I hope I don't catch crabs!

Yesterday I spent an enjoyable afternoon at the Black Hills home of legendary horror author, Guy N. Smith – I was interviewing Guy for the first episode of Scary Motherfucker Radio which will go live this Halloween. It was a great thrill meeting Guy because I’d spent a great deal of my teenage years reading his novels – I mean what self-respecting teenager could resist a novel about giant killer crabs?


We covered a lot of ground in the interview – the paperback years, NEL Publishers, the rise and fall and rise of the horror genre and pretty much everything and the kitchen sink. I’m pleased with the way the interview sounds (I’ve just spent several hours editing it for consumption) and know it’ll make a great main feature for episode one of Scary Motherfucker radio.

So be here or be square and prepare for Scary Motherfucker Radio – available here and at iTunes.

NIGHT OF THE CRABS

Night of the Crabs
Guy N. Smith
Originally published 1976

This book takes me back - to a time of flared trousers, long summers, spangles and hula hoops. Guy N. Smith was a popular name around the school-yard - he wrote gruesome horror tales about killer crabs, bats, alligators. His world was populated by slime beasts, snakes and the walking dead. Just the sort of thing your average schoolboy from the 1970's liked. -well that and Farrah Fawcett!

These books stood out on the shelves - look at the cover here and ask yourself, is it any wonder we spent our pocket money on these books. Course James Herbert kicked off the 1970's trend for creatures on the rampage with The Rats in 1974 but me and my muckers preferred the Crabs because the stories were set in Wales. So in a sense they were all the more scary because we lived in Wales also and the landscape the psychotic crustaceans scuttled over was the very same ground we walked upon.

Now since those days I've grown and become more sophisticated in my tastes - or at least I thought so. Re-reading the book now, as an adult, you realise how much of a good story it is, how well written and if you suspend your disbelief you're in for a treat. The story moves at a breakneck speed and manages to build genuine suspense. OK it all get ridiculous when the giant crabs come ashore but that doesn't matter because Guy Smith is a skilled enough writer to drag you into the story. These books still have a cult following and there has been talk of a film from time to time - I've had a few long telephone conversations with the author, well we're both pipe smokers so there's an affinity there, and he feels as if the Crabs story is very much alive and there will be some developments in the future. The crabs franchise still has teeth...should that be pincers?


The idea of giant crabs may seem silly but then so too are killer rats, possessed cars, zombies and vampires. Isn't all imaginative fiction silly to a certain extent

The entire Crabs series is legendary in horror circles and, silly or not, they really are entertaining.