New this week, the teaser trailer for the upcoming Haunted Dundee has been released, available to view below! The book is released on the 30th November 2011, and is available for pre-order on Amazon.
New this week, the teaser trailer for the upcoming Haunted Dundee has been released, available to view below! The book is released on the 30th November 2011, and is available for pre-order on Amazon.
This Thursday (26th May) I’m at Aberfeldy, giving a talk at the Breadalbane Community Campus at 7.30pm. The subject is ‘Mysterious Perthshire’ although I’ll be concentrating exclusively on the Highland part of Perth & Kinross, with episodes ranging from Pitlochry and Moulin through Strathtay to Loch Tay and Ben Lawers.
On the slate will be: Big Cats in Highland Perthshire, including a photograph of a big cat print in snow; UFOs, especially the notorious Calvine/Pitlochry Incident of 1990; and the Alleged Haunting of Ballechin House, a Victorian ghost investigation by the Society for Psychical Research that led to scandal, rows, and angry letters to The Times. All these will be taken from my recent book Paranormal Perthshire.
A big thank you to Bruce Paterson for letting me witter on for his show on Heartland FM.
Tickets for the talk are £5, available from the Breadalbane Community Library, or by phoning 01887 822405. The event starts at 7.30 and lasts for about an hour, and there’s free parking. Oh, and I’ll also have books for sale, as managed by my glamorous assistant.
Anyone interested in great writing should pop along to the Steps Theatre in Dundee’s Central Library on Thursday night (May 19th), because the splendid Denise Mina is giving a talk. I will most certainly be there.
Denise Mina is primarily known for her bestselling crime novels set in Glasgow, and I’m very fond of one of her unconventional heroines, investigative journalist Paddy Meehan. But my fanboy sense is tingling because she has also penned two graphic novels featuring Hellblazer himself, the man with the trenchcoat, permanent fag-end and surly attitude – occultist John Constantine.
Since making his appearance in Alan Moore’s version of Swamp Thing in the 1970s, John Constantine has been one of the most fascinating of comics characters, a working-class former punk who looks like a degenerate Sting, makes as many mistakes as he does right moves, and spends his time in magical conflicts with demons, angels and other nefarious beings.
Denise Mina brought the London-based Constantine to Glasgow in Empathy is the Enemy and The Red Right Hand darkly puckish tales of misery-eating demons and grim apocalyptic cults. The climax in the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery is a classic. I mentioned the graphic novels in The Guide to Mysterious Glasgow and The Guide to Mysterious Iona and Staffa.
Crime and John Constantine – what more could you possibly want from an author event?
Steps Theatre, Central Library, Wellgate, Dundee, DD1 1DB. Thursday, 19 May 2011, 7.00pm – 8.30pm. Tickets are free and available from Central Library (01382 431500) and Waterstones, Dundee.
Do You Have A Ghost Story in Dundee or St Andrews?
I am currently writing a book entitled Haunted Dundee. This is a follow-up to Paranormal Dundee and a partner to Haunted Aberdeen, both of which came out in 2010. Later this year I’ll also be working on Haunted St Andrews & District.
So, if you have a personal experience or a family tradition of an alleged ghostly encounter in the Dundee or St Andrews area, I would be interested to hear from you. Just go to the contact form.
I am interested in the full range of phenomena:
Apparitions
Poltergeist activity
Crisis visitations
Anomalous sounds and smells
Communications
Doppelgangers
And any other related incidents, including known hoaxes
Please include all relevant details – what was experienced, when, where, and by whom, plus a way to get in touch.
Not every story can be used for the book, so the more confirmatory details there are, the more likely the story will be considered for inclusion. Vague mails that read something like ‘I saw a goste it was dead scary and real, honest’ will almost certainly not be of interest. Correspondents can be anonymous in the book if they wish. I will not pass your details on to any other person or organisation.
Haunted Dundee will be out in winter 2011, while Haunted St Andrews & District will be published early in 2012.
I look forward to hearing about your experiences, and thank you in advance. Input your ghost story here!.