GNS – Pulp’s Peter Pan
•June 8, 2009 • 1 Comment
Meeting ‘Pulp’s Peter Pan’
by Sally Boyce
Pulp fiction’s ‘Peter Pan’ is alive and well and living on the Shropshire border, near Bucknell, where he shortly plans to celebrate 35 years as a published author.
Guy N. Smith, horror writer, columnist, countryman and game hunter, launched his career in 1974 following publication of Werewolf by Moonlight. His 100th novel is now on the horizon, and this year he has already added to the growing pile of tales thirsted after by avid fans worldwide with Maneater and Crabs’ Fury.
Now this well-known character, with a gift for re-invention equalled only by Madonna, is about to re-release his greatest hit, Night of the Crabs. As his publisher, Neil Jackson of Ghostwriter Publications, explains: “Another new novel, an autobiography, a new website, blogs, audio books and e-books, and he still works as a journalist for Countryman’s Weekly and runs his book business, Black Hill Books.” With a dash of playful menace, he adds: “Like the crabs in his classic series, he cannot – will not – stop.”
Guy doesn’t pretend to be a literary great, though his fast-growing fan club brings him great satisfaction and sales of his many books run into millions. He confesses: “I don’t pretend to write literature. I write good, old-fashioned pulp fiction which sells.”
Before settling in this region, he combined a banking career with his burgeoning flair for writing horror. By the time Night of the Crabs went into print the die was cast and he quit his day job to become a full-time author. But an affection for those early days is evident from a carefully preserved Midland Bank plaque, once fixed on a wooden shed from which his bank manager father dispensed advice on Tamworth market days.
The various and very colourful strands of Guy’s life dovetail neatly together and – with an autobiography on the way – he shows no sign of slowing down. “My output is greater than when I was at my peak!” he said. In the past he outshone others in the annual pipe-smoking championships and, though the smoking ban dampened a degree of enthusiasm for the competition, Guy remains eager to host an event at his home.
Every week he submits his writings on guns, stalking and cartridges to the Countryman’s Weekly and every day he pulls on his novelist’s hat. He’s a genial chap and, if you meet him, you’ll wonder where the plots for such disturbing books as The Slime Beast and Deadbeat come from.
He’s a family man, an ardent dog-lover and adores the country around him. But he won’t be drawn on the subject of his age. “They call me the ‘Peter Pan’ of pulp fiction,” he says and adds, with tongue firmly in cheek: “This year I’m going to be 50 – and I’ve got my ‘I am 50’ badge to prove it!”
Source: Shropshire Journal.
Creature Feature News
•May 27, 2009 • Leave a Comment
The GWP anthology Creature Feature will be published very soon, and in our build-up to this exciting release, we’re now able to reveal that the book includes two stories by Guy N. Smith, these being The Fish Thing and The Beast in the Mist.
Creature Feature is unleashed for pre-order on 1st June…delivery on 14th June. Pre-order price is limited to first 50 copies…£6.99 + £2.00 p/p (£3.00 US).
For pre-order enquiries, please contact:
[email protected]
The Penny Dreadful Collection
•May 25, 2009 • Leave a Comment
Ghostwriter Publications is proud to present The Penny Dreadful Collection, GWP’s new series of chapbooks. Guy N. Smith is one of many authors featured in the collection, and titles such as Crabs Armada, The Decoy and The Doll are among the very first on sale.
Starting from June 1st, the company will be publishing new chapbook titles every month to form a superlative collection of exciting horror fiction. Each individual book is available from the forthcoming all-new GWP website at the low price of £1 (GB)/ $1.25 (US) plus postage & packaging.
Please click the link to view the full gallery of Penny Dreadful titles.
New Night of the Crabs Trailer
•May 12, 2009 • Leave a CommentA new trailer for Guy N. Smith’s Night of the Crabs, created by Max Dowie, has today been unveiled by Ghostwriter Publications.
The classic horror novel will be published on May 25th.
The hardback is limited to 100 signed copies, and can be pre-ordered for the low price of £10.00 (plus £2.00 UK p/p or £3.00 p/p for delivery to the US).
To order:
Go to Paypal and make payment to: [email protected]
Don’t forget to add postage.
Night of the Crabs 2009
•May 10, 2009 • Leave a CommentTo open this week-long feast of Guy N Smith goodies, here is the first look at the trailer for the hardback release of the updated version of the classic horror novel Night of the Crabs.
The 2009 release comes complete with new dustjacket artwork from Monica Rondino and Andrea Pucci in addition to a prologue, epilogue and a completely new chapter with a wonderful introduction to the crab canon.
There is an introduction by the author himself and we are overjoyed to have the top horror author, Brian Keene, provide the tagline for the cover.
What completes the rerelease of this pulp classic is the foreword by author JF Gonzalez, who has had massive success with his take on the crab story with Clickers. The original novel was written in conjunction with his writing partner, Mark Williams, with Clickers II written with Brian Keene, alongside.
Mark unfortunately passed away in 1998, and it was his concept (inspired, in part, by Guy’s work) that was developed by both Jesus and Brian to produce the two crabs novels. The hardback is dedicated to him.
The hardback is limited to 100 signed copies…and…for this week only it can be pre-ordered for the disgustingly credit crunch-busting sum of £10.00 (plus £2.00 UK p/p or £3.00 p/p for delivery to the US).
