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The Dark One
Agreeing to take in Marcel while his parents are away, the Gorlays dismiss local gossip that link the troubled youth to devil worship until the family dog is brutally killed and a strange force takes over the house. Original.
- GenresHorror
252 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1995
1 person is currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Guy N. Smith
175 books298 followersI was born on November 21, 1939, in the small village of Hopwas, near Tamworth, Staffordshire, England. My mother was a pre-war historical novelist (E. M. Weale) and she always encouraged me to write.
I was first published at the age of 12 in The Tettenhall Observer, a local weekly newspaper. Between 1952-57 I wrote 56 stories for them, many serialized. In 1990 I collated these into a book entitled Fifty Tales from the Fifties.
My father was a dedicated bank manager and I was destined for banking from birth. I accepted it but never found it very interesting. During the early years when I was working in Birmingham, I spent most of my lunch hours in the Birmingham gun quarter. I would have loved to have served an apprenticeship in the gun trade but my father would not hear of it.
Shooting (hunting) was my first love, and all my spare time was spent in this way. In 1961 I designed and made a 12-bore shotgun, intending to follow it up with six more, but I did not have the money to do this. I still use the Guy N. Smith short-barrelled magnum. During 1960-67 I operated a small shotgun cartridge loading business but this finished when my components suppliers closed down and I could no longer obtain components at competitive prices.
My writing in those days only concerned shooting. I wrote regularly for most of the sporting magazines, interspersed with fiction for such magazines as the legendary London Mystery Selection, a quarterly anthology for which I contributed 18 stories between 1972-82.
In 1972 I launched my second hand bookselling business which eventually became Black Hill Books. Originally my intention was to concentrate on this and maybe build it up to a full-time business which would enable me to leave banking. Although we still have this business, writing came along and this proved to be the vehicle which gave me my freedom.
I wrote a horror novel for the New English Library in 1974 entitled Werewolf by Moonlight. This was followed by a couple more, but it was Night of the Crabs in 1976 which really launched me as a writer. It was a bestseller, spawning five sequels, and was followed by another 60 or so horror novels through to the mid-1990's. Amicus bought the film rights to Crabs in 1976 and this gave me the chance to leave banking and by my own place, including my shoot, on the Black Hill.
The Guy N. Smith Fan Club was formed in 1990 and still has an active membership. We hold a convention every year at my home which is always well attended.
Around this time I became Poland's best-selling author. Phantom Press published two GNS books each month, mostly with print runs of around 100,000.
I have written much, much more than just horror; crime and mystery (as Gavin Newman), and children's animal novels (as Jonathan Guy). I have written a dozen or so shooting and countryside books, a book on Writing Horror Fiction (A. & C. Black). In 1997 my first full length western novel, The Pony Riders was published by Pinnacle in the States.
With 100-plus books to my credit, I was looking for new challenges. In 1999 I formed my own publishing company and began to publish my own books. They did rather well and gave me a lot of satisfaction. We plan to publish one or two every year.
Still regretting that I had not served an apprenticeship in the gun trade, the best job of my life dropped into my lap in 1999 when I was offered the post of Gun Editor of The Countryman's Weekly, a weekly magazine which covers all field sports. This entails my writing five illustrated feature articles a week on guns, cartridges, deer stalking, big game hunting etc.
Alongside this we have expanded our mail order second hand crime fiction business, still publish a few books, and I find as much time as possible for shooting.
Jean, my wife, helps with the business. Our four children, Rowan, Tara, Gavin and Angus have all moved away from home but they visit on a regular basis.
I would not want to live anywhere other than m
I was first published at the age of 12 in The Tettenhall Observer, a local weekly newspaper. Between 1952-57 I wrote 56 stories for them, many serialized. In 1990 I collated these into a book entitled Fifty Tales from the Fifties.
My father was a dedicated bank manager and I was destined for banking from birth. I accepted it but never found it very interesting. During the early years when I was working in Birmingham, I spent most of my lunch hours in the Birmingham gun quarter. I would have loved to have served an apprenticeship in the gun trade but my father would not hear of it.
Shooting (hunting) was my first love, and all my spare time was spent in this way. In 1961 I designed and made a 12-bore shotgun, intending to follow it up with six more, but I did not have the money to do this. I still use the Guy N. Smith short-barrelled magnum. During 1960-67 I operated a small shotgun cartridge loading business but this finished when my components suppliers closed down and I could no longer obtain components at competitive prices.
My writing in those days only concerned shooting. I wrote regularly for most of the sporting magazines, interspersed with fiction for such magazines as the legendary London Mystery Selection, a quarterly anthology for which I contributed 18 stories between 1972-82.
