Category Archives: Talks and Events

All posts relating to talks and events

In which the Author talks about sex, lies and poltergeists in a stately home…

 

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.

 

 

In which the Author has a splendid time at the Islay Book Festival…

 

The Islay Book Festival (8th-9th September) was a real pleasure to attend. Housed in Port Ellen Primary School with a parallel twin-track series of talks aimed at children and adults, it featured enthusiastic audiences, efficient but low-key organisation, and scrummy home baking. All this on an island with a population that doesn’t top 4,000. My thanks to Diana Buller and her team for the wonderful hospitality, and to the other authors for the convivial, round-the-table weekend socialising. I don’t attend that many Mass Author Events, so having congenial companions was a boon. And anyone holidaying in the area could do worse than check out the wonderful XXX Croft run by Gill and Rob Thompson (XXXX). I’d also like to thank the island of Islay for providing such an excellent bevy of standing stones to visit.

 
 
 

In which the author gives two talks at the Islay Book Festival…

 

The splendid Islay Book Festival takes place over two days on the 8th and 9th of September, and this humble author will be giving talks on both days. On the Saturday I’m rambling on about “Vampires – From Folklore to Fiction (and Fact…)”, which will range from 18th century Eastern European vampire hunts through Lord Byron, Varney the Vampyre and Dracula, ending up with two recent cases I’ve investigated, “The Vampire of Croglin Grange” (Cumbria) and “The Vampire with Iron Teeth” (Glasgow).

 

 

Then on the Sunday I’ll be picking episodes out of my book “101 Things To Do With A Stone Circle”. I’ll discuss the ways modern and medieval people have used stone circles and other ancient sites for a bizarre range of foibles and practices. They have been seen as sites of earth energies, ley-lines and Druidic mysteries. They have featured in movies, opera and Doctor Who. People have associated them with healing, curses, supernatural beings and visionary experiences. Featuring: the saint who lived in a burial chamber, the only stone circle condemned in Parliament by Margaret Thatcher, and how to use a stone circle to exorcise a Land-Rover.

 

Also on the bill at the venue (Port Ellen Primary School) are cookery writer Sue Lawrence, Catherine Czerkawska on the history of Gigha, yachting explorers Justin and Linda Ruthven-Tyers, and (woo!) Scotland’s Makar, poet and playwright Liz Lochhead – and there’s a full schedule of events for children and teenagers as well.

 

Tickets and info for this unique island festival from http://islaybookfestival.com/.

 
 

In which the Author gives a last-minute talk on Cryptozoology…

 

“Cryptozoology 101 – Monster hunting in the 21st Century” – that’s the title of a talk that was due to be given at the Aberdour Festival by Fortean-about-town Gordon Rutter. But an indisposition has laid Gordon in his bed, so I’m the last-minute replacement (Gordon has just as much beard as I have, but I’m taller – will the audience spot the substitution?).

 

I’ll be at The Institute on Shore Road, Aberdour, Fife, at 6pm on Tuesday 24th July, discussing Scottish Big Cats, loch monsters, sea serpents and other denizens of the cryptozoological twilight. As usual, there’ll be books for sale and signing by the author’s very own hand.

 

Tickets are £3 on the door and include a glass of wine or a soft drink. Further details of the Aberdour Festival (“10 days of possibly the best small festival in the world”) can be found here.

In which the Author does a book signing for Haunted St Andrews…

 

 

On Saturday 21st July I’ll be at the independent bookshop J & G Innes to sign copies of Haunted St Andrews. Also known as the ‘Citizen’ shop because of its association with the St Andrews Citizen, the half-timbered building on South Street is something of an institution in the town. I’ll be there from 11am until mid-afternoon.

 

If you can’t come along on the day, call the shop on 01334 472174 to reserve a copy, and I’ll sign it for a later pick-up. I’ll also have some strictly limited-edition Haunted St Andrews bookmarks to give away. See http://www.jg-innes.co.uk/ for details on the shop.

 
 
 

In which the Author talks about mummies and ghosts in the Sunday Herald…

 

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!