Guy N. Smith

Guy Newman Smith
Born 1939
Hopwas, Staffordshire
Occupation writer
Nationality English
Genre Horror fiction, Fantasy, Children's literature, Non-fiction

Guy Newman Smith (born 1939, Hopwas, Staffordshire) is a prolific English writer best known for his pulp fiction-style horror fiction, though he has also written non-fiction, soft-porn, and children's literature.

Biography

Smith wrote his first horror book, Werewolf by Moonlight in 1974. It spawned two direct sequels. He is probably best known for a series of six Crabs books, the first of which, Night of the Crabs, was published in 1976. The series chronicles invasions by giant, man-eating crabs of various areas of British coastline. In 1980 a film adaptation Island Claws came out.[1]

The pulpish nature of Smith's concepts and writing are legendary in the horror fiction world, and have been spoofed by the award winning comedian and writer Matthew Holness in his Garth Marenghi persona.[2]

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 countryside matters. However, he is best known for his 70 or so horror books. The Penguin Enclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural considers that Smith's horror novels were "endearing, imbued with lively storytelling and the tacky brilliance of the horror and science fiction cinema of the 1950's".[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 work mixes sex, violence, gore and self-conscious humour. Despite his reputation in some quarters as being a hack writer, Smith's novels enjoyed considerable popularity in Poland in the early 1990s, having been cheaply translated and published as pocket editions by the Phantom Press publishing house.

A lifelong pipe smoker, he won the British pipe smoking championship in 2003.[5] He collects pipes and smoking ephemera and has also written a book on tobacco - Tobacco Culture: A DIY Guide .[6] He is also an active pro-smoking campaigner. He is married to Jean and they have four adult children.

Selected bibliography

Werewolf series

Crab series

Crab short stories

Truckers series

Sabat series

Thirst series

Deathbell series

Pit series

Writing as Jonathan Guy

Writing as Gavin Newman

Disney books

Novelizations of the classic 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.

Softporn books

Other Novels

Non-Fiction

Short story collections

"Crustacean Vengeance" (a Crabs story)
"The Brain Crawlers"
"The Last Boot"
"Hellfire" (a Sabat story)
"Come Back, My Darling"
"Hounds From Hades"
"The Ghouls"
"The Baby"
"The Shooting on the Moss"
"Wheels of Evil"
"Curse of the White Rhinoceros"
"The Hoax"
"The Suitcase"
"The Island of Sweet Music"
"The Doll"
"The Act of God"
"The Last Supper"
"Bullseye"
"The Crabs"
"Triple Death"
"The Writing on the Wall"
"The League of the Twisted Serpent"
"The Piper Calls the Tune"
"Until Death"
"Dawn Rendezvous"
"The Poacher"
"The Scapegoat"
"Skywatch"
"Converging Forces"
"The Influencer"
"Phoenix"
"The Grim Reaper" (a Black Fedora story)
"President Seven"
"Red Alert"
"Alone"
"Chapters of Destiny"
"The Book of Lies"
"The Crabs" (a Crabs story)
"The Ginger Bear"
"The Grim Reaper" (a Black Fedora story)
"The Vampire Village" (a Sabat story)
"Hollow Eyes"
"Come On In and Join Us"
"The Executioner"
"Until Death"
"Return to Innsmouth"
"Ratmania"
"The Waiting Game"
"Pocklington's Walk"

Chapbooks

References

  1. ↑ "Interview with Guy N. Smth with the Monster Librarian".
  2. ↑ "Crab!". garthmarenghi.com. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  3. ↑ Sullivan (ed), Jack (1986). The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural. Viking. ISBN 0-670-80902-0.
  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. ↑ "Guy smokes rings round rivals". BBC News. 2003-06-08. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  6. ↑ Smith, Guy M. (1977). Tobacco culture: a D. I. Y. guide. Hindhead, Eng: Spur Publications. ISBN 0-904558-28-2.
  7. ↑ Smith, Guy M. (1976). Night of the crabs. Sevenoaks, Kent: New English Library. ISBN 0-450-02942-5.
  8. ↑ Smith, Guy M. (1999). Mystery and horror shorts: 1st. Collection. Knighton, Powys: Bulldog books. ISBN 0-9532701-2-2.
  9. ↑ Smith, Guy M. (1999). Fifty tales from the Fifties. Knighton: Bulldog. ISBN 0-9532701-4-9.
  10. ↑ Smith, Guy M. (2000). Science fiction & horror shorts. Knighton, Powys: Bulldog books. ISBN 0-9532701-5-7.
  11. ↑ Smith, Guy M. (2001). Horror Shorts: 2nd Collection. Black Hill Books. ISBN 0-9532701-7-3.

External links