The Seventh Man

Somewhere to the west of London a group of men wander unchallenged out of a refugee holding centre.

A refugee is a person who: ‘owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country’

This group of disparate individuals almost immediately disperse. The novel tells of their journies within the UK.

eBook and paperback available here - shorturl.at/afmV8

Sam Smith's prose pieces

This contains short prose pieces written over the life time of the author and collected here. Some are ridiculous fictions, some verging on poetry. A book to be dipped into. 

Available here

Anti

It would be a stretch to call these Antis essays. Essays is far too grand a description. Especially when it's just puzzled me trying to puzzle out aspects of this contradictory life. I did toy with an alternative title, A Loner's Manifesto. But thought it might be even more offputting.

eBook and paperback available here -    https://cutt.ly/vMcGO9R 

Trees : the tree prospectus

by Sam Smith

"The novel made me want to walk in the woods and, this time, see the trees, really see the trees."  Brian Daldorph: Coal City Review #45 

"Wonderful book exploring the nature of writing, of love, of grief and also giving details on trees in the way that Moby Dick has chapters on different species of Whale." Liberty Rowley

“One of my favourite reads of the lockdown - and I’ve been reading a lot! Trees is a great story but interspersed with information about native tree species. Gripping from start to finish.” Jos Mister 

 “I know when it’s been a good read when I'm thinking about the characters long after I've finished the book." Dr Andrew Taylor

 “Definitely a good read. ‘Trees’ uses a very personal perspective to shed light on how relationships start, grow and change as the realities of the world intrude, and how in turn we can change the world. Although the lives of the characters are the central driver of the story, trees are important to all of their lives in different ways, in turn illustrating how trees are essential to all life. /  Trees is about everyday people whose lives lead to unexpected places, of discoveries about themselves and others, with trees almost as characters in their own right such is the detail that the story tells us about their individuality. A story with depth but so easy to read.” Richard Szwejkowski 

“Ultimately ‘Trees’ is an exploration of family and how individuals cast out from their birth family find their sense of belonging, their purpose. A forest holds many species of trees with specific roles: the lower level rely on the upper levels for shade, the spacing allows each their required access to nutrients in the soil, flowering shrubs attract pollinators, but, within this structure, each plant is enabled to become and grow individually. In a family where an individual is denied, Gustav and Hazel were put up for adoption, Lungren was cast out because his mother wouldn’t let him develop and become himself, Hazel’s adoptive mother was left in the shade of an older sister and deprived of the familial support her sister received, how does that individual find their way? Through her adoptive mother, Hazel found her forest. The other characters are still searching.” Emma Lee: The Blue Nib 

 If the button for a signed copy should fail to work (they sometimes do) you can email me - asamsmith@hotmail.com - and using that email address paypal me.

Or the button not working you can send me a cheque, payable to 'Sam Smith' at 38 Pwllcarn Terrace, Blaengarw, Bridgend, CF32 8AS

eBook available here - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1140646

The Company Chronicles

3 books in one, The Company is what those who work there call their private detective agency. The Chronicles have been written at the behest of owner Marcus. Book one deals with bride vetting and oligarchs. Book two investigates the disposal of nuclear waste. Book three looks into another private detective agency and reluctantly gets involved with a possible murder. 

eBook available here - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1140484

Failures of Love

"Sam Smith has written a novel that unflinchingly portrays the everyday dissociations and disappointments of an ordinary person, Howard, a police support officer going about his duties in a northern post-industrial town. But by steering resolutely clear of cliché and sentimentality Smith brings Howard alive and allows the reader to share his experiences, his puzzlement at events he only ever half understands, his duty to his ill father and his cautious, modest hopes. Howard's alienation is palpable, a constant sense of being not quite connected with his own world, until on one marvellous occasion when circumstances demand selfless action and Howard, for once in his life, doesn't hesitate to step forward and become what the moment demands. It is as near as many of us will ever come to enlightenment, and it will live with me for a very long time..." Andy Hickmott

"... Smith fills the novel with details of the eponymous town, a dying backwater suffering the double loss of both fishing and mining industries, Howard's middle-aged going-nowhere life and his relationship with his fellow police officers and his epileptic, domineering father, and even some genuine action along the way.

