In which the Author publishes a new book on Scotland…

Little Book of Scotland

My latest book, The Little Book of Scotlandhas just been published. Here’s the blurb:

The ultimate compendium of trivia miscellany about Scotland’s unusual history

Take a funny, fast-paced, fact-packed look at the most frivolous, fantastic, or simply strange information that there

is to tell about Scotland. Here we find out about unusual crimes and punishments, eccentric inhabitants, famous

sons and daughters, and literally hundreds of other wacky facts about Scotland. This book contains historic and

contemporary trivia, including such gems as the real story of William “Braveheart” Wallace, which king was

murdered in a barn, and where the World War II Commandos were formed. With subjects ranging from Sir Walter Scott to Sir Sean Connery, Queen Victoria to Mary Queens of Scots, this remarkably engaging compendium is

essential reading for travelers and Scots alike.

scottish sun

The book has already picked up a fair amount of press interest in Scotland: here’s the full-page feature from

Saturday’s Scottish Sun. No doubt more to come.

The Little Book of Scotland can be picked up online here or here or at your favourite bricks-and-mortar bookshop – support bookshops, people, especially independent bookshops, they are Good Things.

In which the author appears in Le Canard Gascon…

Canard Gascon p
Le Canard Gascon
is a monthly magazine that covers food, culture, business, politics, history and events in this

part of southwest France (Gascony). Edition 54, January-February 2014, has a full page feature on me and my

work, under the title of ‘British Zombies’.

 

Described as ‘Le spécialiste de l’étrange’ (specialist in the strange) who writes about the paranormal, witchcraft,

ghosts and zombies, I am credited with including in my work a ‘certain British humour’ that ‘our neighbours across the Channel practice with such excellence.’ Merci.  The article also claims that the Holder household is ‘a veritable

chaos of books’. Oh, such lies – the other day I managed to find the sofa without having to move more than fifty

volumes. Pfff!

 

You can read the article online (in French, of course) here. My thanks to Monsieur Jean-Louis le Breton, leading

light of Le Canard Gascon. 

 

In which the author publishes another book (this one’s on witchcraft)…

‘Maggie Wall – The Witch Who Never Was’ is out on December 1st. Telling the story of my investigations into the

famous Maggie Wall Witchcraft Monument in Perthshire, Scotland – the only historic monument to a named witch

in the whole of the UK – it is a non-fiction detective historical story, leading to some very surprising conclusions

about this most enigmatic of monuments. Here’s the blurb:

A remarkable and striking B-listed roadside cross in Perthshire is painted with the words

‘MAGGIE WALL

BURNT HERE

AS A WITCH 1657′

Maggie Wall has subsequently become the most famous witch in Scotland, featuring in folklore, folk history and

modern pagan belief alike.
Which is strange, seeing as she never existed.
This is the story of the Witch Who Never Was.

 

‘Maggie Wall – The Witch Who Never Was’ is  published as an ebook by The New Curiosity Shop out of Edinburgh. It is currently available on Amazon/Kindle, and will soon be downloadable for Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and the Apple iBookstore. The cost is around £2.80 or $3.60. 

Maggie-Wall938x1500

In which the Author discusses Zombies for the Edinburgh Forteans…

On Tuesday 12th November I’m giving a talk on ‘Zombies from History‘ for the Edinburgh

Fortean Society. You can expect:

Archaeological evidence for belief in the walking dead in Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon times

Medieval accounts of plague-spreading, people-battering zombies

People who have returned from the dead after being hanged or buried (or both)

And the exploding corpse of William the Conqueror

Warning: contains corpses.

Venue: The Counting House, West Nicholson Street, Edinburgh.

Time: 7.30pm, Tuesday 12th November.

Cost: £1.

There’ll be books for sale on the night.

Zombie-Geoff_MONO

In which the Author is the guest of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research…

This Saturday (9th November) I’m talking at the National Conference of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research (SSPR), a fine institution if ever there was.

The day long event promises to be a belter, with talks including:

Anthony Peake ‘Cheating the Ferryman: A New Blueprint for Post Mortem Survival’

P.G. Maxwell-Stuart ‘Poltergeists and Witches: Unruly Sisters’

Brian Allan ‘The Dark Messiah: Magick, Gnosis and Religion’

And a guest panel featuring Joan Charles.

As for your humble author, he’ll be waffling on about ‘Sex, Lies and Paranormal Glasgow’ – expect the usual coalescence of vampires, poltergeists, zombies and scepticism. Plus sex and lies of course.

sspr copy

The event is at the Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel in Glasgow’s West End, and runs from 10am to 5pm. Tickets and more details here.

In which the Author is on le French TV…

Sacré bleu! On Saturday 2nd November the popular mid-evening French TV magazine

programme “50 Minutes Inside” broadcast a piece called “Légendes d’Ecosse” (Legends

of Scotland), on the Scottish predilection for all things supernatural and spooky, especially at Halloween.

Amidst the Harry Pottering and the actors in ghost paint, some beardy bloke in a Doctor

Who scarf waffled on about ghosts and bodysnatching:

geofftf1You can see my contributions in the full replay here and also at “le document d’Inside: Légendes d’Ecosse”.

“50 Minutes Inside” (or “50mn Inside”) is broadcast on TF1, the French equivalent of

BBC1. My thanks to reporter Tania Meppiel and cameraman Pierre for an enjoyable two

days’ filming at Scone Palace and St Andrews.

legendes d'ecosse