The Short Story That Inspired The Thing Is About To Get Longer

When people think of The Thing, usually they first think of the 1982 John Carpenter movie.

But that movie was based on another movie, 1951's The Thing from Another World, which itself was based on a 1930s short story titled "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell Jr. And now, the origins of The Thing are about to go one level deeper.

The Verge has uncovered a fascinating Kickstarter campaign for a book called Frozen Hell, which is touted as "The Book That Inspired The Thing". It was too much written by John W. Campbell Jr., which seems confusing until you hear the story.

Author Alec Nevala-Lee was researching an upcoming book and found that Campbell Jr had referenced the fact that "Who Goes There?" Was a shortened version of a novel. No one had ever seen it, but it was a reference to it being sent to Harvard.

So Nevala-Lee went hunting, and eventually found the unpublished manuscript to Frozen Hell, which is an extended and expanded version of "Who Goes There?"

Long story short, to try and get that book into the hands of fans, it went onto Kickstarter with the modest goal of $ US1000 ($ 1415). Well, that has been raised over $ US40,000 ($ 56,436) with almost 40 days to go.

That is one of the best things you can do for yourself and you'll be able to read it one day.

For more on this story and the book, head over to The Verge or the Kickstarter itself.