David C. Smith also wrote a trilogy of fantasy novels under the collective heading of The Fall of the First World. These were all released in 1983 from Pinnacle Books and are:

1. The Master of Evil, January 1983. Cover by Carl Lundgren
2. Sorrowing Vengeance, September 1983. Cover by Carl Lundgren
3. The Passing of the Gods, December 1983. Cover by Kevin Johnson

This trilogy is less Sword & Sorcery and more High Fantasy, although it’s not exactly that either. It’s hard to categorize. In some ways, the political maneuverings in the series are a harbinger for later series such as Game of Thrones.

[Click the images for First World versions.}

Smith has worked in the horror field as well. I much enjoyed a 2-book series he wrote featuring the character David Trevisan, who is about to become a priest when he discovers the truth of the supernatural world. The Fair Rules of Evil (1989, cover by James Warren) and The Eyes of the Night (1991, cover by Tim O’Brien) were both released by Avon Books.

A haunted house novel for those who love such works as The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (which I do) is Smith’s book Coven House. Relentlessly horrifying. This was released in 2021 by Pulp Hero Press. I’m not sure who did the cover.

And then there’s Seasons of the Moon, which I loved but found very difficult to categorize. Perhaps “literary horror!” (Cover design by David M. Stanley).

In addition to writing fiction, Smith has worked as a professional editor through much of his life. He’s been an English teacher and wrote an English textbook. One of his recent nonfiction works is: Robert E. Howard, A Literary Biography, which won an award for outstanding achievement from the Robert E. Howard Foundation. It came out in 2018 from Pulp Hero Press.

Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography (Pulp Hero Press, September 30, 2018)

The other installments in this series include:

David C. Smith & Robert E. Howard, Part One
David C. Smith & Robert E. Howard, Part Two: Red Sonja
David C. Smith, Part Three: Oron and the Tales of Attluma

Smith has more work out there that I haven’t read yet so somewhere down the line we may see his name again. But for now, we’ll close out our series with a review of what may be his best work — the novel Sometimes Lofty Towers. See you next week.

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Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was Part Three of his review of the heroic fantasy of David C. Smith. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.