Yearly Archives: 2012

In which the author guests on Lakeland Radio…

 

On Tuesday 10th April I’m the guest on the Dan Beale show on Lakeland Radio, the commercial radio station for South Lakeland. I’ll be wittering on about Paranormal Cumbria, Bownessie, and the Victorian mystery of how Lady Mabel Howard located some stolen jewellery using the divination technique known as automatic writing. And there’s a competition to win free copies of Paranormal Cumbria.

 

Lakeland Radio is at 101.1 and 101.8FM. The interview goes out at 11.10am and can be listened to again for a week or so via http://lakelandradio.co.uk/presenter/dan-beale/.

 
 

In which the author appears on BBC Radio Cumbria…

 

On Saturday 31st March I’m the guest on the Caroline Robertson show on BBC Radio Cumbria, talking about Paranormal Cumbria and weirdness in general. I’m on at approximately 10.10 (this could change on the day). Radio Cumbria can be found at 95.6FM, 96.1FM and 104.1FM, and the show can be listened to again for a week after broadcast on the BBC iPlayer. See here.

Select the 31st March show, and zip forward in the show to around 1 hour 13-14 minutes for the interview!

 

 

In which the author publishes another book…

 

Paranormal Cumbria is officially published on 2 April. Here’s the contents list:

 

Chapter 1                  The Croglin Vampire and the Renwick Cockatrice

 

Chapter 2                  Witchcraft, Magic and the Devil

 

Chapter 3                  The Cursing Stone of Carlisle

 

Chapter 4                  Powers of the Mind

 

Chapter 5                  Fairies, Nature Spirits and Other Beings

 

Chapter 6                  The Mysterious Menagerie – from Big Cats and Black Dogs to Lake Monsters and Werewolves

 

Chapter 7                  From Scareships to the Solway Spaceman

 

 

More details on the book can be found here and on its own Facebook page here. There’s a promo video here.

 

There’ll be features on BBC Radio Cumbria and Lakeland Radio, as well as in a number of local newspapers. And I’ll be selling and signing copies at the Manchester Monster Convention on Saturday 14th April (where I’m giving a talk on the Croglin Vampire), plus signing copies in-store at Waterstones, Carlisle on Saturday 21st April (11am-3pm).

 

Paranormal Cumbria is also available from Amazon, on, and all good bookshops.

 
 

In which the author turns Kerouac and goes On the Road…

 

I’m out and about all over the place over the next few weeks, so here’s a round-up of upcoming events.

 

On Saturday 31st March I’m honoured to be the guest of the Ghost Club Scotland, inaugurating their brand new series of talks north of the border. “Haunted Glasgow and Dundee” – with tales of doppelgangers, folk ghosts and modern apparitions – kicks off at 1.15pm in the Tron Victorian Bar, 63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB. Entry is £6 (including buffet) and is restricted to members of the Ghost Club and their guests only. To join, or find more out about the oldest paranormal investigation group in the country (founded 1862, no less), visit www.ghostclub.org.uk.

 

On Sunday 8 April I’m guesting on the ever-popular Paramania Radio show on the UKPN Radio channel (www.ukpnradio.com). Gary, Darren and Stuart will barrack me with questions on the paranormal, and I’ll attempt to come up with semi-coherent answers. The show runs from 9pm until 11, with a live chatroom for the asking of audience questions.

 

 

Saturday 14 April sees me getting up on my hind legs at the Manchester Monster Convention, a two-day celebration of all things monstrous and marvellous. I’ll be giving an illustrated talk on the allegedly 19th-century Vampire of Croglin Grange and the 1954 Glasgow children’s hunt for the Vampire with Iron Teeth. Bookending me at MancMonCon will be fiction authors Sam Stone and David J Howe, talking about their novels on vampires and Doctor Who, and Richard Freeman from the Centre for Fortean Zoology (and real-life monster hunter). Who, fangs and cryptozoology – it’s a marriage made in heaven. I’ll also be doing a book signing in the afternoon. Tickets are £10 – see the rest of the excellent programme at www.hic-dragones.co.uk/#/convention-programme/4559931370.

 

 

Saturday 21 April sees a return to Englandshire, with a book signing at Waterstones in Carlisle, from 11am-3pm. This is to promote Paranormal Cumbria, which is published at the very start of April (expect more info on this book very soon). The bookshop is at 66-68 Scotch Street, Carlisle CA3 8PN. If you can’t make it on the day, call 0843 290 8217 to reserve a copy of Paranormal Cumbria and I’ll sign it and you can pick it up later.

In which the author writes for The Author…

 

The Spring issue of The Author, the quarterly magazine of the Society of Authors, features an article I wrote on how writers can get the best out of giving talks and presentations. And speaking of such, my thanks go out to the staff of North Ayrshire Libraries for inviting me to give an illustrated talk at the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats on Thursday 22 March.

 

As the talk was on the subject of Scottish Bodysnatching, and as the venue is a former church, I delivered the first part of talk in the graveyard, giving the audience a quick lesson in grave-robbing, nineteenth-century style. This involved audience participation (well, someone had to be the corpse), a theme that continued back inside, where three audience members enthusiastically took on the roles of bodysnatchers.

 
 

In which the author visits the Ghost Club and meets some mummies…

On Saturday 17th March I was in London, the guest of the Ghost Club. My thanks to Alan Murdie and Philip Hutchinson for honouring me with an invitation, and for providing an exemplary example of a well-organised and hospitable event. The capacity audience tolerated my antics and rants about the Jacobites and the Supernatural with good grace, and a fine time was had by all.

 

 

 

On the way to the talk I popped into the Wellcome Collection on Euston Road, which has now barged into my list of favourite museums. The permanent Medicine man‘ contains such gems as

 

disease demons

amulets and headdresses made of human bone

skeletons of silver

votive phalli

a painting of William Price (the ‘druid’ of Llantrisant)

a piece of philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s dissected skin

several tattoos removed from dead bodies

Charles Darwin’s skull-topped walking stick

and a complete Peruvian mummy, huddled in the foetal position.

 

Entry into this enchanting modern day Cabinet of Curiosities is free. If you’re in the area, you really should visit.