Yearly Archives: 2011

In which the author finishes writing another book…

 

I’ve just put the final touches to Haunted St Andrews & District, book number 23 in the list they are all calling ‘Geoff Holder’s List of Books What He Has Wrote’.

This has been a terrific book to research and write. St Andrews is a wonderful place to wander round, and the stories are fascinating, ranging from medieval spectres of monks, murderers and archbishops, to ‘undergraduate legends’ transmitted via online student message-boards.

I also spent time investigating the famous White Lady and the mummies of the Haunted Tower, as well as the Veiled Nun, the Grey Lady, the Library Ghost, and other Fife phantoms. Not to mention a trio of poltergeists (including the polt of Pitmilly House, officially recognised by an insurance company payout).

Haunted St Andrews & District will be published in the summer of 2012.

 
 

In which the author expands further into YouTube land…

 

Thanks to the good offices of Jamie Cook, webmaster of this parish, there are now many more Geoff Holder items on that there YouTube.

All the Fortean Freak Out podcasts can be found at the official Geoff Holder Youtube Channel while the complete collection of my interviews with radio stations both in the UK and the USA can be found here on the official Interview Playlist.

More videos, podcasts and radio interviews to come.

 
 

In which the author enjoys some vampires…

 

There’s a new feature on the website – My Top Ten. I’ll be regularly adding ‘Top Ten’ lists from the world of the supernatural, the mysterious and the macabre.

 

The first My Top Ten is ‘My Top Ten Vampires’. And no, RPat and the poutsters from The Vampire Diaries do not make the list…

In which the author releases The Little Book of Glasgow…

The Little Book of Glasgow is now officially published. A funny, fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of frivolous, fantastic and strange facts about Glasgow, it is, to use the conventional phrase, the perfect Christmas gift.

 

At a recent talk I had a number of advance copies for sale and signing, and they disappeared faster than Santa’s mince pies. Amazon has almost sold out already – just one left at the time of writing. Thanks to everyone who’s bought one.

 

There’s more here about the book here:

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usreviews/books/historylittleglasgow.html

http://www.booksfromscotland.com/Books/The-Little-Book-Of-Glasgow-9780752460048

 http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Little-Book-of-Glasgow.aspx

 

Watch the video trailer for The Little Book of Glasgow

In which the author gives a talk on poltergeists at Kinross…

On Monday 21st December I’m delighted to be the guest of the Kinross-shire Historical Society. Topics for the evening will include local big cat sightings, a particularly dastardly bodysnatching crime involving a hidden door and a secret underground dissection chamber, and an eighteenth century poltergeist that specialised in the relocation of pins inside slices of meat and boiled eggs. Just the usual stuff, then.

 

Everyone is welcome. The event kicks off at 7.30 in the parish church on Station Road, and as usual I’ll have copies of books for sale and signing.

In which the author confesses he is writing some film scripts…

 

 

This weekend (19th/20th November) I’ll be attending the ‘360 Narratives’ two-day event in Stirling, a session designed to bring together writers from different disciplines to forge partnerships and collaborations. There will be children’s authors, novelists, playwrights, screenwriters, graphic novelists and games developers.

And me. I’m going to have to come out of my non-fiction shell and reveal that I’ve been working on two spec screenplays. The first draft of one is complete, while the second is stalled somewhere in the middle of Act Two. So far I’ve been keeping this new area a secret, largely because – well, actually my motives are a tad obscure on this point. Self-confidence issues? Fear of rejection? Lack of an agent? A mild dislike of the script formatting software? I’m not really sure. But such uncertainty, such self-questioning, is undoubtedly part of the writer’s journey. Oooh, deep.

What are the scripts about? Well, given the subject of my books, you’re not expecting a romantic comedy, are you?

See http://www.playwrightsstudio.co.uk/360narratives.htm for more. If you are one of the writers and other creative types attending the weekend, I look forward to seeing you there. I’ll be the one toting around the horned skull…