John W. Campbell's cult science fiction horror movie is back on sale. After so many years, from the first release, can Coś still delight and terrify?
Unfriendly Antarctica
Who you are? John W. Campbell’s (in Poland known as Coś ) was published in 1938. This short story became a cult after many years and was screened several times. In 2017, Alec Nevala-Lee worked on a “multibiography” entitled Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction . It was then that he happened to come across a mention of an earlier version of the short story Who Are You? which, of course, he found. Vesper has chosen to publish this unpublished story, which is longer than the original and has several other differences. Somethingpresents the fate of a group of researchers who stumbled upon a spaceship. In addition, they found a frozen alien. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the creature was not dead at all. And so a group of daredevils led by McReady were forced to discover the nature of this creature in order to survive and prevent this filth from spreading around the world.
McReady and co
Research station in Antarctica. Closed space, cut off from the world. Plus a group of researchers and one alien. Campbell skillfully builds tension in the story. The heroes are a group of individualists, each of them stands out in some way. The first violin is played by McReady. He is the most important person, and he will dream of a prophetic dream that will foretell a future catastrophe. In such a short story, Campbell managed to capture the “charms” of the life of a group of men in a cramped research station.
Introduction, preface, follow-up and afterword
The book was published in a hardcover. In addition to the short story (one hundred and forty pages), the publication includes Preface by Alec Nevala-Lee, which explains how he managed to find the manuscript. Then, Robert Silverberg’s Introduction shows why this short story became iconic. On the other hand, in the post, Piotr Gociek writes about the adaptations of this story. In addition, the book includes a short fragment of the planned continuation, which so far consists of five chapters.
The cover definitely catches the eye, as does Maciej Kamuda’s beautiful graphics, woven into the story. As for the correction, I noticed double spaces in the Afterword . Besides, there is no fault with something. It is also worth noting that a bookmark has been attached to the book.
Can anyone be trusted here?
Even after all these years, the story still holds its own. John W. Campbell has created an unconventional story with an original alien. This time the enemy creature does not slaughter, the death motive is not scary here. It is the extraordinary ability of a being from outer space that scares much more, because no person on the station can trust anyone. It is this climate, a closed space and a tightening noose every moment that make the stories still captivate. Undoubtedly, it is worth reaching for the classics, especially in such a refined, beautiful edition.
