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.
A few days ago I wrote that an essay I had written was selected for the shortlist of the prestigious THRESHOLDS International Feature Writing Competition, run by the University of Chichester, ‘home of the international short story forum’.
Today (Wednesday 25 April 2012) the winner was announced.
Me.
Crikey.
The winning essay, ‘We Recommend: H.P. Lovecraft’ can be found on the THRESHOLDS site, http://blogs.chi.ac.uk/shortstoryforum/?p=9723.
Comments from the judging panel: ‘an instantly engaging essay’; ‘sharp, rigorous but highly readable’; ‘exquisitely polished’; ‘rich in its use of language’; ‘wonderfully wry and stylish’; ‘expert, nuanced, energetic’; ‘I’ve never been particularly interested in Lovecraft but I certainly am now’.
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
The shortlist for the THRESHOLDS International Feature Writing Competition has just been announced, anf amongst the list of tehn is an essay penned by yours truly on the fantasy and horror writer H. P. Lovecraft.
THRESHOLDS describes its mission as, “to promote and celebrate the reading, writing, study – and pleasure – of the Short Story.” In January the website – which is run by the University of Chichester – launched its first-ever writing competition, for essays that explored either a single short story or a story collection, or a profile of a short story writer. Given that I was around ten or eleven years old when Lovecraft’s weird vision changed my life for ever, HPL seemed the natural choice.
Out of the hundreds of entries, ten have been selected for the shortlist, with a further fifteen noted as ‘Highly Commended’. The winner will be announced on Wednesday 25th April. All the shortlist, including ‘Geoff Holder: We Recommend H.P. Lovecraft’ will be published on the THRESHOLDS site over the next few months.
And if you are unfamiliar with the works of Lovecraft, may I suggest you follow in the footsteps of Alan Moore, Ramsey Campbell, Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker and Stephen King and other devotees of the Sage of Providence, and dive deep into his world. Within weeks, you’ll be wanting to own a plushy of Great Cthulhu. Not that I got one for Christmas, oh no. (Sob.)
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.
Carlisle, I see you. On Saturday 21st April I’m doing a book signing for Paranormal Cumbria at the Waterstones bookshop, 66-68 Scotch Street, Carlisle. I’ll be there from 11am to 3pm, so come along for a chat – but if you can’t make it on the day, call 0843 290 8217 to reserve a copy of the book and I’ll sign it for you to pick up later.
Paranormal Cumbria covers subjects such as the Cursing Stone of Carlisle – which brought beliefs from the Middle Ages into the Millennium – plus witchcraft and folk magic, twentieth-century sightings of fairies, examples of psychic powers, the phantom airships of World War One (which seem to be cultural precursors of the phantom UFOs of later decades), and the enduring mystery of the ‘Cumberland Spaceman’. The book has been covered recently on both BBC Radio Cumbria and Lakeland Radio.
And talking of matters Cumbrian and strange, the next edition of the Fortean Freak Out podcast is up and running, and its subject is taken from Paranormal Cumbria – the infamous Vampire of Croglin Grange. Which was probably not a vampire. Listen to my conclusions here.