I must admit that I felt a little ambivalent at the premise of the novel; but, once I'd started reading, I was hooked by the vivid characterisation of the protagonist and his world, as well as a surprisingly-intriguing mystery. Marraton is not your run-of-the-mill murder mystery and all the better for it! Smith is an author who can take you into a fully-realised world and keep you there, attentive, as he vouchsafes nuggets of background and character along the way. An extremely absorbing read. Highly recommended." DJ Tyrer The Supplement

eBook as Failures of Love here - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1138528 

or contact me here for signed copies - asamsmith@hotmail.com 

video - http://animoto.com/play/4xvKDsukQjK0MzVH7sBCIg

'Hit and Run' Endeavour Press available as an eBook here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B5GB64C

'Hit and Run' was previously published as Marks by BeWrite Books 

 "...Sam Smith offers an in depth look into the life of a divorce detective trying to solve a case while dealing with life's little surprises along the way. "Marks" is about more than a fancy way of chalking the tires as a form of surveillance. It is a story about George Hawkins, hired to follow a case of adultery who finds himself witness to a hit and run, a possible suspect in a missing person's case, and on the trail of a possible spy. In the midst of all this George must keep himself alert and focused as the sudden disappearance of his long time live-in girlfriend propels him into self-doubt and onto the brink of depression. Unknowing if she is dead or alive, he tries to keep a grip on his instincts for his job rather than the emotions of the heart. The reader is hooked with strong realistic narration while taking you on a journey filled with puzzles and loopholes. You really feel you get to know the main character and feel for him at every twist.... ....Sam Smith has written an enjoyable story that unravels to a clean yet surprising story." Nancy Jackson: Dog-Eared Webzine                 

"Sam Smith uses first person in superb narrative fashion to deliver an exceptional story. The mind of the main character is openly displayed, allowing other characters to be formed and fascinatingly observed. The addition of historical events weighs heavily on convictions and friendships, and gives insight into Japanese culture. MARKS is not just a mystery or espionage tale, but also an indication of what certain circumstances can do to individuals in true life situations..." Patricia Spork: eBook Reviews Weekly 

Although Marks is no longer available via BeWrite Books I do have 3 paperbacks for sale at £9.80 here - asamsmith@hotmail.com  

Now also an e-book Porlock Counterpoint is available here -  https://lnkd.in/eV9Xw9G 

Porlock Counterpoint, like the other BeWrite Books is no longer available via BeWrite, but I do have some paperback copies for sale at £9.80 here-  asamsmith@hotmail.com  

"....When I started on Sam Smith’s Porlock Counterpoint, I soon forgot my own writing and the demands of work. And it was mainly Sam’s utterly engaging style of writing that prevented me from putting the book down. The use of galloping present tense, a collection of characters so real that it wasn’t long before I knew and sympathised with each and every one of them, and a fresh, almost innocent, take on drug smuggling, combined to make this a fast-moving read -- my favourite novel of 2002.... It’s good that the story is not told as a good-triumphing-over-evil theme and does not judge; it does not even ask the reader to judge – it just gets one completely involved. And there lies its success as a story. Film and television companies take note – it’s called PORLOCK COUNTERPOINT and it’s by Sam Smith and published by BeWrite Books!"   Barry Ireland

"In .... Porlock Counterpoint, Sam Smith explores the reality of life, reminding the reader that men and women live not in a realm where existence is defined simply in black and white. Mr Smith ... demonstrates to the reader that more often than not, life is lived in sketchy shades of gray. .... Mr Smith has done a commendable job of addressing the tue nature of the race once again."  Mike Broemmel 

"Never have I read a crime story with more levels than this - above and below ground. You rush through the pages to reach the conclusion... but the conclusion is your own. Magnificent. What a storyteller, what an interrogator is Sam Smith..." Alistair Kinnon

Sick Ape: an everyday tale of terrorist folk - now available in various digital formats

from Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/572993 -

'Having read this book, I'm amazed, it's brilliant. Sam Smith has a unique writing style which adds more flavour to the book and also grips you from the first page, you want to read more. / The storyline is interesting and raises a number of valid points about today's society, though not about terrorists as we usually perceive them, but normal men fighting back against the wrongs in their life. / Not only is this book witty and clever but also reflects a lot of problems we all meet in every day life.' Ruth Kent  

I do have some BeWrite paperback copies for sale at £9.80 here -  smithsssj@aol.com  

You Human: the Leander Chronicle  

is the third of the 5 book series The unMaking of Heaven  

You Human: the Leander Chronicle is the dark core, the gravitational mass of the quintet, The unMaking of Heaven.

Within You Human genetic manipulation and genocide will be encountered, sexual obsession/gratification and the nature of love will be explored.

 "A slower story from its predecessors, but intriguing and informative in the continuation of this series, You Human is a personal and emotional story which develops the core beings of series in a very different way to the previous novels."  Anthony Lund

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&....fourth in the 5 book series is Not Now: Death, Dreams & Reasons for Living: 

'Not Now: Death, Dreams & Reasons for Living - “Like 'You Human,' the book deals with interspecies love and desire, but it also comments on the self, on escaping regularity, on desires and on the dreams of beings. When a stranger called Leon Reduct asks poet Okinwe Orbison to undertake a mission to save the Talkers from extinction, Orbison does not know just how deeply he will be affected by the task he has been given. Full of many dream sequences, self doubt and self discovery, the story once again picks up the true novel feel, its short chapters pushing the story along quicker than the reader realizes. From its opening to closing lines, 'Not Now' is one of the best books of the series, contemplative and questioning while remaining continuously interesting and engrossing to the reader.”   Anthony Lund  

ebook available here - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1153697

Once Were Windows Once Were Doors

The history of writing Once Were Windows Once Were Doors

Not often that I can recall with such certainty the genesis of a novel, but this one certainly began with my grimly saying aloud, surprising myself (fortunately there was no-one else within earshot), “We must destroy Jerusalem.” Jerusalem that is as utopian concept, William Blake’s building of such elsewhere, et cetera.