In 1972 I launched my second hand bookselling business which eventually became Black Hill Books. Originally my intention was to concentrate on this and maybe build it up to a full-time business which would enable me to leave banking. Although we still have this business, writing came along and this proved to be the vehicle which gave me my freedom.
I wrote a horror novel for the New English Library in 1974 entitled Werewolf by Moonlight. This was followed by a couple more, but it was Night of the Crabs in 1976 which really launched me as a writer. It was a bestseller, spawning five sequels, and was followed by another 60 or so horror novels through to the mid-1990's. Amicus bought the film rights to Crabs in 1976 and this gave me the chance to leave banking and by my own place, including my shoot, on the Black Hill.
The Guy N. Smith Fan Club was formed in 1990 and still has an active membership. We hold a convention every year at my home which is always well attended.
Around this time I became Poland's best-selling author. Phantom Press published two GNS books each month, mostly with print runs of around 100,000.
I have written much, much more than just horror; crime and mystery (as Gavin Newman), and children's animal novels (as Jonathan Guy). I have written a dozen or so shooting and countryside books, a book on Writing Horror Fiction (A. & C. Black). In 1997 my first full length western novel, The Pony Riders was published by Pinnacle in the States.
With 100-plus books to my credit, I was looking for new challenges. In 1999 I formed my own publishing company and began to publish my own books. They did rather well and gave me a lot of satisfaction. We plan to publish one or two every year.
Still regretting that I had not served an apprenticeship in the gun trade, the best job of my life dropped into my lap in 1999 when I was offered the post of Gun Editor of The Countryman's Weekly, a weekly magazine which covers all field sports. This entails my writing five illustrated feature articles a week on guns, cartridges, deer stalking, big game hunting etc.
Alongside this we have expanded our mail order second hand crime fiction business, still publish a few books, and I find as much time as possible for shooting.
Jean, my wife, helps with the business. Our four children, Rowan, Tara, Gavin and Angus have all moved away from home but they visit on a regular basis.
I would not want to live anywhere other than m
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 28, 2022
Guy N. Smith is a name that is pretty much synonymous with vintage/throwback horror. The guy published something like 100 novels and short stories and was author of the infamous (for better or worse) Crabs series, the Sabat series, and plethora of other famous one-offs. I'd never say that his stuff is ever very good. Entertaining? Yes. But never up amongst the higher echelons of other horror novelists.
I went into i>The Dark One with pretty much the same idea. I knew it would be easy reading, fast paced, and at least somewhat enjoyable. I didn't expect it to be as good as it actually was.
I'll preface that by saying that The Dark One is typical Smith style. There's nothing that stands out or comes across as original. It's paper thin plot and cardboard characters don't do anything to make this required reading. And its short length doesn't leave much in the way for development of story or characters.
And yet...something about this book made me enjoy it far more than it should have been. Maybe it was Smith's more restrained writing here, leaving out his over-the-top gore and pulp for something that was a bit more...grounded. Turning to devil worship and sacrifice isn't new in horror, but it felt a tiny bit more nuanced here...though, again, the key word is tiny.
I went into i>The Dark One with pretty much the same idea. I knew it would be easy reading, fast paced, and at least somewhat enjoyable. I didn't expect it to be as good as it actually was.
I'll preface that by saying that The Dark One is typical Smith style. There's nothing that stands out or comes across as original. It's paper thin plot and cardboard characters don't do anything to make this required reading. And its short length doesn't leave much in the way for development of story or characters.
And yet...something about this book made me enjoy it far more than it should have been. Maybe it was Smith's more restrained writing here, leaving out his over-the-top gore and pulp for something that was a bit more...grounded. Turning to devil worship and sacrifice isn't new in horror, but it felt a tiny bit more nuanced here...though, again, the key word is tiny.
September 25, 2017
Short, sweet and to the point little pulp book that could. Think of Guy N Smith as a poor man's James Herbert. Ok for a quick read but nothing to rave over or really keep in your collection unless you are a Smith hardcore fan.
January 29, 2014
A middle class family watch the troubled child of their working class friends. Grisly accidents seem to follow him, later revealed to be the result of satanic rituals.
Set against the backdrop of the Satanic Panic scare that hit England after America grew out of it, the real horrors seem to be the more mundane creepiness that lies implicit behind the page: wife swapping, sexual abuse, puberty. Unfortunately, these elements weren't exploited.
More reviews at Trash Menace.
Set against the backdrop of the Satanic Panic scare that hit England after America grew out of it, the real horrors seem to be the more mundane creepiness that lies implicit behind the page: wife swapping, sexual abuse, puberty. Unfortunately, these elements weren't exploited.
More reviews at Trash Menace.
Want to read
August 7, 2019Recording the fact that I read this book either in the late 1970s or early 1980s
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews