Guy N. Smith

Guy Newman Smith (born 21 November, 1939, Hopwas, Staffordshire) is an English writer best known for his pulp fiction-style horror, though he has also written non-fiction, softcore pornography, and children's literature.

Guy Newman Smith
Born (1939-11-21) 21 November 1939[1]
Hopwas, Staffordshire
Occupationwriter
NationalityEnglish
GenreHorror fiction, Fantasy, Children's literature, Non-fiction
Website
guynsmith.com

Biography

Smith's father was a bank manager, his mother a pre-war historical novelist (E. M. Weale). His mother always encouraged his writing and he was first published at the age of 12 in The Tettenhall Observer, a local newspaper. Shooting (hunting) has always been an interest of Smith's, and he would have liked an apprenticeship in the gun trade. Not acceptable to his father, Smith's first job was in banking. In 1961 he designed and made a 12-bore shotgun, and during 1960-67 operated a small shotgun cartridge loading business.[1]

In the late 1960s and into the early 1970s Smith's writing focused mainly on shooting and he wrote regularly for many sporting magazines of the day. In 1972 he launched a second hand bookselling business that would eventually become Black Hill Books. Smith's intention had been to concentrate on this business and hopefully leave banking. It would ultimately be his writing that would do this.[1]

Smith wrote his first horror book, Werewolf by Moonlight, in 1974. It spawned two direct sequels. However, he states it was Night of the Crabs published in 1976 that really launched him as a writer.[1] Spawning seven sequels, the latest of which was published in 2019, the series chronicles invasions by giant man-eating crabs of various areas of British coastline. Smith claims that the 1981 film Island Claws, which told a similar story about giant crabs on the coast of Florida, was an adaptation of his work though neither Smith nor his novel were credited on the film.[2]

To date, Smith has had over a thousand short stories and magazine articles published. He has written a series of children's books under the pseudonym Jonathon Guy, two thrillers under the name Gavin Newman, and a dozen non-fiction books on various countryside matters. However, he is best known for his 70 or so horror books. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural considers Smith's horror novels "endearing, imbued with lively storytelling and the tacky brilliance of the horror and science fiction cinema of the 1950s".[3] On the other hand, the horror critic R.S. Hadji included Smith's novel The Sucking Pit on his list of the worst horror novels ever written.[4]

Smith's most recent original novel The Reaper was published in 2019.

The pulpish nature of Smith's concepts and writing have been spoofed by the award winning comedian and writer Matthew Holness in his Garth Marenghi persona.[5]

A lifelong pipe smoker, he won the British pipe smoking championship in 2003.[6] He collects pipes and smoking ephemera and has also written a book on tobacco, Tobacco Culture: A DIY Guide.[7] He is also an active pro-smoking campaigner. He is married to Jean and they have four adult children, Rowan, Tara, Gavin and Angus.

Selected bibliography

Werewolf series

  • Werewolf by Moonlight (1974)
  • Return of the Werewolf (1976)
  • The Son of the Werewolf (1978)
  • Werewolf Omnibus (omnibus of all three books) (2019)

Crab series

  • Night of the Crabs (1976) [8]
  • Killer Crabs (1978)
  • The Origin of the Crabs (1979)
  • Crabs on the Rampage (1981)
  • Crabs' Moon (1984)
  • Crabs: The Human Sacrifice (1988)
  • Crabs' Fury (Graphic Novel) (1992)
  • Killer Crabs: The Return (2012)
  • Crabs Omnibus (short stories collection) (2015)
  • The Charnel Caves (2019)

Crab short stories

  • "Crustacean Vengeance" (from Scare Care ed. Graham Masterton, Tor 1989)
  • "The Decoy" (from Fear #13, 1990)
  • "The Crabs" (from Peeping Tom, 1992)
  • "Crabs' Armada" (from The Cadaver Chapbook)

Truckers series

  • The Truckers 1: The Black Knights (1977)
  • The Truckers 2: Hi-Jack! (1977)
  • Blood Circuit (1983)

Sabat series

  • Sabat 1: The Graveyard Vultures (1982)
  • Sabat 2: The Blood Merchants (1982)
  • Sabat 3: Cannibal Cult (1982)
  • Sabat 4: The Druid Connection (1983)
  • Sabat 5: Wistman's Wood (2018)
  • Sabat 6: The Return (2019)
  • Dead Meat (1996) (omnibus of all 4 books plus two new Sabat stories, Vampire Village and Hellbeat)

Thirst series

  • Thirst (1980)
  • Thirst II: The Plague (1987)

Deathbell series

  • Deathbell (1980)
  • Demons (1987)

Pit series

  • The Sucking Pit (1975)
  • The Walking Dead (1984)

Writing as Jonathan Guy

  • Cornharrow (1988)
  • Badger Island (1993)
  • Rak: The Story of an Urban Fox (1994)
  • Pyne (1995)
  • Hawkwood (1996)
  • The Minister Geese (2012)

Writing as Gavin Newman

  • The Hangman (1994) (and again in 2015 as Guy N Smith)
  • An Unholy Way to Die (1999)

Disney books

Novelizations of Disney films. Paperback novels all originally published by New English Library in 1975 and reprinted by Pyramid Books in 1976 both with black and white drawings throughout.

