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Fiend
The Ultimate Evil. . . The slowly decaying corpse lay on the bed in the Kremlin. The icy silence of a news blackout lending a chilling unreality to an occasion of monumental significance. For the Russian leader is dead. . . FIEND A shape blacker than the shadows; a thing that smelled of putrefaction and emanated a coldness beyond the iciness of the Siberian wastes. FIEND Lips screwed into a bestial snarl, eyes sunken and staring. Suddenly his powerful chest is heaving, drawing in breath and expelling it noisily, learning to breath again. Learning to live again.
- GenresHorror
320 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1988
3 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Guy N. Smith
175 books297 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 16, 2025
A supernatural thriller set in late 1980s U.S.S.R., what’s not to love? I really wish I had more fun with this story. Smith says he wrote it because a friend kept insisting he write a thriller, and he added a supernatural element because his publishers insisted it be a horror novel, and, well, you can tell. The novel doesn’t blend the two genres but instead feels like it is torn between them, never really committing to either and being weaker as a result.
None of the espionage is subtle or engaging enough to really hook you in, it is nothing more than surface-level set dressing. And yet there is no real sense of dread from the horror elements because everything that is going to happen is so telegraphed. Are there a few ridiculous and bloody scenes? Certainly. Are there some interesting ideas about nationality and loyalty? Sure. But the characters feel like mere outlines, never even being allowed to really wallow in the expectations of genre stereotypes because the novel is torn about what it wants to be. For all of the schemes and plotting and deaths, since we never have any real sense of these characters then their plans and their deaths don’t mean a whole lot. The plot is absurd enough that it could be cheesy and fun, but it is taking itself seriously which makes it hard to have fun watching an undead leader destroy the country from the inside out.
It went into a second printing when it was originally published, so maybe the social environment changes how you read the story. The international tensions at the time, when it was post-Cold War but still felt like every superpower had their finger on a giant red button, might have made this a more gripping novel. There are definitely some redeeming qualities, and your experiences may vary. It didn’t really work for me as a whole, it was a little too long to warrant its own indecisiveness, but there were a handful of moments that will stick with me.
(Rounded down from 2.5)
None of the espionage is subtle or engaging enough to really hook you in, it is nothing more than surface-level set dressing. And yet there is no real sense of dread from the horror elements because everything that is going to happen is so telegraphed. Are there a few ridiculous and bloody scenes? Certainly. Are there some interesting ideas about nationality and loyalty? Sure. But the characters feel like mere outlines, never even being allowed to really wallow in the expectations of genre stereotypes because the novel is torn about what it wants to be. For all of the schemes and plotting and deaths, since we never have any real sense of these characters then their plans and their deaths don’t mean a whole lot. The plot is absurd enough that it could be cheesy and fun, but it is taking itself seriously which makes it hard to have fun watching an undead leader destroy the country from the inside out.
It went into a second printing when it was originally published, so maybe the social environment changes how you read the story. The international tensions at the time, when it was post-Cold War but still felt like every superpower had their finger on a giant red button, might have made this a more gripping novel. There are definitely some redeeming qualities, and your experiences may vary. It didn’t really work for me as a whole, it was a little too long to warrant its own indecisiveness, but there were a handful of moments that will stick with me.
(Rounded down from 2.5)
August 30, 2017
One of Guy's longer books is a little silly, yet has a interesting premise. What would happen if the leader of Russia, who is a gentler ruler than those of the past, dies unexpectedly before a major peace conference? The KGB calls in there occult division to resurrect him. They only need him for a little while, then they can let him die again and get a new leader. The problem is that he turns into a Fiend. People start to die. Russia is on the brink of war. Things go down hill from there.
The problem with this book is that it was a little to long. Once the Fiend comes back, the KGB try to kill him over and over again. It starts to get a little old. The ways that The Fiend takes out some of his potential assassins are creative and gory.
The problem with this book is that it was a little to long. Once the Fiend comes back, the KGB try to kill him over and over again. It starts to get a little old. The ways that The Fiend takes out some of his potential assassins are creative and gory.
March 14, 2022
"A mountain of rippling mutilated flesh and muscle heaved before her, a naked, white thing with unbelievable strength, completely hairless except for that mangled chest, and as she tried not to look into those eyes she saw the full extent of his wounds. The chest had been ripped open, a ragged
cavity that exposed the breastbone and gave off an odour of putrefaction. And that organ, it was surely the heart, damaged beyond repair, it did not beat and yet he still moved and breathed. The Living Dead, a corpse that ruled a once-mighty nation and burned with human desire. Do they not realize that the Dead can walk?"
cavity that exposed the breastbone and gave off an odour of putrefaction. And that organ, it was surely the heart, damaged beyond repair, it did not beat and yet he still moved and breathed. The Living Dead, a corpse that ruled a once-mighty nation and burned with human desire. Do they not realize that the Dead can walk?"
