbell’s stuff in the Harvard Library whilst researching his own book.
At the bottom of one box was 112 pages of a manuscript entitled “Frozen Hell” and also “Pandora”. You may not immediately recognise those titles, but long-time readers of sf may know the more famous version. The story here is an earlier version, with typographical errors, misspellings and handwritten corrections, of one of the most famous science fiction stories of all time, “Who Goes There?”* – but 45 pages longer.
Frozen Hell is an earlier version of the tale. It seems that Campbell was aiming at writing the story as a novel, but when it didn’t sell, re-edited it into the shorter form that is much better known today. This one disappeared into the archives until rediscovered by Nevala-Lee.
Understandably, this unearthing, when announced in October 2018, caused a great deal of excitement. A Kickstarter fund was created in order to get it published, which reached its target of $1000 within a couple of days. (It is, at the time of writing this review, over $155 000).
However, don’t get too excited here. Frozen Hell is basically a dramatically longer and more detailed version of Who Goes There? The part that we know is in five chapters at the end (with minor changes) with an additional three chapters at the beginning.
To add to this novella-sized book, there are some useful additions. As I’ve already said, Alec Nevala-Lee explains a little of the background to his rediscovery of this version, and there’s also an Introduction by Robert Silverberg that gives his opinion on the original, on this version and a degree of context to the work of John W Campbell, the author and magazine editor. You can skip them, but I found them interesting.
Bob Eggleton’s pencil sketches throughout are nice and give the story that feeling that you’re reading it in an old-school pulp-magazine format.
At the end of the book there’s also a Preview of a sequel currently being written by the publisher of this book, John Gregory Betancourt, provisionally entitled The Things from Another World. Such things in my opinion are rarely as good as the original (I’m reminded of Kevin Anderson’s ‘sequel’ to AE van Vogt’s Slan, for example), but it may entice some readers to read further.
It may also be worth mentioning at this point that due to the success of the Kickstarter there will be another book available in June 2019 which is connected to this. Called Short Things, it is a collection of new stories inspired by the original, from authors such as Alan Dean Foster (who also wrote the novelisation of the 1982 movie version), Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Pamela Sargent, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Allen Steele, Paul di Philippo and others. You may wish to read this afterwards.
But I guess that the bottom line is: is this new version worth reading?
Looking at the two versions together, Who Goes There? is undoubtedly tighter and better written, with a lot of superfluous details removed. And yet Frozen Hell is of interest, if only to show how the story was revised and rewritten before being published in its better-known form. As you might expect, Frozen Hell is a product of the age it was written and reflects the popular pulp style of the 1930’s. Its prose can be clunky in places but there are also moments of beauty. It is also slightly obscured by being combined with more of the techno-gobbledygook prevalent in the science fiction writing of the time.
In my opinion, Frozen Hell is good - not better, but it is readable. There are some noticeable differences as a result of being a longer version. By occurring later in the story, the horror element, emphasised from the start in the revised version, is initially less noticeable in this form, which feels most like a typical boy’s adventure tale. The decision to chop the beginning gives the later version a much more dramatic start, whereas this new version sets the scene more leisurely, if perhaps more prettily.
We also get that Campbellian maxim of ‘tell, don’t show’. There’s a lot of talk here, about ‘the science’, and the nature of the alien and even human identity. This is Campbell in his lecturing mode that we would soon see every month in his Astounding/Analog Editorials. To be fair, it’s typical of the science fiction of the 1930’s, and it would be a little unfair to totally blame Campbell for it. The good news is that, despite this, the story is so good that it rises above all of its weaknesses.
The story really gets going in the part we recognise. The last five chapters are as creepy, paranoid and dreadful as ever. In particular, the relentless sense of isolation, in a place where you cannot trust anyone – or anything – is still strong. Even when the characters themselves are mere cyphers (we’re not getting a detailed backstory here, but this is what we’d expect in the 1930’s), their actions – and the consequences of their actions - are as we’d expect.
In summary, Frozen Hell is a great read that fans of the better-known version will want. In my opinion, unlike Who Goes There? it’s not an essential read, but it is a very good one, and one that adds to the shorter story. Despite all of the contemporary issues in either version, the story is a superior example of ‘Golden Age’ science fiction. I’m glad we’ve had chance to read this alternate version.
Frozen Hell is available as a print book and an ebook from the Kickstarter website, as well as an ebook at the usual online retailers.
*I reviewed Campbell’s collection, including the original story “Who Goes There?”, here in 2011.
