First published back in August of 2024, UK indie author and photographer Chris Elphick’s ‘Guy N Smith: A Personal Fanzine’ was described by Elphick himself as a “personal fanzine to celebrate 50 years of Guy N Smith’s prodigious pulp horror novels and short stories”.
Introduction – 5 Pages
Split into two parts, the first section of the introduction is a personal homage to the late Godfather of Pulp Horror. In this we have Elphick providing us with an overview of his own journey which eventually led to getting back into reading fiction, and from that, becoming an avid collector of Smith’s work. Here we learn of Elphick’s motivations for churning through twenty of Guy’s titles in 2023, and why ‘Caracal’ (1980) holds such a special place in Elphick’s heart.
Part Two of the introduction tells us how a book, two websites, a social media group, and an encouraging individual led to the creation of this one-off zine. These being: (i) Shane Agnew’s ‘Guy N Smith: Illustrated Bibliography’ (2018); (ii) this very website ‘DLS Reviews’ (2014 – Present); (iii) Hal C.F. Astell’s immensely impressive website ‘Smithland’, which provides a plethora of incredibly detailed insights and research into Smith’s work; (iv) ‘The Guy N Smith Appreciation Society’ Facebook Group; and (v) Guy’s daughter Tara Paulsson who has been the absolute driving force behind the republishing and promotion of all thing GNS since the author’s passing.
Guy N Smith: A Short Biography / Illustrated GNS Bibliography – 13 Pages
Next Elphick provides a brief, three-page overview of Guy’s history, detailing his parents’ influence, his early work, and finally the various genres and publication types which his work found a home within.
Following this we have ten-pages of full colour reproductions of Smith’s principal pulp publications (provided in order of publication).
A Warning To Fellow GNS Readers / Championing Bedraggled Books – 4 Pages
For this section, Elphick provides a humorous analogy about being a GNS collector-holic. It’s a tongue-in-cheek piece, written in the style of an ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ style of group introduction. This comical confession at being a Smithophile plays along the same lines as Agnew’s ‘The Completist – A Cautionary Tale’, for which Elphick respectfully references in his own take upon such a caution.
Elphick’s ‘warning’ however, is perhaps more of a self-reflecting admission, almost seeking some justification for spending so much hard-earned cash on his ever-expanding collection. It’s joyfully self-deprecating and telling of a personal hobby that perhaps, got a tad out of control.
Immediately after this, Elphick provides a brief explanation of his love of ‘Bedraggled Books’ as he calls them, which essentially are well worn, well-loved, and most importantly well-read books. The love and passion that flows out of this brief pondering by Elphick is possibly the highlight of the fanzine. Despite his collection of GNS rarities, Elphick is clearly a reader first and foremost. This becomes wonderfully apparent from reading this section. His unreserved display of open-hearted passion for Smith’s work is heart-warming. It’s enough to plaster a massive smile onto the face of any diehard Smith fan.
Collecting Guy – 26 Pages
In this section we see extracts from Elphick’s blog-like diary, commencing on 28th December 2022 whereupon Elphick received an original handwritten draft of Smith’s short story ‘Mr Strange’s Christmas Dream’ – a short which was first published within ‘Fantasy Unlimited: Issue 12’ (1973). From the acorn of this thoughtful gift from a loved one, the towering oak tree of Elphick’s GNS addition would soon grow.
The following twenty-odd-pages cover Elphick’s regular diary additions, as he churns through title after title of Smith’s back catalogue. Accompanying these short notes of his reading accomplishments, are numerous full colour pictures of the books alongside Elphick’s beloved cats.
For me, as I’m sure it will be the case with may ‘veteran’ GNS fans, what was of most interest in this section was Elphick’s details of what titles have become highly sought after these days. Many of these were, just a handful of years ago, sold brand new for under a fiver on the likes of Amazon – the mass-produced reprint of ‘Deadbeat’ (2003) and the recent(ish) Blackhill Books publication of ‘Night Of The Werewolf’ (1976 / 2012) being perfect examples.
Toby’s Way – Guy N Smith – 12 Pages
Next, we have the first printing of the previously unpublished GNS short story ‘Toby’s Way’:
It was a cold and foggy day in November when David Blair was finally released from Durham prison. He’d been sentenced to five years for his part to play in the bank robbery, but he’d been let out in three, on account of his good behaviour. Now he was out, Blair feared the potential repercussions of him snitching on Joe Shannon and his men.