October 23, 2023
Another crazy horror book from 1988; another first for me, dipping into the scummy crab-infested waters of the extremely prolific Guy N. Smith.
The big surprise for me was that this book took place in Russia during the "near future" (sometime in the 1990s I guess). The leader of the Soviet Union dies and the party desperately needs him to be the face of an upcoming international conference, so they pressgang a reluctant occultist into resurrecting him! Only, the gentle, mild-mannered Premier isn't the man he once was, now that he's undead. He is, in fact, a Fiend! Not just any Fiend, either, but the reincarnation of.....Well, that would be telling, I guess. So now he's a warmonger and decides he wants to start World War III. He has insane physical strength, might be unstoppable, looks like a bear and is the "perfect" amalgamation of Stalin, Hitler and some nebulous figure from Russian history. It's kind of fun.
Most of the pleasure in this book just comes from seeing the creative and bizarre things that happen to the many characters, mostly in the form of agonising and bloody death. There's some other bizarreness too. I really like how the occultist is just some poor schmuck basically, and not a sinister knowledgeable character. his bosses eventually tell him that he brought the monster to life and now it's up to him to stop it, but the plan he comes up with is ludicrous, and results in him -- turning into a dog? it's really odd, creative and funny, and kind of sad, and a part of me wonders if it might even be a subtle tribute to Mikhail Bulgakov, even though this book pretty much laughs in the face of all subtlety.
In another section we get a detailed, victim-point-of-view description of a big tough KGB assassin dying after contracting an engineered virus. It's all described with loving, gruesome care. Oh, yes, the KGB are sort of the good guys in this book -- so it's got something in common with Ilsa: The Tigress of Siberia there I guess, along with being just as sleazy.
yes, this book is pretty sleazy all right. I would hesitate to recommend it to most people, especially for that reason. Especially toward the end, things get pretty uncomfortable, and then the writer just sort of decides to end everything in a big conflagration. I, too, was thinking that maybe the time was right. Everything just kind of stops. It's strange. Presumably everyone dies, but WWIII is averted, maybe?
I wish there was more ceremony at the beginning. I mean that literally. The occult resurrection is about the most drab and uncolourful thing ever. I recently watched Dracula A.D., a fun and underrated "contemporary" film in Hammer's Dracula series, and the resurrection ceremony there is more along the lines of what i would have hoped for from Guy. Then again though, it kind of goes with the notion that this occultist dude is nothing special and just bungling his way through, and making him into a sinister sorcerer wasn't really the intention. Still, it all seems remarkably easy and casual, bringing a several-days-old corpse to life. While we're complaining, I'll also observe that the sleaze was starting to get a bit much by the end. While it's a book and not a film and no actual people are being exploited (except maybe the audience, heh heh), this is a very exploitative book. Even the way the author uses references to the Holocaust and such is pretty exploitative.
But yes, this was an odd one and kind of original. Sometimes the writing was even pretty good, whereas at other times it seemed to plunge totally off the deep end into almost drooling excess. I think though that kind of plunge is in part what people read this sort of thing for. I doubt Smith ever went to Russia but he sure fills his book with a lot of names, places, and geographical and cultural landmarks, so you know he's done good research. I was surprised and sort of impressed to see just how much delightful-sounding schlock Mr. Smith has written. If you like insane exploitation movies and stuff, this Guy might be for you.
The big surprise for me was that this book took place in Russia during the "near future" (sometime in the 1990s I guess). The leader of the Soviet Union dies and the party desperately needs him to be the face of an upcoming international conference, so they pressgang a reluctant occultist into resurrecting him! Only, the gentle, mild-mannered Premier isn't the man he once was, now that he's undead. He is, in fact, a Fiend! Not just any Fiend, either, but the reincarnation of.....Well, that would be telling, I guess. So now he's a warmonger and decides he wants to start World War III. He has insane physical strength, might be unstoppable, looks like a bear and is the "perfect" amalgamation of Stalin, Hitler and some nebulous figure from Russian history. It's kind of fun.
