GNS – Pulp’s Peter Pan

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.

~ by greatscribbler on June 8, 2009.