John Campbell is a famous American writer of the 30s. John's works are still successful, despite the fact that in the books he described a completely different century with other technologies.
Writer Biography
John Wood Campbell was born on June 8, 1910 in a small town in the state of New Jersey.
John received his education at the University of Massachusetts. John Campbell did not stop at one education and continued his studies at Duke University. John Wood began writing as a student, so at the time he received his bachelor's degree in physics, he was already known as a science fiction writer.
About creativity
John was one of the first writers who authored science fiction works. Campbell's creativity is different in that they contain not only elements of the fantasy genre, but also the horror genre. Reviews on John Campbell's books are positive, even today there are many readers who are delighted with what the author wrote. In the writer's books you cannot even find the prerequisites for modern technology, because the author described specifically the 30s of the past century.
The important fact remains that for a long time there was no translation from English to the books of the American writer. Only closer to the 50s, books began to be translated.
Speaking of John Wood, it is important to note that for many people he has become a classic in the horror genre. Despite the fact that Campbell's works receded into the second literary plan in the 50s of the last century (a lot of scientific journals were published, the works in which had a more literary than scientific character), his stories and novels are still popular today.
Adaptations
Many films by John Campbell made excellent films, although they are not able to evoke the emotions that arise when reading.
One of the most famous adaptations was the film "Something", which was released in 1951. The director, who was the first to dare to take on this work, became Christian Nyby. The film received a huge number of awards and prizes.
The work that formed the basis of the film was called "Who's Coming?" There is more than one film adaptation of this work. If for the first time based on the story, a film was released in 1951, then the next was a 1982 film. In the second film adaptation of this work starred such a famous actor as Kurt Russell. Reading reviews of the second film, one can find statements that the film was perfectly shot and leaves the same impressions as the well-known movie “Alien”. The second director who filmed this work was John Carpenter.
For the third time, the work was filmed in 2001 by director Mattis van Heinigen Jr. One of the main roles was played by actress Mary Winstead, despite the fact that in the previous screenings, the main roles were played only by male actors. Filming took place in British Columbia, because it was there that the landscape most resembles the snow and glacial nature of Antarctica. The new film, which was a remake of the 1982 film adaptation, earned high marks and liked the audience.
Awards
In 1968, John Wood was awarded the Skylark Prize for having spent a tremendous amount of effort to make the literary fiction genre more developed.
In 1971, the story "Twilight" and the story "Who's Coming?" became two of the most rated short stories among small fantastic works of the 40s. The writer deservedly took first place. The winner was determined by readers.
In 1996, the writer was included in the lists of writers in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Such an honor was presented to John Wood posthumously.
In the same year, the writer posthumously received the award of the best editor, who worked in 1945.
In 2001, John was also awarded posthumously the award for the best editor who worked in 1950, and in 2004 - the best editor who worked in 1967.
The memory of the writer
In memory of creativity and contribution to the development of science fiction, prizes were created. There were two of them: the first was called the "John Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel"; the second is the "John Campbell Award", which is awarded to the best new writers in the fiction genre.
The story "Who's coming?"
John Campbell's Who Comes? became one of the most famous stories of all the writer's work. The story was published in 1938, and immediately gained immense popularity among readers. Despite the fact that the plot of the work does not have any new technologies, to this day it is read, speaking about the story with enthusiasm.
The work is written in the genre of science fiction and horror. The story is deservedly called the literary classic of horror. The events taking place in the book create a terrible atmosphere, and the behavior of the characters only doubles the horror of reading. Despite this, the book remains in memory as something amazing, capable of causing a unique experience.
For a long time there was no translation from English of this work. However, today you can find the Russian version. It is shortened, which makes the work even smaller than it exists in the original. However, this does not become an obstacle for those readers who develop in the field of their literary experience.
The content of the work
In the center of the plot is a research group that went on an expedition to the Antarctic. While conducting research for a long time, one of the members of the group accidentally finds something strange and inexplicable right on the ice surface. Gathering the other members of the group, he reveals the find, and colleagues conclude that it is a living creature. That's just what kind of creation it is - remains a mystery to the entire research team.
A group of scientific researchers comes to the decision: you need to unfreeze the creature and carefully study it. However, everything takes a completely different turn - the creature comes to life and unexplained chaos begins. Trying to kill an alien creature, people understand that it is almost impossible to do this - this creature can take the form of various creatures living on Earth. It takes the form of a person, the appearance of a dog, cat and many others. Fighting for their lives, will the research team survive in the Antarctic or will this creature win?