Softcore pornography books

  • Sexy Secrets of Swinging Wives, Part 1: The Partner Swappers (as Anonymous)
  • Sexy Confessions of a Relief Nurse (as Wendy Davis)
  • Sexy Confessions of a Games Mistress (as Joan Hudson)
  • Sexy Confessions of a Bank Clerk (as Peter Lynch)
  • Sexy Confessions of a Secretary (as Patricia Mathews)
  • Sexy Confessions of a Pop Performer (as Alan Myatt)
  • Sexy Confessions of a Window Cleaner (as Adrian Wood)

Other Novels

  • The Slime Beast (1975)
  • Der Ruf des Werwolfs (1976) (Originally printed in German only, Published by Erich Pabel as a part of their "Vampir Horror Roman")
  • The Ghoul (1976) (based on the 1975 film The Ghoul)
  • Bamboo Guerillas (1977)
  • Bats Out of Hell (1978)
  • Locusts (1979)
  • Satan's Snowdrop (1980)
  • Caracal (1980)
  • Doomflight (1981)
  • Warhead (1981)
  • Entombed (1981)
  • Manitou Doll (1981)
  • Wolfcurse (1981)
  • The Pluto Pact (1982)
  • The Lurkers (1982)
  • The Undead (1983)
  • Accursed (1983)
  • Throwback (1985)
  • The Wood (1985)
  • Abomination (1986)
  • The Neophyte (1986)
  • Snakes (1986)
  • Cannibals (1986)
  • Alligators (1987)
  • Bloodshow (1987)
  • Fiend (1988)
  • The Island (1988)
  • The Master (1988)
  • The Camp (1989)
  • The Festering (1989)
  • Mania (1989)
  • Phobia (1990)
  • The Unseen (1990)
  • Carnivore (1990)
  • The Black Fedora (1991)
  • The Resurrected (1991)
  • The Knighton Vampires (1993)
  • Witch Spell (1993)
  • The Plague Chronicles (1993)
  • The Dark One (1995)
  • Dead End (1996)
  • Water Rites (1997)
  • The Pony Riders (1997)
  • The Busker (1998)
  • Deadbeat (2003)
  • Blackout (2006)
  • The Cadaver (2007)
  • Maneater (2009)
  • Nightspawn (2010)
  • The Eighth Day (2012)
  • Night of the Werewolf (2012)
  • Psalm 151 (2013)
  • Spawn of the Slime Beast (2015)
  • Carnage (2016)
  • The Reaper (2019)

Non-Fiction

  • Gamekeeping and Shooting for Amateurs (1976)
  • Tobacco Culture: A DIY Guide (1977)
  • Ferreting and Trapping for Amateur Gamekeepers (1978)
  • Hill Shooting and Upland Gamekeeping (1978)
  • Profitable Fishkeeping (1979)
  • Ratting and Rabbiting for Amateur Gamekeepers (1979)
  • Sporting and Working Dogs (1979)
  • Animals of the Countryside (1980)
  • Moles and Their Control (1980)
  • The Rough Shooter's Handbook (1986)
  • Practical Country Living (1988)
  • Writing Horror Fiction (1996)
  • Hunting Big Cats in Britain (2000)
  • Pipe Dreams: An Autobiography (2013)
  • Midland Gun Company - A Short History (2016)
  • A Century Of The History Of Shotgun Cartridges (2019)

Short story collections

  • Horror Shorts: 1st Collection (June, 1999 by Bulldog Books) ISBN 0-9532701-1-4
  • Horror Shorts: 2nd Collection[9]
  • Mystery & Horror Shorts: 1st Collection[10]
  • Science Fiction & Horror Shorts: 1st Collection[11]
  • Fifty Tales from the Fifties[12]
  • Hangman's Hotel And Other Stories (2013)
  • Nightmares From The Black Hill (2017)
  • Tales From The Graveyard (2020)

Chapbooks

  • The Cadaver
  • Come On In and Join Us (Horror Express Publications)
  • Crab's Armada (April 2009, Ghostwriter Publications)
  • The Doll (April 2009, Ghostwriter Publications)
  • The Decoy (April 2009, Ghostwriter Publications)
  • Crabs: Unleashed (October 2009, Ghostwriter Publications)
  • Limited Edition (December 2009, Ghostwriter Publications)

References
  1. "Guy N. Smith". Retrieved 2017-04-20.
  2. "Interview with Guy N. Smith with the Monster Librarian".
  3. Sullivan (ed), Jack (1986). The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. Viking. ISBN 0-670-80902-0.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. R.S. Hadji, "13 Worst Stinkers of the Weird", in Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Magazine, May–June 1983. TZ Publications, Inc. (pp. 86-87).
  5. "Crab!". garthmarenghi.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  6. "Guy smokes rings round rivals". BBC News. 2003-06-08. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  7. Smith, Guy N. (1977). Tobacco culture: a D. I. Y. guide. Hindhead, Eng: Spur Publications. ISBN 0-904558-28-2.
  8. Smith, Guy M. (1976). Night of the crabs. Sevenoaks, Kent: New English Library. ISBN 0-450-02942-5.
  9. Smith, Guy N. (2001). Horror Shorts: 2nd Collection. Black Hill Books. ISBN 0-9532701-7-3.
  10. Smith, Guy N. (1999). Mystery and horror shorts: 1st. Collection. Knighton, Powys: Bulldog books. ISBN 0-9532701-2-2.
  11. Smith, Guy N. (2000). Science fiction & horror shorts. Knighton, Powys: Bulldog books. ISBN 0-9532701-5-7.
  12. Smith, Guy N. (1999). Fifty tales from the Fifties. Knighton: Bulldog. ISBN 0-9532701-4-9.
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