For a couple of days that thought trickled around and under contemporary politics, their silly career doings and humourless utterances; and kept bumping up against the near impossibility of ridding simplistic humanity of Jerusalem and its many other utopian mindsets.

Which brought me to ask, ‘In which case why not destroy Jerusalem itself? Its poisoning importance to so many sects?’

So did my mental processes proceed to just how, and in what circumstances, that destruction might be achieved; and, given those circumstances, the long-term effects its destruction might have.

It was from that point that I had to ask myself, how far into the future did I extrapolate present day trends so that such an event would become no more than an historical footnote, a curiosity? So, speculative pen in hand, did the book, with many scratchings out and reverse arrows, begin to build.

eBook available here - ​https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1140355 

"Lack of originality is certainly not a criticism one could level at Something's Wrong by Sam Smith. This is one of the most innovative novels I have read for some time. The form is that of a series of transcripts of tape recordings of someone who, as it becomes rapidly clear, has some serious mental health problems. This is a harrowing work, which raises some disturbing issues about mental health care generally, and care homes in particular. You feel yourself literally getting into the mind of the character, and caring about what happens to him - both rare attributes in novels these days. . . ." Guy Fraser-Sampson

"I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the care of those with mental health problems." Farm Lane Books  

"Something’s Wrong: in fact as we find out during the course of many short monologues spoken into a tape recorder by the narrator, Robert, there are many things wrong in the sleepy little coastal town of Widdercliffe, and the world it represents. ...  In the first half of the novel, we see that there’s plenty wrong with Robert and his fellow residents at The Grove group home and their supposed supervisors.  There’s the sort of unease all around that a reader senses in Kafka’s The Trial, for example.  ... Robert’s voice in this novel is as compelling as the voice of Dostoyevsky’s narrator in Notes from Underground.  In both cases the speaker is an outsider who sees too clearly the shortcomings of the world that won’t accept him.  .... Sam Smith’s novel is artfully written and revealing indeed.  Through his narrator, Robert, we’re given as readers a first person narrative of what it is to be on the outside of society...."  Coal City Review    

The PayPal button for a signed copy - £8.99 + £3.00 postage (UK only)

eBook available here - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1144784

(scroll down for more mainstream fiction)

The Care Vortex

'Now and then a book comes along that can never be forgotten, a book whose characters touch you deeply and remain in your memory. A story that shocks you into thinking about something you had never considered or completely changing your previous perceptions.The Care Vortex by Sam Smith is such a book.... The Care Vortex is fast paced, interesting and believable. The characters are all too human, people like you and I. Ordinary people trying to deal with unimaginable events. / Would I recommend this book? Yes, without reservation. It is not an easy book to read, because of the subject and the issues raised in it. When Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist he was criticised for using criminals and prostitutes, in writing about subjects that were considered taboo. Yet Oliver Twist is now regarded as a classic, not only an excellent story, but a book that changed attitudes and made people wake up and take notice. Perhaps one day the same thing will be said of The Care Vortex. / If you want to read a book that will lull you to sleep at night, this book is not for you. It is no Little Orphan Annie with pretty pig-tailed children and fairy tale endings. Those trapped in the Care Vortex are damaged, the details harrowing. But for all that, it is a story of heroism, of people reaching out to each other and trying to overcome what has been done.' Gillian Davis

"The Care Vortex is a vitally important book. It should be read by anyone who has responsibility for children and young adults, whether they be parents, teachers, care workers, police, administrators ... it's all too easy in environments of near-isolation - family homes, care institutions, schools - to sweep the truth (and the children) under the carpet." Neil Marr: author of 'Bullycide: Death at Playtime'

'... a no-holds-barred account of one day and night in a care home for disturbed young girls. At times, it reads more like non-fiction than fiction and therein lies the roots of its success... You cannot help but be drawn into the lives of the characters.... This is the real world and it grabs you by the throat and forces you to bite on the harsh reality of life for these maladjusted girls. To finish reading this book is to come out wiser and more understanding about the problems of damaged young people...' David Hough

The PayPal button for a signed copy - £8.99 + £3.00 postage (UK only)

Available as an eBook here - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/569487

(scroll down for more mainstream fiction)

