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Guy N. Smith (November 21, 1939 – December 24, 2020) was a British author of horror, nonfiction, soft porn, and Disney novelizations. You may need a moment to digest that, but while it seems from Smith’s writing career that he was primarily interested in the business of making money from his writing (which is by no means shameful), it’s likely that he took no path that didn’t seem fun as well as potentially lucrative.
A prolific writer, Smith has over 100 published books to his credit, most of those in the horror field. His first novel, Werewolf by Night, was published by NEL in 1974, just as the horror genre was gaining steam for the boom years soon to come. In 1975, he wrote novelizations for four Disney movies including Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Song of the South. He also wrote a series of Sexy Confessions books under a number of pen names. His best known works are likely the Crabs novels, the popularity of which enabled him to write full time starting in 1976 after the first book in the series, Night of the Crabs, became a bestseller and was later adapted into the film Island Claws in 1980.
Much of Smith’s writing is firmly in the vein of pulp fiction. Many of his works spawned sequels or series. His novel The Sucking Pit became sort of notorious for its sexual content and gore. A mention in Stephen King’s Danse Macabre didn’t hurt. A special hardcover limited edition of The Sucking Pit was released by Hard Gore Press in 2011.
Smith was born in Staffordshire. His mother was the historical novelist E.M. Weale and his father was a banker. Smith spent 20 years in the banking business before we was able to support himself with his writing. In 1999, after many years writing for the Shooting Times, he reports on his website that he became gun editor of The Countryman’s Weekly. Smith’s personal interests translate to longer-form nonfiction as well. An avid hunter and pipe smoker, he wrote many nonfiction books about hunting, trapping, shooting, gamekeeping, and tobacco culture. A BBC News report says Smith won the British pipe smoking championship in 2003. He and his wife had four adult children and lived in a remote part of Shropshire near the Welsh border. Smith passed away on Christmas Eve 2020; his official website reported that he had been hospitalized for a fall and tested positive for COVID-19. He was 81.
The cover scans below are from my personal library. Virtually all of Smith’s books have been reissued as ebooks and many are still available in print. To view complete list on Amazon, click here.
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