Fans of a late local best selling horror novelist to flock to Mid Wales convention on Sunday

A fan convention dedicated to a late Mid Wales and Shropshire border-based best selling horror novelist, takes place on Sunday.

The Guy N Smith Fan Convention 2026 will be located at Knighton Community Centre, Powys on Sunday September 6 from 12 noon until 5pm.

Guy achieved a huge following for his dark horror stories and lived most of his adult life near Knighton. He also set many of his pulp horror books in local rural landscapes.

He passed away in 2020 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after contracting the coronavirus.

Born in Hopwas, near Lichfield, he died on Christmas Eve in 2020 at the age of 81.

His prolific output led to him becoming known as ‘The Great Scribbler’ and his death has had a global impact.

His 1977 novel Bats Out of Hell told the story of how a bat escaped from a laboratory and took flight over Cannock Chase, spreading a deadly plague that claimed thousands of lives.

The book enjoyed some success, selling about 50,000 copies, but was quickly overshadowed by his earlier novel, Night of the Crabs in 1976, which rocketed up the bestsellers list and was adapted into a film, allowing Mr Smith to quit banking and establish himself as one of the world’s top authors of pulp-fiction style stories.

The book told the story of giant crabs invading the Welsh seaside town of Barmouth.

He published a total of 124 books and about 4,000 articles and short stories in his writing career, selling millions of copies around the world.

A lifelong pipe smoker, he was crowned the British Pipe Smoking Champion in 2003, and wrote a book about tobacco.

He was also a keen player of the table-football game Subbuteo, and 1998 he played the game for 24 hours in aid of a charity for young deaf people.

The convention is a chance for fans to hear talks, listen to book readings, audiobook tasters etc, purchase rare, collectable and one-off GNS books and memorabilia and bid on numerous GNS items in an auction all connected to Guy and his novel legacy.

Guy's daughter Tara Paulsson will open the event and introduce everyone – and encourage raffle ticket purchases!

Original book art – 8 Crabs series covers, Bamboo Guerillas cover, Badger Island cover – and Guy’s Imperial Typewriter will be on the display table.

Comedian/broadcaster Robin Ince will talk about Giant Crabs and maybe play a recording of the live Crabs Musical he and others performed at the Latitude 2026 festival.

It will be followed by a Killer Crabs Prologue audiobook taster, with narration by Pete Gold.

Author Mark Morris will read from his latest book 'Bad Things Happen Here' and there will then be a buffet lunch and a chance to mingle.

Celebrated comic artist and Shropshire lad Charlie Adlard will be in attendance as a limited edition of the graphic novel Crabs' Fury he and Guy worked on together will be re-issued.

In the afternoon Tara will read the Introduction to Pipe Dreams, Guy N. Smith's memoir, David Owain Hughes reads an extract from his crime mystery thriller South by Southwest Wales and comedian, rising star Welsh writer and broadcaster Bennett Arron will host the quiz and auction.

There will be a Beasts and Bayonets quiz, an auction and then the presentation of quiz prizes.

The fan convention will also have many goodies including a limited edition chapbook of the GNS Fan Con 2026 short story 'Hollow Eyes' by Guy N. Smith, a limited edition chapbook of Crabs' Fury by Guy N. Smith and Charlie Adlard.

The Bamboo Guerillas and Slime Beast series artwork, oil on canvas, pen and ink, will be auctioned off – reserve prices apply!, and there will be proofed Manuscript Collections of the latest releases, signed books, a selection Graveyard Rendezvous originals and an exhibition of Welsh artist Neale Thomas' Crabs series original painted artwork, mounted on wooden (books 1-8), and Rowan Robinson's Badger Island cover art painting

An Honorary PhD in GNS Studies will be awarded by the Great Scribbler Academy of Pulp

A free Spotify download code for the Night of the Crabs audiobook launched last year will be available and there will be Black Hill Books GNS re-releases at special fan con discount price

Tara said: “The Killer Crabs audiobook just came out on all platforms, the sequel to Night of the Crabs, the audiobook of which came out last year, and we have just re-released e-books and paperbacks of 70s pulp novel The Slime Beast and its 2015 sequel The Spawn of the Slime Beast this summer.

“So far, we've re-released about 15 titles, and we're speeding up as we get to know how our artists and foreword writers like to work.

“All proceeds from the book sales are ploughed back into book production costs, since we use real artists not AI which is expensive but worth it!”

There will be a live stream of the event on the Guy N Smith YouTube channel, search for@guynsmith514