The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

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The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Wed Jan 06, 2010 9:09 pm

Posted in the lounge for lack of a better place to put it.

If anyone here is a (rabid)fan like me of John Carpenter's The Thing, you're gonna love this:

I am being Blair. I escape out the back as the world comes in through the front.

I am being Copper. I am rising from the dead.

I am being Childs. I am guarding the main entrance.

The names don't matter. They are placeholders, nothing more; all biomass is interchangeable. What matters is that these are all that is left of me. The world has burned everything else.

I see myself through the window, loping through the storm, wearing Blair. MacReady has told me to burn Blair if he comes back alone, but MacReady still thinks I am one of him. I am not: I am being Blair, and I am at the door. I am being Childs, and I let myself in. I take brief communion, tendrils writhing forth from my faces, intertwining: I am BlairChilds, exchanging news of the world.

The world has found me out. It has discovered my burrow beneath the tool shed, the half-finished lifeboat cannibalized from the viscera of dead helicopters. The world is busy destroying my means of escape. Then it will come back for me.


Read the rest of the short story here:

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

Blog posts following the development of 'The Things' from the initial idea onward:

http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=84

http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=481

http://www.rifters.com/crawl/?p=435

plus a podcast here:

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio_01_10/

Image

Just for fun and contrast, here's the original inspiration for The Thing, a short story by Editor extraordinaire John W. Campbell titled 'Who goes there?':

http://www.scaryforkids.com/who-goes-th ... -campbell/
"but I do know that you should remove my full name from your sig. Dig?" - Unnamed, Super Scary Persun, bbrrrrr....
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Re: The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

Postby barracuda » Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:54 pm

Image

If the gentleman above seems angry, it's because they begin shooting on the prequel in March.
The most dangerous traps are the ones you set for yourself. - Phillip Marlowe
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Re: The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

Postby Project Willow » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:02 am

This is one instance where the remake completely surpassed the original, it's among my favorite scary movies of all time.
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Re: The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

Postby Et in Arcadia ego » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:23 am

barracuda wrote:If the gentleman above seems angry, it's because they begin shooting on the prequel in March.


:ohno:
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Re: The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

Postby barracuda » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:26 am

I do, though, love the Howard Hawks version as well. It has it's own certain magnificence.

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Re: The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

Postby Alaya » Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:44 pm

I'll read it. Agree with PW about the remake of 'The Thing". The way that thing would morph scared the living bejeezus out of me.
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Re: The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

Postby Cordelia » Sat Jan 09, 2010 11:55 am

I remember watching the original with my brother when we were kids and thought it was terrifying. The scene when they open the cabinet door and the sled dogs tumble out always got me. (We couldn't believe that 'The Thing' was also Marshall Dillon in Gunsmoke.) I haven't seen the remake--will have to check it out.
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Re: The Things - Fiction by Peter Watts

Postby guruilla » Sun Aug 02, 2015 7:14 pm

in-depth conversation with watts at The Liminalist, "Micro-Organism of Meaning"
It is a lot easier to fool people than show them how they have been fooled.
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