The Resurrected By Guy N. Smith

The Resurrected
By Guy N. Smith
1991 Grafton
Paperback, 223 pages

                This book is dark. I’ll admit to having squirmed in my seat a few times. At first, I thought it might go a little bit like Johnny Craig’s amazing story “Till Death” in EC Comics’ Vault of Horror #28 (Dec. 1952) which has a somewhat similar set-up but no, GNS takes things into even darker territory.

 

                Merryn is dying of a brain tumor at 28 years old. Wanting to get in as much as possible before her end, she marries her boyfriend Bernie. Together, they face the end with love and commitment. Bernie knows a white witch who can offer no help but an ex-colleague of hers gives him a call and offers an ominous chance. Bernie must take that chance. Enter Richie Howe, another witch. But his magic is far darker than the white witch’s. His work begins right after Merryn dies.

 

                Careful what you wish for, Bernie. Richie sure does bring Merryn back, but she isn’t quite the same woman anymore. She is distant, a little smelly and super horny. If Bernie can’t handle it, Richie can. In fact, Richie becomes quite close to Merryn, and she is his showpiece; a “living” example of his power. Richie’s boss is Old Scratch, and he likes what’s being done but would like a few lives sacrificed in his name as well. What the hell have you done, Bernie?

 

                Bernie had the best intentions but what he got back is a cold, uncaring whisp of an undead wife whose only function seems to be to cause him pain. Merryn is a wonderfully off-putting character. She’s beautiful but slimy, delicate but hard. She is just a pretty vessel full of selfish lust and hatred. Bernie holds out romantic hopes, but he knows it is far too late. GNS plays both sides beautifully. The early pages shows a devoted couple with heartbreak hanging over them and with limited time. Their “after” lives are filled with tension, torture, regret and fear and it all revolves around Richie and his master.

 

                This is absolute top-shelf GNS in my opinion. He could have played it easy and just schlocked away a good idea with cheap, gooey scares, but he makes it much more; a tragic relationship story from hell with enough pathos and both hope and hopelessness mixed in with the sleazy scenarios and demonic doings to really push this one into greatness. Luis Rey’s cover is just beautiful, too, giving this one my highest recommendation.

The City By Richard Haigh

The City
By Richard Haigh
1986 Grafton
Paperback, 191 pages

                The City is the second in Richard Haigh’s (Laurence James’) proposed trilogy of killer pig novels. The first chapter here even refers to the trilogy! Unfortunately, that third book never came out. This first sequel to 1984’s The Farm brings back the Buckland Whites, the breed of killer pigs that were, along with scores of other animals, chemically altered in the first book. The set-up is absolutely amazing.

 

                Britain’s biggest ever agricultural fair is being held at Wembley Stadium. Farm equipment, livestock; everything you would need to have the farm of your dreams under one roof. Including thirty Buckland Whites, “the killer pigs from Hobbs Farm in Wales” as a chief attraction. Fun for the whole family. As expected, an animal rights group ANL (Animals Need Life) plan to disrupt the show with demonstrations and the freeing of the caged animals.

 

                Our hero, TV journalist Jill Wallace is pretty bored with her assignment to cover this dull show but she’s there anyway and cover it she will. Also in the building is a model super-modern farm home with all the bells and whistles, including a family living in it for the duration of the event, a children’s TV show broadcasting live, a surly, racist guard who isn’t afraid to kill, an SAS unit of the army on premises, food vendors (lots of bacon) and, of course, the demonstrators. James really ratchets up the wait, giving you many characters that you need to see become pig chow and holds off for two-thirds of the book until you’re ready to burst.

 

                Then, he hits you with it. Hard.

 

                I haven’t read this much of a book aloud to my wife in my excitement in a long time. You see, Laurence James is an excellent writer, and his bloodletting can be downright poetic. This next passage is worth the cost of this rather hard-to-find, expensive paperback, as the wife in the model home is about to meet her maker… “Her last coherent thought, before she became preoccupied with the mystery of her own dying, was how very loud the crumpling bones of her skull seemed to sound.” Goddamn, that’s good. This book is far less mean-spirited and has less graphic sex than the first one but it too is a corker.

 

                While we enjoy reprints of the first two killer pig novels, (The Farm reprint was released in Spring 2026 by Valancourt Books!), we can dream about what James had in mind for the third book. The ending of The City is a cliffhanger set up for it, but apparently it was never written. James died in 2000. Perhaps, one day, the manuscript for The Continent or something will be found in a drawer and the killer pigs will return. Until then, get and enjoy the first two. Essential reading.

 

                An amazing full view of Les Edwards’ cropped cover painting for this book can be seen in Grady Hendrix’s Paperbacks from Hell (Quirk, 2017). Better yet, Cardboard Coffin's 2026 reprint features the uncut cover!

Cardboard Coffin's 2026 reprint!! 

The Sucking Pit By Guy N. Smith

 

The Sucking Pit
By Guy N. Smith
1989 Grafton
Paperback, 158 pages

                Another brisk, non-deadly-animal adventure from the master. When Guy N. Smith said he’d written more books than he read, you’ve just got to believe him. This one, first published in 1975 by New English Library, must have been written after thinking up a suitably exploitable title. And true to form, it’s a pretty satisfying read.

                On a visit to his secluded cabin in the woods, sweet Jenny find her uncle dying. Before his passing, she gets his gypsy black book into her hands and curiously peruses its contents. She tries a potion. Thus ends Jenny’s sweetness, replacing it with an animalistic sexual appetite and murderous intentions. She and the gypsies that live in the woods make life a living hell for the landowner and for the area in general. The sucking pit? It is a quagmire in the woods, an ancient gypsy burial site and a convenient place to dispose of bodies.

                The book is too short to be anything but an exciting page turner. Smith, as always, leaves out any fluff and gets right to the good stuff. To the detriment of the book’s brevity, there is a romance between two people trying to figure out what is going on at the cabin in the woods that blossoms into true love in just a couple of pages, but that can be forgiven. Who has time for building a budding romance in a book called The Sucking Pit?

                This title, Smith’s second horror novel, has had many different releases over the years with a few different covers. The 1989 edition by Grafton, reviewed here, sports a nice Luis Rey cover painting.

                This book sucks. In a good way. Guy N. Smith is a treasure.

                                            

    Hard Gore Press, 2011 Cover by Rick Melton        Polish Edition, Phantom Press 1991

                                                                                     cover art by Les Edwards, originally

                                                                                     used for Peter Tremayne's Swamp!  

                                                                                                  Sphere, 1985

 Midnight Magazine