This week there’s a long piece on The Bloody History of Scotland: Edinburgh on STV’s online magazine.
Poisoning, murderous madams and ghastly torture and punishment all feature, adding greatly to the gaiety of nations. Don’t forget I’m giving an illustrated talk based on the book at Blackwell’s Bookshop on South Bridge on 6th November.
There was a feature on Bloody History of Scotland: Edinburgh in the Edinburgh Evening News on Saturday 13 October. Entitled “‘Edinburgh is a blood-soaked place’: An alternative history of the Capital,” the piece covered topics such as public executions, heads on spikes and the cannibal Earl of Dunlanrig, and also included an interview with the humble author in which I actually manage to sound semi-coherent.
You can see Jen Lavery’s article at:
The latter part of October sees the publication of my latest attempt at world literary domination, The Bloody History of Scotland: Edinburgh. The book is a speedy and sanguinary sprint through the city’s dark past, taking in everything from massacres and murders to witchcraft, torture and executions.
Events commence in the Dark Ages with the annihilation of the Goddodin warrior tribe, and continue through medieval wars and sieges onto dastardly deeds surrounding Mary, Queen of Scots, and a veritable rogues’ gallery of assassins, rioters, pirates, hangmen and cannibals. Bodysnatchers, serial killers, poisoners and Zeppelins bring up the rear, and, for light relief, there is also a diversion into Edinburgh’s nineteenth-century brothels and houses of pleasure, with their associated crimes, court cases and general depravity.
You can find more about the book through Facebook and from the website of the publishers, The History Press. Upcoming media coverage includes features in The Edinburgh Evening News and The Scottish Daily Mail. There’s also a free illustrated talk on the book taking place at the splendid Blackwells Bookshop on South Bridge in Edinburgh on Tuesday 6 November. The humble author will be waving his arms about and bellowing on about grisly deeds and ghastly anecdotes from 6.30pm, and signing books after the talk as well.
There shall be blood!
Between 19 and 21 October the ‘Unsolved’ Crime & Mystery Festival is running at Haddo House near Ellon in Aberdeenshire, one of the National Trust for Scotland’s premier stately homes. On the Saturday (20th October) I’ll be lurking in the library and giving a talk by the name of ‘Sex, Lies and Poltergeists’, which will unveil the secrets of poltergeist cases from the seventeenth century to the present day in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
The cases are all from my forthcoming book Poltergeist Over Scotland, and feature typical polt activity such as showers of stones, destruction of property, unexplained noises, flying objects, oozings of blood and other noxious substances – not to mention their fair share of sex and lies.
The talk starts at 4pm, and tickets are £6 (£4 for concessions). Full booking details can be found at the official website, which also tells you about the other tempting events on offer, from crime-solving tours to talks by writers of both fictional and true crime.
May the polt be with you.
On Wednesday 3 October I’ll be the guest of the Auld Abernethy Association at the Museum of Abernethy. The talk is entitled ‘Mysterious Perthshire’ and will concentrate on the historical and contemporary mysteries of south-east Perthshire, with examinations of local witchcraft stories, tales of bodysnatching in the area, and the modern puzzle of big cats in Scotland. For details and directions see http://villagecrier.co.uk/auld_abernethy_association.html and http://museumofabernethy.co.uk. As usual, I’ll have a table groaning with books for sale.
Jim McLeod’s blog The Ginger Nuts of Horror is chock-full of reviews and interviews relating to the horror and dark fiction genres. Jim kindly asked me for an interview, and my inchoate responses can be found at
http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/an-interview-with-geoff-holder.html.
Warning: the ramblings include a rant about mayonnaise, a Frank Zappa quote, and a truly awful joke about Mars. You have been warned.
The rest of Jim’s site [http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.co.uk/] is worth checking out as well.