Most of the pleasure in this book just comes from seeing the creative and bizarre things that happen to the many characters, mostly in the form of agonising and bloody death. There's some other bizarreness too. I really like how the occultist is just some poor schmuck basically, and not a sinister knowledgeable character. his bosses eventually tell him that he brought the monster to life and now it's up to him to stop it, but the plan he comes up with is ludicrous, and results in him -- turning into a dog? it's really odd, creative and funny, and kind of sad, and a part of me wonders if it might even be a subtle tribute to Mikhail Bulgakov, even though this book pretty much laughs in the face of all subtlety.
In another section we get a detailed, victim-point-of-view description of a big tough KGB assassin dying after contracting an engineered virus. It's all described with loving, gruesome care. Oh, yes, the KGB are sort of the good guys in this book -- so it's got something in common with Ilsa: The Tigress of Siberia there I guess, along with being just as sleazy.
yes, this book is pretty sleazy all right. I would hesitate to recommend it to most people, especially for that reason. Especially toward the end, things get pretty uncomfortable, and then the writer just sort of decides to end everything in a big conflagration. I, too, was thinking that maybe the time was right. Everything just kind of stops. It's strange. Presumably everyone dies, but WWIII is averted, maybe?
I wish there was more ceremony at the beginning. I mean that literally. The occult resurrection is about the most drab and uncolourful thing ever. I recently watched Dracula A.D., a fun and underrated "contemporary" film in Hammer's Dracula series, and the resurrection ceremony there is more along the lines of what i would have hoped for from Guy. Then again though, it kind of goes with the notion that this occultist dude is nothing special and just bungling his way through, and making him into a sinister sorcerer wasn't really the intention. Still, it all seems remarkably easy and casual, bringing a several-days-old corpse to life. While we're complaining, I'll also observe that the sleaze was starting to get a bit much by the end. While it's a book and not a film and no actual people are being exploited (except maybe the audience, heh heh), this is a very exploitative book. Even the way the author uses references to the Holocaust and such is pretty exploitative.
But yes, this was an odd one and kind of original. Sometimes the writing was even pretty good, whereas at other times it seemed to plunge totally off the deep end into almost drooling excess. I think though that kind of plunge is in part what people read this sort of thing for. I doubt Smith ever went to Russia but he sure fills his book with a lot of names, places, and geographical and cultural landmarks, so you know he's done good research. I was surprised and sort of impressed to see just how much delightful-sounding schlock Mr. Smith has written. If you like insane exploitation movies and stuff, this Guy might be for you.
October 4, 2022
"Schyłek zimnej wojny. W ZSRR umiera marionetkowy sekretarz Kieszow, ale partia postanawia go wskrzesić. Okultystyczny rytuał powiódł się, ale przywódca zachowuje się inaczej. Stał się bardziej bezwzględny, przez co kraj pogrąża się u chaosie."
To chyba najlepsza książka Guy N. Smitha jaką miałam okazję przeczytać. Wszystko się dobrze składa, akcja początkowo biegnie wolno, ale przyspiesza w odpowiednim momencie. Diabeł w ciele polityka serio budzi grozę i przerażenie. Gdy tylko się pojawia atmosfera staję się napięta. Jednak jakieś "ale" musi być. Siergiej Prokop jest zbyt obojętny na wszystko coś wokół niego dzieje, a jest jedną z głównych postaci. I największy problem to zakończenie, czuć że pisane na szybko, bez szczegółów, niewiele zostało nam wyjaśnione. Ale najważniejsze elementy Pulp horroru mamy: intrygi, groza, seks, różnorodne śmierci, szukanie rozwiązania. Dobre to było!
5,5/10
Instagram @moze_booka
To chyba najlepsza książka Guy N. Smitha jaką miałam okazję przeczytać. Wszystko się dobrze składa, akcja początkowo biegnie wolno, ale przyspiesza w odpowiednim momencie. Diabeł w ciele polityka serio budzi grozę i przerażenie. Gdy tylko się pojawia atmosfera staję się napięta. Jednak jakieś "ale" musi być. Siergiej Prokop jest zbyt obojętny na wszystko coś wokół niego dzieje, a jest jedną z głównych postaci. I największy problem to zakończenie, czuć że pisane na szybko, bez szczegółów, niewiele zostało nam wyjaśnione. Ale najważniejsze elementy Pulp horroru mamy: intrygi, groza, seks, różnorodne śmierci, szukanie rozwiązania. Dobre to było!
5,5/10
Instagram @moze_booka
Read
August 7, 2019Recording the fact that I read this book most likely either in the late 1970s or early 1980s
April 5, 2025
Well this was one of guys best books,superbly written,no crabs,werewolf’s in sight but when guy n smith put his mind to it he could write some excellent books,this one not to everyone’s taste but I really enjoyed it
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews