Newsletter No. 1

November 2021 – Birthday Special

Celebrating the Life and Works of Guy N Smith

Welcome Friends and Fiends from Everyone at Black Hill Books and the Smith Family!

It goes without saying that losing Guy has left a huge Great-Scribbler-sized hole in our lives since he passed away in December 2020. We had hoped to have him a round for much longer, and he had so much to look forward to, with four books still to be published in 2021. More of that later. Going through Guy’s books and extensive collection of business materials, we can hardly believe that anyone could be so prolific and productive at any age, let alone at the age of 81. It has been a slow process for the family to try to understand all the working parts of Black Hill Books, and we have had to make some di cult decisions about some aspects of the business, but we hope to keep Black Hill Books and Guy’s literary legacy going.

2021

In the past year, we have enjoyed the release of three new Guy N. Smith books with Sinister Horror Company:

Satanic Armageddon, the third and final book in the John Mayo series.

From the Dark Hours, a short story collection.

Beheaded, a joint collaboration with J.R. Park.

These are all available on Amazon and directly from www.sinisterhorrorcompany.com

In addition, a superb Polish anthology of Guy’s much-loved Sabat series is timed for release on Christmas Eve. The two-volume book contains the Sabat novels and short stories by Guy and even some new Sabat stories by acclaimed Polish writers, plus some exciting photos and previously-unseen material. Hal C. F. Austell and Shane P. D. Agnew have each made written contributions, and Guy’s daughter, Tara, was also asked by publisher Sebastian Sokołowski, head of Wydawnictwo Phantom Books, to write an introduction to the publication. The Sabat anthology will only be available in the Polish language for now, but who knows what may happen in the future? You can purchase a Polish copy from www.phantombooks.pl.

As many of you will know, in October 2020 Guy re-released his 1978 novel Bats Out of Hell through Black Hill Books as a response to the pandemic situation, with proceeds being donated to the NHS. We are hopeful that a hardcopy version of the book will also be released by another publisher… Watch this space!

Guy’s elder son, Gavin Smith, has worked as a rock singer/songwriter for many years and wrote a song last winter called Chasing Shadows. The song is about Gavin’s memory of getting lost on Black Hill with Guy on a snowy, foggy day, and expresses his struggle to come to terms with his passing. The family has been in tears many times listening to different arrangements and ‘mixes’ of the song, and it was played at Guy’s funeral in February. If you want to hear it, the song is available (under the band’s name Bamboo Guerillas, another nod to Guy) on all streaming platforms (Amazon Music, Spotify, etc). It has been the soundtrack of our year, in fact.

Diary entry

As a little treat for Guy’s loyal fans, we have decided to print the first excerpt of Guy’s ‘Pepys St Paul’s Diary 1957,’ which we will serialise in our forthcoming newsletters. The diary was originally handwritten and is utterly charming. Guy would have been just 18 years old when he wrote it and was already working in the Midland Bank.

Introduction.

‘It was only on January 1st that I decided I would keep a diary for the coming year 1957. I am going to attempt to set down, briefly, the individual events of each day. It is not intended to be read by anyone, except myself to whom I give permission. If anyone should read this without my consent, he (or she) is a bloody nosey parker!!! Certain references are known only to myself and this diary is kept only for my own purposes. At school the mob used to call me the “Mystery Man” or the “Ice Man,” so mysterious I shall be, except in this diary. G.N.S’

Feedback

We are going to set up a Patreon account and YouTube channel for Black Hill Books, through which we would share forthcoming news and events with our followers. If you have any thoughts, requests or suggestions about the the future of Black Hill Books and Guy N. Smith publications, please get in touch by emailing Tara at admin@blackhillbook.co.uk.