Happy First Birthday, Occasional Beasts: Tales!!!

Yes, it's been one year since my fifth book, Occasional Beasts: Tales, was released into the wild by my wonderful publisher, Omnium Gatherum. I believe it contains a lot of my best fiction, including personal faves, "The Glove," "The Wounded Table," "The Land Lord," "The Johnny Depp Thing," "Beautiful"--okay, you get the gist. 14 tales, 4 published here for the first time.

Have you read it? Have you reviewed it? I

Here's links and snippets to a few reviews to whet your appetite, just in case you haven't read the collection.


"For a few years now, I have been a big fan of John Claude Smith's twisted view of the world. This collection of tales only serves to remind me how skilled, (and twisted!), he really is."

Read the whole review at Char's Horror Corner.



"John Claude Smith’s new collection Occasional Beasts: Tales fearlessly explores themes of transformation and transcendence through a menagerie of monsters that are supernatural, human, or often something in-between. Like peering into a darkened aquarium or down a misty alleyway, dark things lurk behind the grit and ragged edges of Smith’s physical and psychic environments. When those beasts pounce, however, Smith’s creation of indelibly horrific images is second to none and the result is satisfying horror with hidden depths."

Read the whole review at Hellnotes.


"Occasional Beasts is a relentless collection with wonderful proses and horrifying images sprinkled throughout. John Claude Smith is in such command of his craft, with each of the fourteen stories proving this."

Read the whole review at The Horror Club.


Just a few, but again, if you've not picked up your copy, by all means, please do.
Here's the Amazon link for Occasional Beasts: Tales.

My Beasts look forward to spending time with you...

Here's a Fabulous photo of my girlfriend, Alessandra, with some fella named Lansdale. With the book, of course! In Rome as well!

;-)