Who Goes There?

John W. Campbell's “Who Goes There?” is an ingenious piece of sci-fi horror written in the late 1930s. There is an updated version entitled Frozen Hell, which expands on the original and has a few added illustrations, but from what I read, the original has less setup and really tosses you into the nightmarish fray early on. Game on!

Hmmm. What is the best way to describe the book? An Antarctic research team stumbles upon a spaceship along the frosty tundra, and to the crew's surprise, they find an ancient, frozen creature. So, what does any enterprising research team do? Yep! That's right. They exhume what they can and bring the body back to the lab. Most of the team is gung-ho on defrosting the creature so that it may learn its secrets. The cook, funny enough, wants nothing to do with it and makes his voice heard. Also, speaking of cooks, I might have been devouring a naan with pesto at this point. Not recommended when it gets to the grislier bits.