Masters of Horror

British author Guy N. Smith (1939-2020) was born and brought up in Staffordshire. He began writing at a young age thanks to encouragement from his mother, who had been a published novelist in the 1930s. From the age of 12, Smith had over fifty of his short stories accepted for publication in a local newspaper. From then on, he knew he wanted to be a professional writer. Later on, whilst working at Midland Bank in Birmingham, he submitted a synopsis for Werewolf By Moonlight to New English Library (NEL), which was accepted immediately and published in 1974. The novels The Sucking Pit and The Slime Beast followed swiftly. Night of the Crabs was the fourth of Smith's novels and arrived on newsagent stands and bookshops in 1976 just as holidaymakers flocked to Britain's beaches during a prolonged heatwave. It became a bestseller overnight, and he went on to enjoy a successful fulltime career as a writer. He is best known for his horror output, with around 80 horror novels to his name, but he also published work in other genres including thrillers, children's fiction and non-fiction, including thousands of countryside articles.

Born in County Durham in 1937, Brian Lumley joined the British Army's Royal Military Police where he served in many of the Cold War hotspots, including Berlin and Cyprus in partition days. After reaching the rank of Sergeant Major, he retired to Devon to pursue his writing career full time, and was first published in 1970. Specialising in horror fiction, his works include the well-known Necroscope series of novels and its spin-offs such as the Vampire World Trilogy and the E-Branch trilogy. He also served as the president of the Horror Writers Association from 1966 to 1997. Lumley was decorated with both the World Fantasy and Stoker awards for lifetime achievement in 2010.