At the bottom of one box was 112 pages of a manuscript entitled “Frozen Hell” and also “Pandora”. You may not immediately recognise those titles, but long-time readers of sf may know the more famous version. The story here is an earlier version, with typographical errors, misspellings and handwritten corrections, of one of the most famous science fiction stories of all time, “Who Goes There?”* – but 45 pages longer.
Frozen Hell is an earlier version of the tale. It seems that Campbell was aiming at writing the story as a novel, but when it didn’t sell, re-edited it into the shorter form that is much better known today. This one disappeared into the archives until rediscovered by Nevala-Lee.
Understandably, this unearthing, when announced in October 2018, caused a great deal of excitement. A Kickstarter fund was created in order to get it published, which reached its target of $1000 within a couple of days. (It is, at the time of writing this review, over $155 000).
However, don’t get too excited here. Frozen Hell is basically a dramatically longer and more detailed version of Who Goes There? The part that we know is in five chapters at the end (with minor changes) with an additional three chapters at the beginning.
To add to this novella-sized book, there are some useful additions. As I’ve already said, Alec Nevala-Lee explains a little of the background to his rediscovery of this version, and there’s also an Introduction by Robert Silverberg that gives his opinion on the original, on this version and a degree of context to the work of John W Campbell, the author and magazine editor. You can skip them, but I found them interesting.
Bob Eggleton’s pencil sketches throughout are nice and give the story that feeling that you’re reading it in an old-school pulp-magazine format.
At the end of the book there’s also a Preview of a sequel currently being written by the publisher of this book, John Gregory Betancourt, provisionally entitled The Things from Another World. Such things in my opinion are rarely as good as the original (I’m reminded of Kevin Anderson’s ‘sequel’ to AE van Vogt’s Slan, for example), but it may entice some readers to read further.
It may also be worth mentioning at this point that due to the success of the Kickstarter there will be another book available in June 2019 which is connected to this. Called Short Things, it is a collection of new stories inspired by the original, from authors such as Alan Dean Foster (who also wrote the novelisation of the 1982 movie version), Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Pamela Sargent, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Allen Steele, Paul di Philippo and others. You may wish to read this afterwards.
But I guess that the bottom line is: is this new version worth reading?
Looking at the two versions together, Who Goes There? is undoubtedly tighter and better written, with a lot of superfluous details removed. And yet Frozen Hell is of interest, if only to show how the story was revised and rewritten before being published in its better-known form. As you might expect, Frozen Hell is a product of the age it was written and reflects the popular pulp style of the 1930’s. Its prose can be clunky in places but there are also moments of beauty. It is also slightly obscured by being combined with more of the techno-gobbledygook prevalent in the science fiction writing of the time.
In my opinion, Frozen Hell is good - not better, but it is readable. There are some noticeable differences as a result of being a longer version. By occurring later in the story, the horror element, emphasised from the start in the revised version, is initially less noticeable in this form, which feels most like a typical boy’s adventure tale. The decision to chop the beginning gives the later version a much more dramatic start, whereas this new version sets the scene more leisurely, if perhaps more prettily.
We also get that Campbellian maxim of ‘tell, don’t show’. There’s a lot of talk here, about ‘the science’, and the nature of the alien and even human identity. This is Campbell in his lecturing mode that we would soon see every month in his Astounding/Analog Editorials. To be fair, it’s typical of the science fiction of the 1930’s, and it would be a little unfair to totally blame Campbell for it. The good news is that, despite this, the story is so good that it rises above all of its weaknesses.
The story really gets going in the part we recognise. The last five chapters are as creepy, paranoid and dreadful as ever. In particular, the relentless sense of isolation, in a place where you cannot trust anyone – or anything – is still strong. Even when the characters themselves are mere cyphers (we’re not getting a detailed backstory here, but this is what we’d expect in the 1930’s), their actions – and the consequences of their actions - are as we’d expect.
In summary, Frozen Hell is a great read that fans of the better-known version will want. In my opinion, unlike Who Goes There? it’s not an essential read, but it is a very good one, and one that adds to the shorter story. Despite all of the contemporary issues in either version, the story is a superior example of ‘Golden Age’ science fiction. I’m glad we’ve had chance to read this alternate version.
Frozen Hell is available as a print book and an ebook from the Kickstarter website, as well as an ebook at the usual online retailers.
*I reviewed Campbell’s collection, including the original story “Who Goes There?”, here in 2011.