Category Archives: Messages from Geoff

In which the author picks up two spiffing reviews on www.paranormaldatabase.com…

 

The extensive website www.paranormaldatabase.com has just given very positive reviews to both Haunted Dundee and Paranormal Cumbria.

I was particularly pleased that the reviewer singled out the quality of the bibliographies:

 

“One of my old college lecturers once joked that if he had his way, the grade of any publication would be based on the size of the bibliography. Using this method alone would guarantee Haunted Dundee came top of the class, and fortunately Geoff Holder’s writing style ensures he deserves to be there.”

 

As I tend to bang on about the deficiencies of many paranormal books when it comes to their ‘critical apparatus’ – bibliographies, references, indexes and so on – it’s pleasing to find that someone else shares my opinion that proper books deserve proper documentation within their pages. In many cases, the phrase “no bibliography or index” sends a chill down my spine, as all-too-often it carries the unstated implication: “the book under review is a pile of poo…”

 

As for Paranormal Cumbria, www.paranormaldatabase.com states:

 

“Each paranormal field is written about in an honest, no nonsense style that applies an Occam’s razor approach – many paranormal writers could learn from this.”

 

I use Occam’s razor every morning. It makes for a nice, clean shave. (Hey, I can do endorsements if I so wish.)

 

You can see the reviews at and they are also here and here. My thanks to Darren Mann for permission to reproduce the reviews.

 

In which the author talks vampires in Manchester and travels in the duophobic lift…

 

This weekend past I was speaking at the Manchester Monster Convention, which was a blast. My talk dealt with two so-called ‘real life’ vampire cases, while other speakers and authors covered the waterfront in terms of werewolves, psychopaths, dragons, cryptids, zombies, and, uh, Japanese zombie whales. We watched clips from the forthcoming Yorkshire-based zombie horror film Before Dawn, and stayed deep into the night to take in a brilliant triple bill of Island of Lost Souls (1932, with Charles Laughton as Dr Moreau, and Bela Lugosi as the half-man Sayer of the Law – wooo!), The Whisperer in the Darkness (a top-notch adaptation of a Lovecraft story by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society) and Reel Zombies (in which a bunch of Z-grade filmmakers craft a rubbish zombie movie during an actual zombie apocalypse). Many thanks to Hannah, Linda, Linda and Rob for the invite and the hospitality.

 

There was however a bizarre episode at the venue. Delegates and speakers alike would venture into one of the lifts – and not be seen for many minutes afterwards, making talks start late and overrun. The reason? The main convention venue was on the second floor, but if you pressed the button for that level, the lift would take you to the third floor (while sneakily telling you were on the second floor). Subsequent attempts to return to floor 2 resulted in the lift ascending to the sixth floor (indicated as the fifth floor) before jostling between floors, including the basement. As a consequence people found themselves wandering around random corridors in the Hotel of Lost Souls…

 

 

The lift only had a problem if the first button to be pressed was for floor 2, so the malign intelligence that controlled it was clearly duophobic…

 
 

In which the author writes for The Author…

 

The Spring issue of The Author, the quarterly magazine of the Society of Authors, features an article I wrote on how writers can get the best out of giving talks and presentations. And speaking of such, my thanks go out to the staff of North Ayrshire Libraries for inviting me to give an illustrated talk at the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats on Thursday 22 March.

 

As the talk was on the subject of Scottish Bodysnatching, and as the venue is a former church, I delivered the first part of talk in the graveyard, giving the audience a quick lesson in grave-robbing, nineteenth-century style. This involved audience participation (well, someone had to be the corpse), a theme that continued back inside, where three audience members enthusiastically took on the roles of bodysnatchers.

 
 

In which the author visits the Ghost Club and meets some mummies…

On Saturday 17th March I was in London, the guest of the Ghost Club. My thanks to Alan Murdie and Philip Hutchinson for honouring me with an invitation, and for providing an exemplary example of a well-organised and hospitable event. The capacity audience tolerated my antics and rants about the Jacobites and the Supernatural with good grace, and a fine time was had by all.

 

 

 

On the way to the talk I popped into the Wellcome Collection on Euston Road, which has now barged into my list of favourite museums. The permanent Medicine man‘ contains such gems as

 

disease demons

amulets and headdresses made of human bone

skeletons of silver

votive phalli

a painting of William Price (the ‘druid’ of Llantrisant)

a piece of philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s dissected skin

several tattoos removed from dead bodies

Charles Darwin’s skull-topped walking stick

and a complete Peruvian mummy, huddled in the foetal position.

 

Entry into this enchanting modern day Cabinet of Curiosities is free. If you’re in the area, you really should visit.

In which the author succeeds in the realm of romantic fiction (and chocolate)…

 

Choc Lit, publishers of romantic fiction, have just announced the short list for their chocolate-themed 2012 Short Story Competition. And, nestling among the ten candidates on the list, is a story by yours truly. If you are of the opinion that romantic fiction is a bit of a stretch from what I usually write, then I invite you to consider the title of the piece, and what it implies for the content. It’s called Blood and Chocolate…

 

The full short-list can be found here.

 
 

In which the author gives a talk on Mysterious Perthshire in Alyth…

 

On Tuesday 28 February I’ll be giving a talk on ‘Mysterious East Perthshire’, courtesy of the Alyth Literary and Philosophical Society. I’ll be discussing Big Cats, fairies, UFOs, and the bizarre local legends of Guinevere and King Arthur. And there’ll be books for sale as usual.

The event kicks off at 7.30pm and is open to everyone (£2 on the door). Ogilvie Rooms, Commercial Street, Alyth, PH11 8AF (next to Alyth Museum).