‘From the Dark Hours’ – Guy N. Smith (Sinister Horror Company)

What lies in the dark? What stirs in the murk? What creeps and crawls in the blackness, fearful of the sun but thirsty for meat?

Lethal hauntings, murderous animals and uncanny curses rule the night, as Guy N Smith, master of pulp horror, unleashes a new set of nightmares to plague your dreams.

The tales within these pages tell of the evil in nature and the destructive psychosis of man; delusions and fever dreams from the dark hours.

Featuring the stories Beasts of the Dark Hours, Night of the Necrophile, The Lair of the Giant Squid, The Prison Cell Door, The Shrunken Head, The Clairvoyant, The Immortals, The Big One, The Last Crab and The Taxidermist.

The more I get into Guy N. Smith’s work, the more I’m very much in awe of his output. I think the word ‘prodigious’ is apt here, the size of his back catalogue is just amazing and that’s only what I’ve seen of it, I think there’s a lot more that I’m unaware of. And a large chunk of this is made up of short stories which again was a surprise as I thought he only wrote novels. Shows what I know 😉 ‘From the Dark Hours’ is one of the last Guy N. Smith books to come out of the Sinister Horror Company (I think there’s one more to come) and as such, I was all over it; forking out a little extra to have a copy in my hands rather than on my Kindle. You know how it is 😉

‘From the Dark Hours’ ended up being a very quick read for me, taking a trip to and from work to polish it off completely. It is a very slight book, weighing in at only a hundred and sixty three pages, but the reason those pages flew by isn’t just because there aren’t that many of them… No, these short stories are all incredibly readable and it is so easy to just move on to the next one and just keep going. Smith has an easy-going style here, no airs and graces, that really eases you into the story. You may see what’s coming but that’s almost the point of these stories I think. I mean, if you don’t then it’s a great (terrifying) surprise when the hammer falls. If that’s not you though, don’t worry; you probably already know that Smith is revisiting some favourite themes of his here, with ‘man vs nature’ playing a big part, so you just sit back and enjoy the ride. Either way, there’s fun to be had with these particular stories, especially with the return of some old favourites of mine.

It’s not just ‘nature horror’ though with Smith showing his hand at regular horror/ghost stories and even a little bit of science fiction. I love a writer who will turn their hand to anything and Smith demonstrates here that he was certainly that. ‘Night of the Necrophile’ and ‘The Prison Cell Door’ were standout reads for me but really, they were all good and show Smith’s sense of timing was as on point as ever.

‘From the Dark Hours’ is one of those books where I think fans may get the most out of it but anyone with a taste for horror could pick it up and have a lot of fun reading. I certainly did.