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Post by sadako on Oct 21, 2023 13:41:08 GMT
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Post by sadako on Oct 21, 2023 13:58:43 GMT
From page 1 of his introduction...
"A horror writer must make every attempt to disturb his readership but this is not attained simply by writing pages and pages of graphic mutilation. There is an art in creating an atmosphere of spine-tingling horror without resorting to this sort of crudity and one of the aims of this book is to teach the aspiring writer a craft which relies in literary skills as opposed to basic accounts of blood and gore."
Is it me, or is this quote not hugely ironic, dishonest even, after all of the endless mayhem of The Crabs?
I still find it hard to read Guy N Smith horror novels, certainly the early ones, because of the queasy detail of the many, many sex scenes. But I'm once again trying to take him seriously because he's still popular and I'm hungry for 70s horror. The fact that someone invited him to advise others on how to write horror makes me think I'm missing a huge point and he actually got good later on. After re-reading the novels I picked up in the 70s - The Sucking Pit and The Slime Beast - I wasn't at all impressed. Just finished Werewolf By Moonlight, and enjoyed it for mostly the wrong reasons. But at least it was enjoyable and I'll persist.
This writing guide opens with Smith's history of horror fiction. It's a fair round up of the usual suspects, but in the midst of Poe, Mary Shelley and Stephen King, he singles out Lionel Fanthorpe's work as "exceptionally good novels", "crammed with action and the characters were believable".
Once again, everything I thought I knew is turned on its head. And that was only after chapter one.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 21, 2023 15:13:56 GMT
From page 1 of his introduction... "A horror writer must make every attempt to disturb his readership but this is not attained simply by writing pages and pages of graphic mutilation. There is an art in creating an atmosphere of spine-tingling horror without resorting to this sort of crudity and one of the aims of this book is to teach the aspiring writer a craft which relies in literary skills as opposed to basic accounts of blood and gore." Is it me, or is this quote not hugely ironic, dishonest even, after all of the endless mayhem of The Crabs? I still find it hard to read Guy N Smith horror novels, certainly the early ones, because of the queasy detail of the many, many sex scenes. But I'm once again trying to take him seriously because he's still popular and I'm hungry for 70s horror. The fact that someone invited him to advise others on how to write horror makes me think I'm missing a huge point and he actually got good later on. After re-reading the novels I picked up in the 70s - The Sucking Pit and The Slime Beast - I wasn't at all impressed. Just finished Werewolf By Moonlight, and enjoyed it for mostly the wrong reasons. But at least it was enjoyable and I'll persist. Consider when this was written. It is not dishonest. At the time of writing his view had some merit. The Crabs is harmless and not very graphic compared to novels by, say, Edward Lee and his circle with their gory excesses 2 decades later, especially after they went small press. The same development can be seen in movies and tv. The so-called video nasties of their time are already quaint if compared to products like Saw or Hostel. Or Terrifier.
Both The Sucking Pit and The Slime Beast are very simple tales, enjoyable because of their simplicity. Later day Smith can be deathly dull, because of the length and they are toned down. I like the sex scenes. They are part of the parcel. And again, compared with decades later even in mainstream novels like 50 Shades - not to mention real porn novels which also are becoming extinct on commercial markets - those scenes are short and vague.
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Post by sadako on Oct 21, 2023 16:31:03 GMT
Andy,
Even for the seventies, the early novels are awkwardly written, weirdly plotted and obsessed with sex. But yes, these elements are mainly enjoyable, as is his unique spin on the werewolf mythos.
While some of the violence may be tamer than 90s' fiction, they are, like many video nasties, nastier in their depictions of violent assaults on women. Together with most of the male characters' neolithic attitudes towards women. This isn't unusual for the decade, but detailed enough to be disturbing today.
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Post by sadako on Oct 23, 2023 11:08:23 GMT
Chapter two of Writing Horror Fiction includes Smith's secrets of research. He and his wife scour a newspaper each and cut out and keep articles and stories that may prove useful. He has scrapbooks devoted to animal attacks, police procedure, the Loch Ness monster and, more queasily, serial killers (including one devoted to Fred and Rosemary West), war crimes and executions.
In chapter three there's a whole ranty page about Political Correctness. It opens with, "There are no hard and fast rules concerning 'political correctness'. I don't really understand it and I doubt whether many other people do." Which hardly came as a shock. He complains about being made to change his manuscripts, but complies, because otherwise he would "not be published". I wonder if there any first drafts of his in circulation?
In chapter three, he reveals that several of his fictional characters were based on himself. For instance 'Gordon Hall' the weekend hunter of The Sucking Pit and 'Sabat', both of which I'd guessed. But who are the others?
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Post by dem bones on Oct 23, 2023 12:56:57 GMT
Chapter two of Writing Horror Fiction includes Smith's secrets of research. He and his wife scour a newspaper each and cut out and keep articles and stories that may prove useful. That I can well believe. If I'm not very much mistaken, Mark Sabat's encounter with his brother early in The Graveyard Vultures is a rewrite of a 1975 "report" in New Witchcraft magazine on an alleged "mental duel" between a "white magician" and a "necromancer" in St. Pancras Cemetery. Would not be surprised if GNS kept a scrapbook on football hooliganism too. Do you know if he was he a Fortean Times subscriber? I remember he once spoke about hunting big cat in X-Factor. |
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Post by sadako on Oct 23, 2023 13:43:34 GMT
Chapter two of Writing Horror Fiction includes Smith's secrets of research. He and his wife scour a newspaper each and cut out and keep articles and stories that may prove useful. That I can well believe. If I'm not very much mistaken, Mark Sabat's encounter with his brother early in The Graveyard Vultures is a rewrite of a 1975 "report" in New Witchcraft magazine on an alleged "mental duel" between a "white magician" and a "necromancer" in St. Pancras Cemetery. Would not be surprised if GNS kept a scrapbook on football hooliganism too. Do you know if he was he a Fortean Times subscriber? I remember he once spoke about hunting big cat in X-Factor. I’m new to the real world of Mr Smith, but he doesn’t mention Fortean Times in this book. I’m sure Rev Fanthorpe would have alerted him to them. |
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