Glasgow’s Sunday Herald did a full-page feature on Haunted St Andrews in their 8th July edition. I tried to look windswept and interesting for the photo shoot in the Cathedral ruins, and gabbled on in my usual windbag fashion. The full piece can be read here, courtesy of the Sunday Herald and journalist Cate Devine. I’ll be doing a book signing at J & G Innes on Market Street in St Andrews on Saturday 21st July.
Read the full article by clicking here, or the image to the left!
The nice people at bookreel.tv have just published an interview with the humble author, which can be found in all its rambling glory at
During the interview I manage to mention Dracula, dogs, dinosaurs, zombies, plague, J.G. Ballard, poltergeists, graphic novels, bodysnatching, music and H.P. Lovecraft. So all the usual suspects are present and correct, then.
The estimable Tom Ruffles of the Society for Psychical Research has just given Paranormal Cumbria a very positive review. The full review can be found here but I’ve extracted a few highlights:
“The contents, conveyed in his usual humorously perceptive style, are arranged thematically … He supplies references for all his stories, the result of which is a three-page bibliography of books, journals and newspapers that allows readers to double-check for themselves. This rigorous analytical approach is rare in the field, and all the more welcome for it.”
“The Croglin Grange vampire… Holder delves into the various accounts as they evolved from the first reference in print by Augustus Hare, showing what a complex narrative it actually is.”
[Comparing the book with another, similar publication] “To sum up, the resident of Cumbria may well want both (plus Holder’s The Guide to the Mysterious Lake District book) in order to ensure that they have maximum coverage of the county. But the visitor who does not want to purchase both will be better off with Holder’s book. And it’s three quid cheaper. I therefore declare Paranormal Cumbria the winner.”
The review can be found on Tom Ruffles’ blog, http://tomruffles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/supernatural-cumbria-by-h-c-ivison-and.html
That gentleman and scholar Jim Harold has just posted another slice of his inestimable internet supernaturalia, ‘The Paranormal Podcast’, this one featuring my second appearance on the American show. Jim and I discuss the meaning and reality (or otherwise) of hauntings, with reference to poltergeists, apparitions, doppelgangers, fetches, and the dubious genre of ‘haunted telly’. Somehow we also managed to shoehorn in time slips (ghosts-as-time-travellers), the ‘survival hypothesis’ (ghosts-as-conscious-spirits), the ‘stone tape’ notion (ghosts-as-recordings) – oh, and some knickers. It was great fun.
The show ‘What are Hauntings?’ can be downloaded for free from here!
http://jimharold.com/the-paranormal-podcast/what-are-hauntings-with-geoff-holder-paranormal-podcast-229/
There’s another video book trailer cannonading around cyberspace. The video for Paranormal Cumbria can be found on this website here, on youtube and at bookreel.tv.
The trailer was put together by Jamie Cook, webmaster of this parish, and the book itself is due out on March 31st.
The February issue of the free student magazine Scotcampus features a Q & A style interview with the humble author, entitled ‘Spooky Scotland’. I ramble on about loch monsters, vampires, Jacobites and the supernatural, ghosts, and other examples of Scottish paranormalism, with particular reference to Dundee, Glasgow and Iona.
Free copies can be picked up from this week (15th February) at student-frequented bars, cafés, record shops and arts venues. The online link is here:
http://www.scotcampus.com/2012/01/spooky-scotland-qa-geoff-holder/