Tag Archives: scotland

DARK SENSE gets its world premiere at Boston Sci-Fi Festival


If you happen to be in the Boston, Massachusetts area… DARK SENSE, a paranormal thriller feature I co-wrote, is getting its world premiere at the opening of the Boston Sci-Fi Festival on 8 February.
 
Simon has premonitions of a serial killer’s dark deeds. He knows he must try to stop the killer, but in doing so, he dooms himself.
 
It was filmed in Edinburgh, Scotland, and based on the bestselling novel First and Only by Peter A. Flannery. @BostonSciFi @darksensemovie

In which the Author talks poltergeists on the radio…

Poltergeists, Scotland & Darkness Radio – what’s not to like?
 
Had fun talking about my book ‘Poltergeist over Scotland’ with Tim Dennis (@DRTimDennis) of Minnesota’s noted sensible weirdos Darkness Radio (@DarknessRadio, www.DarknessRadio.com).
Here’s the recording:
 Poltergeist Over Scotland

In which the Author publishes his 31st book, ‘Bloody British History’…

Bloody History of Britain coverBloody British History, my 31st book, has just been published. It’s a sanguinary canter through some of the

more gruesome aspects of British history, with an eye to not merely the murderous and macabre, but also to

the strange and, at times, surreal. Delve within the illustrated pages and you will learn of prehistoric cannibals using skulls as drinking cups, discover how to boil a poisoner to death, understand the technique of chemical warfare during medieval sea battles, and learn more about the use of cheese as an instrument of torture than you ever wanted to know.

With a full cast including Ancient Britons, Romans, Barbarians, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans, Pirates,

Jacobites and invading Frenchmen, Bloody British History relates some of the most famous episodes in the

history of the British Isles from unfamiliar perspectives. The sight of the largest ship in the Spanish Armada

keeling over with blood pouring from its scuppers. The giant Viking at Stamford Bridge finally defeated by a

spear thrust to the testicles from below the bridge he was defending. William the Conqueror turning the North of England into an uninhabited wasteland. The Scots inventing the concentration camp. Roman SEALs

conducting amphibious warfare. Witchcraft in Westminster politics. Not the six wives, but the Six Executions of Henry VIII. And how not to assassinate Queen Victoria.

Featuring walk-on parts from all manner of unpleasant characters from Richard the Lionheart and Bloody

Mary to Jack the Ripper and Hitler’s Gestapo, Bloody British History does what it says on the can.

There will, indeed, be blood.

The book is published by The History Press and is available through all the usual retail channels, including the country’s hard-pressed but indispensable brick-and-mortar bookshops.

In which the Author embarks on a Halloween ‘tour’ of Scotland…

This Halloween I’m giving a series of talks on spooky subjects at various places in Scotland. Zombies, poltergeists, vampires, witchcraft – there’s something for everyone.

1. SUBJECT: SUPERNATURAL SCOTLAND

WHEN: Tuesday 28th October, 7pm

WHERE: ABERFELDY – Breadalbane Campus, Aberfeldy, Perth & Kinross PH15 2DU

DETAILS: A medieval monk describes an outbreak of zombies in the Scottish Borders.  A poltergeist case in

Edinburgh ends up in court. The Maggie Wall Witchcraft Monument in Perthshire is a complex fake. A ghost

sighting in Dundee provokes a mini-riot. And hundreds of Glasgow schoolchildren invade a graveyard hunting a

vampire with iron teeth. Based on meticulous original research, prolific author (and highly entertaining speaker) in

this Halloween special Geoff Holder reveals some of the historical and modern mysteries of the Scottish

paranormal experience. Welcome to Supernatural Scotland. It’s stranger than you can imagine.

COST: £5

MORE INFO: http://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/9844/Supernatural-Scotland-with-Geoff-Holder

 

2. SUBJECT: ZOMBIES FROM HISTORY

WHEN: Thursday 30th October, 7.30pm

WHERE: EDINBURGH – Skeptics in the Pub, Banshee Labyrinth, 29-35 Niddry Street, EH1 1LG (just off the Royal Mile).

DETAILS: It’s the night of the living dead… Zombie culture didn’t start with George Romero. Here be medieval

chroniclers’ sworn-to-be-true tales of the plague-spreading undead, including the pugilistic zombie of Paisley and

the zombie monk of the Scottish Borders; archeological evidence from graveyards of Anglo-Saxon and Romano-

British fear of the walking dead; several ‘Ladies with the Ring’, all supposedly revived in the grave by jewel-stealing gravediggers; the men who were hanged and buried – and then revived; the Cumbrian Crusader whose corpse

was still bleeding 800 years after his death; and the ancient bog body that accidentally solved a modern murder

mystery.

Warning: contains corpses.

COST: FREE

MORE INFO: here 

 

3. SUBJECT: SEX, LIES AND POLTERGEISTS! at the FIRST EVER SCOTTISH PARANORMAL FESTIVAL

WHEN: FRIDAY 31ST OCTOBER, 3.30PM

WHERE: Albert Halls, Albert Place, Dumbarton Road, Stirling FK9 4LA

DETAILS: Activity which has baffled paranormal investigators for centuries. Focusing on Scotland, Geoff will

discuss the earliest recorded Scottish poltergeist, a witchcraft episode from Stirling, and an Aberdeenshire

example kickstarted by young lust.

A canvas of commonsense-defying mysteries that stretches from the year 1635 to the present day.

COST: £5

MORE INFO: http://www.paranormalscotland.com/presentations/geoff-holder-sex-lies-and-poltergeists/

 

In which the Author takes a Halloween tour in Scotland (and looks for further gigs)…

Are you in Scotland and looking for a speaker during Halloween week? In the last week of October I’ll be knocking the French mud off my boots and venturing back to Scotland for a series of talks, and there are a few gaps in the

schedule, so I’m looking for some other opportunities.

Here’s the skinny:

On the evening of Tuesday 28th October I’m talking about ‘Supernatural Scotland’ at the Breadalbane Library in

Aberfeldy, Perth & Kinross.

On Wed 29th (evening) I’m presenting my crowd-pleasing ‘Zombies from History’ to the Edinburgh Skeptics at the Banshee Labyrinth. Warning: may contain corpses.

Thurs 30th (evening) I’m in Perth with the Filmmakers Club.

And in the afternoon of Friday 31st, Halloween itself, I’m at the (drum-roll) Scottish Paranormal Festival in Stirling,

giving a talk entitled ‘Sex, Lies & Poltergeists’: expect scenes of destruction, pointless violence and icky fluids from the very beginning.

So, if you are looking for a Halloween speaker on all matters ghoul and ghast anytime between Monday 27th

October and Saturday 1st November, please get in touch.

In which the Author talks witchcraft on the Spooky Isles site…

That fine institution The Spooky Isles has one of my witterings up today, the subject being the extraordinary (and

unique) Maggie Wall witchcraft monument in Dunning, Perthshire Scotland. Appropriately, it’s part of their Spooky Scotland week.

Maggie-Wall938x150011 - Maggie Wall monument

 

The piece is based on my book Maggie Wall – The Witch Who Never Was and the title itself may give you a clue

about my conclusions regarding this amazing site, the only historical monument to a named witch in the country.

spooky isles MW

 

You can check out the piece here, and while you’re there scope out some of the other goodies on the site. My

thanks to MJ Steel Collins.