'Undeclared War, Constant Change, and As Recorded can be read in succession, or equally stand independently as analyses of the changes wrought by recent decades on the lives of ordinary people. Based around Paignton, Sam Smith uses a group of friends from a small ordinary English town and explores their individual paths of error against the fabric of life. Highly sexually charged and using blunt language, these will only cater to very specific tastes.' Devon Life'Set within a seaside town ... makes for bleak reading. But it showcases the interweaving of the characters and the images they have chosen for themselves perfectly. If Quadraphenia stoked your fire then you'll certainly get off on this ... Roll on books two and three.' Deian Vincent

'UNDECLARED WAR is a serious work. It may offend and sometimes enrage but Sam Smith also entertains with his vivid imagery, facile prose style, and sometimes insightful, sometimes whimsical, often cynical, but always stimulating perceptions of history and the human condition. Highly recommended.' Rich Patton

Undeclared War, the first of the Paths of Error trilogy is available now as a pay-what-you-feel-it's-worth ebook - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/545469

The Friendship of Dagdá & Tinker Howth 

This peculiar historical tale has its own history, languished in different publishers' pending trays for years, prior to those publishers also becoming historical footnotes. At last however 'The Friendship of Dagdá & Tinker Howth' is able, as paperback and e-book, able to poke its head out from the undergrowth in the hope of getting itself noticed.

One time called Kitnor, now Culbone, three miles west of Porlock is a steep combe further concealed by close-grown sessile oaks. Isolated, and on the Devon/Somerset border it has been variously used over the centuries as a place of refuge and of banishment. Latterly it has become a destination for poetaster pilgrims - Kubla Khan having been written in the vicinity. Could 'The Friendship of Dagdá & Tinker Howth' however be the true origin of Culbone's pretty little church? Or could Tinker Howth's tale, set in the first Elizabeth's reign and in the one-time leper colony, be the underlying reason why the word 'Porlock' is held in such low esteem by literati? And nothing whatsoever to do with Coleridge's creatus interruptus ..?

Paperback £12.00 + £3.00 postage (UK only) 

eBook available here - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1140319

The Secret Report of Friar Otto  being a 21st century reinterpretation of The Report In Confidence On The Imprisonment & Execution Of William de Marisco & 16 Of His Followers

'....The story is a brilliant reinterpretation of a 750 year old manuscript which spins a web of deceit and political intrigue all the while making the reader wonder if the knights were guilty of their crimes or set up to take the fall for higher powers. / This is a unique book, full of history as well as a very unusual mystery which will draw the reader into life as it was centuries ago. A life that is filled with as much `behind the scenes' political drama as we have in today's modern world. A fun and informative read.' D. Alan Lewis 

'I found myself pulled into the narrative as Otto interviews de Marisco and his men, trying to learn more about what drove them to apparent revolt and crime, whilst wondering whether they are actually guilty of what they have been accused and whether everyone is who they appear to be. An unusual mystery that takes the reader away from the well-worn paths of medieval history and fiction. Highly recommended.' DJ Tyrer The Supplement: Atlantean Publishing

'...a beautifully written modern novel, utterly convincing in its evocation of the medieval world and mindset...' pulp.net 

".... a great history lesson focusing on the politics of the time... the kings, the court and the church, who uses whom and what devices they used to wield that power. It was a dangerous time for people with dangerous ideas. And, it seems, the more things change, the more they stay the same. / Friar Otto is a brave and likable man with strong character and an open mind." Merle Jones

For another review by Bob Corbett see - http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/personal/reading/smith-otto.html

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Paperback £8.99 + £3.00 postage (UK only)​ 

Vera & Eddy's War   

"Any history buff will delight in the minute details that make up the daily lives ... and give one a thorough understanding of how they dealt with the hardships caused by war ... I recommend this book highly ... It is written with humour and compassion ... Enjoy the work of a very talented author." Anne K. Edwards 

"Gritty and often brutally honest. Sam Smith tells it faithfully, the way Vera & Eddy told it. A book that shatters some of the rose-tinted myths about the British at war." Meirion Hughes

" ... And these horrors are described matter-of-factly and because of the lack of melodrama and histrionics they stand out so much starker. There is a lot of humor here and anecdotes you will never find in the standard books about the War. The Kafkaesque bureaucracy is hilarious and, more importantly, tragic considering that this is a documentary. This is the Second World War seen through the eyes of the regular people - those who died in droves. If you are going to read only one book about the ordinary people's experience of the War in your lifetime, let Vera and Eddy's War be the one." Timeless Tales http://timeless-tales.net/review.php?200212042      

 Available as an e-book here - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1148369 

As with other BeWrite books I do have some paperback copies for sale at £9.80 + £3.00 postage (UK only) here -  asamsmith@hotmail.com   Or the PayPal button over here -