Two of them had gotten life for their actions. However, Joe Shannon had never been captured. There was now bad blood between Shannon and Blair. Revenge was likely on the criminal’s mind. Such thoughts consumed David Blair’s train journey as he made his way back to his mother’s home. A journey which Blair knew could very well turn out to be his last…
Here we have a textbook GNS short story. There’s been so many of Guy’s shorts involving a bank clerk or similar, tempted by some crime or fraudulent shenanigans. It all harks back to Smith’s early career within banking (although obviously I’m not suggesting Guy got up to any such underhanded activities!). That initial career planting seeds of inspiration for so many of his stories.
The rest of this short tale is a relatively standard thriller affair. It’s a sort of British reimagining of the story of Hachikō. Admittedly the tale ends a tad too abruptly (something that’s unfortunately all too common with Smith’s shorts), however, it’s nevertheless a great little yarn, with plenty of character thrown into the story’s fleshed-out skeleton.
GNS Cover Tributes – 36 Pages
Following his yearlong GNS read-a-thon, Elphick set about creating a series of character photoshoots based on Smith’s novels. These imaginative dioramas soon evolved into Lego based pieces, photographed in studio conditions to replicate Smith’s garish covers, in a fun and tongue-in-cheek homage to the original artwork.
The sheer creative imagination within these Lego dioramas is honestly incredible, and for this reviewer at least, formed one of the most enjoyable aspects of this fanzine book. I was grinning from ear to ear as my eyes pored over the cover images which I know so very well, only here, reimagined in Lego!
Elphick also offered up some dioramas taken from key scenes from a number of the books, recreated in Lego and photographed with expert skill and a clear want for doing justice with recreating Smith’s vision. Honestly, these pages containing the full colour pictures of these recreations are just so much fun.
GNS Quizzes – 7 Pages
As we edge towards the end of the book, Elphick offers up a couple of small GNS quizzes, the first being “which GNS novels displayed the following blurbs?” and the second being “which of Guy’s book covers do these faces glare?”.
Both quizzes contain twenty-five questions, and fair do’s to Elphick, they range from instantly recognisable to really testing the knowledge of hardcore GNS fans!
Crabs’ War – 5 Pages
Next, we have a short series of crabs’ dioramas which sort of tell a short extract of a story about our favourite crustaceans attacking. It’s short and a bit of fun but does feel a tab jumbled and maybe even unfished compared to the monstrous success of the aforementioned Lego photoshoots.
Poems – 4 Pages
Finally, Elphick offers up three GNS inspired poems. As detailed on a number of occasions within DLS Reviews, with poetry I’m completely out of my depth! So, I’ll keep this short. All three poems seemed to flow well (as far as I could tell). But most importantly, as a veteran GNS fan, they made me grin throughout. Job done!
Afterword – 1 Page
To end the book, Elphick signs off his personal fanzine with a short afterword stating how much fun and enjoyment he had from its creation and then hoping it might have inspired others to consider their own projects of celebratory homage. It’s a final open message which feels very honest, as has been the author’s approach throughout the entirety of the book.
DLS Review:
Okay, so what we have with this fanzine is something put together out of the sheer pleasure and passion for an author’s work. To be honest, that ignition of inspiration and flair of passion alone is enough to have most pulp fans won over. Elphick achieves this with effortless ease.
I’ll admit to sort of knowing Chris Elphick via the aforementioned GNS Appreciation Society, as well as having parted with a few GNS rarities to expand his collection. However, I would suggest that my acquaintance with Elphick doesn’t cloud my judgement upon the merits of this book. For if you’re a Smith fan, the sheer enthusiasm exhibited within this magnificent tribute alone is likely enough to enthral, engage and delight.
I’ll be honest, for any seasoned GNS fan, there’s little you are likely to learn from this book. But that’s not the point of the piece. Yes, we have a brief bio and a comical warning about the slippery slope into collecting Smith’s insanely prolific output. But the real joy and intention of the book is to deliver an insightful, almost voyeuristic view of one man’s escalating passion for Guy N Smith’s work, and the subsequent, near obsessive, collecting that followed.
The publication of this book is admittedly very indie. There are typos, inconsistencies with fonts and misalignments scattered throughout. However, I would argue that this seems to only add to the raw DIY joy of the piece as a whole.
The inclusion of the previously unpublished short was definitely a nice touch. If I was to change anything in the book, it would be to clear up the very few typos within that narrative. Although, the very few typos that cropped up, were only very minor and should not be enough to fully derail an engrossed reader.
As a whole, this personal fanzine, as a tribute and homage to the pulp horror master, is nothing short of an absolute joy to read, from start to end.
The book runs for a total of 121 pages.
© DLS Reviews