Release date is 25th May and will be sent directly from the author (The paperback version is released 25th July…in Barmouth).
Those who have already preordered will receive a bag of goodies on release day…or thereabouts.
To order:
Go to Paypal and make payment to: [email protected]
Don’t forget to add postage.
Graveyard Rendezvous & Guy N. Smith Week
•May 3, 2009 • 1 Comment
Graveyard Rendezvous
The official Guy N. Smith Fan Club magazine, Graveyard Rendezvous, will be relaunched this summer. The magazine will feature the latest news and special offers as well as fiction and nonfiction. Submissions of no more than 1250 words based around the GNS canon are welcomed. Please forward submissions to:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Guy N. Smith Week
To celebrate the release of The Guy N. Smith e-Book Collection, Ghostwriter has organised a full week’s schedule of special offers, announcements and, of course, the publication of many of Guy’s novels in e-Book format, some for the very first time.
Guy N. Smith Week begins 13th May, with the release of Bats Out Of Hell, Deadbeat & The Slime Beast as electronic downloads from Horror-Mall. Also, The Wood e-Book will be made availabe, FREE, to all GNS fans.
Check The Guy N. Smith Chronicle in the following days for news of more exciting releases, including the opportunity for fans to own a unique and exclusive piece of GNS memorabilia.
New Books
•April 30, 2009 • Leave a CommentTraditional publishing has been undergoing problems for some years now. There are a number of factors responsible. The breaking of the Net Book Agreement has led to chain stores, principally supermarkets, discounting book prices and/or giving special offers on various titles such as “two for the price of one” etc. This neither benefits authors nor publishers.
Category publishing became a virtual extinct species. As a best-selling author of pulp fiction I was one of the victims in spite of the fact that I was still maintaining healthy sales, particularly in the USA. Then my American publishers discontinued their horror list.
I diversified and ten years ago accepted the offer to become Gun Editor of ‘The Countryman’s Weekly’ writing about subjects which have been my hobbies since my youth. My writing output became greater than in the days when I was writing books for New English Library, Hamlyn, Arrow etc.
About a year ago I met Neil Jackson of Ghostwriter Publications and listened to his proposals. He had some excellent ideas so I decided to participate in the new venture. Prior to this, in 2006, I began writing horror fiction again, this time one book a year for Severn House. So far “Blackout”, “The Cadaver” and, this year “Maneater” have been published in hardcover. So, the rumour that I am no longer writing new books is simply not true.
Beginning last autumn, Ghostwriter re-launched my graphic novel “Crabs’ Fury” illustrated by well-known Marvel comic artist, Charlie Adlard. This was followed by “Deadbeat” which had only been published with a few copies in an inferior form, littered with mistakes, a few years previously.
Now a Special Collectors’ Edition of “Night of the Crabs” is due out in hardcover within a matter of a week or two.
Ghostwriter and I are doing everything that we planned do, it has simply taken longer than either of us anticipated. This is a tremendous task…but we are making products available. In the meantime there have been chapbooks, T-shirts and a variety of merchandising, all of them collectors’ items. The website has been given a much needed make-over and the mailing list has grown from 64 to over 2000, in just six months.
I have no knowledge of modern technology and have agreed, today, to release my entire back catalogue for future release in digital formats, through Ghostwriter Publications. This is a major step forward in developing new markets for both the previously released titles and future works.
Even since my first short stories saw print and right up to my latest book, every manuscript has been penned by hand, and will continue in this way. I do not use a computer and all internet work is carried out for me by my assistant. Hence, I do not visit chat rooms. I would not have the time, anyway. Any fans who wish to contact me are welcome either to phone or e-mail. Contact details are on my website. All emails are passed to me and I dictate replies.
Finally, it seems that there is some concern regarding my co-writing books with other authors in the future. Rest assured that these will be high quality writers and my own input will be huge.
I have many, many synopses, specimen chapters and some completed, but unpublished manuscripts from the 1970’s and 1980’s, including Crabs, Sabat and numerous others. NEL, Hamlyn and other publishers could not cope with my output so naturally there were many stories which would only have seen print if the category market had not collapsed.
Now is the time to resurrect these and it is the time to get behind the two publishers and the new projects. A schedule of future books has been drawn up and I have already received my first royalties cheque. It is just like old times!
Rakie Keig Interview now online
•April 26, 2009 • Leave a Comment
The Moths author Rakie Keig features in GWP’s Focus supplement:
‘It’s fantastic to be involved with the Guy N. Smith Signature Series series with so many great writers – there’s some kick-ass names contributing, and I can’t wait to see where the Series takes them all.’
Crabs: The Return – GNS & Meikle Join Forces!
•April 20, 2009 • 2 Comments
The prospect of an exciting collaboration between best-selling author Guy N. Smith and rising star William Meikle has now become a reality with the announcement of Crabs: The Return. Smith, the originator of the Crabs canon, and Meikle, author of the eagerly-awaited Beserker, have
teamed-up to create a stunning new novel which fully complements and reinvigorates the long-running and successful series.
And in further good news for all GNS & Meikle fans, Crabs: The Return may be published as early as July this year! We’ll keep you informed with C:TR updates, so please check the Ghostwriter website, blog & The Guy N. Smith Chronicle regularly.
Concept art pictured above is prospective. Finalised Steve Crisp-authored art will be posted here nearer the book’s publication date.
Guy N. Smith Chronicle 