NEWS STORIES ABOUT MIKE AND HIS BOOKS
The Scottish fishing village that brought Dracula to life - BBC News
Shepherd explains: "I think Slains Castle, with its dramatic cliff-top setting, provided him with a degree of inspiration while he was thinking out his novel here."
Slain's Castle: Exploring the Scottish inspiration for Dracula | The National
THE ideas had long been brewing in Bram Stoker’s imagination but it was in Scotland that Dracula raged into the world,” explains Mike Shepherd, a Cruden Bay author whose books map out Scotland’s Dracula Coast.
Cruden Bay author honoured with lifetime membership of Dracula Society (pressandjournal.co.uk)
An author who detailed Bram Stoker’s links with the north-east has been honoured with a lifetime membership of a group named after the Irishman’s greatest creation.
Fangs for the memories: Dracula's Scots roots are unearthed | HeraldScotland
The introduction to the book, written by Dacre Stoker, the author's great grand-nephew says: "The Aberdeenshire village in the north of Scotland is perhaps too remote for most; that is, except for Mike - he lives there. This helps, as he is intimately familiar with the localities associated with Bram Stoker and has access to unpublished local archive material."
A Dracula-themed walk to a great pub: Kilmarnock Arms, Cruden Bay | Scotland holidays | The Guardian
“The idea had long been brewing in Stoker’s imagination, but it was here that Dracula raged into the world,” says Mike Shepherd, a Cruden Bay author whose books map out Scotland’s “Dracula Coast”.
Dracula: Following in the north-east footsteps of Bram Stoker (thecourier.co.uk)
To mark the 125th anniversary of Dracula, Gayle meets with Bram Stoker expert Mike Shepherd for a tour of the novelist’s north-east haunts.
BOOK REVIEWS
OIL STRIKE NORTH SEA
What Did Oil Do For Us? – Scottish Review of Books
Mike Shepherd’s highly entertaining and informative new book about the past 45 tumultuous years in the North Sea
Shepherd tells an extraordinary story in plain words, without talking down to the lay reader. The result is a rattling good yarn that is a major contribution to public understanding of what goes on out there, over that cold, grey, storm horizon.
WHEN BRAVE MEN SHUDDER
Book Reviews 4 VPFJ 1.1 Spring 2019 – Victorian Popular Fiction Association
When Brave Men Shudder may not answer all your questions about Dracula, but Shepherd’s extraordinarily well researched study definitely belongs on the bookshelves of all people who are interested in Stoker and his most famous work. It also provides a number of insights into Stoker’s writing process and demonstrates how he wove together various materials.
The man responsible for this extraordinary study is not a literary critic but a geologist who lives in Cruden Bay, where Stoker spent at least twelve holidays... Carol Senf.
SLAINS CASTLE'S SECRET HISTORY
Slains Castle’s Secret History - Duncan Harley Reviews - Aberdeen Voice
An extraordinary set of stories lie within these pages. Churchill visited as did Johnson and Boswell. The cutting off of the heads of dead Danes, an epic story of religious strife and a shambolic plan to surrender Scotland to the Spanish Crown inhabit this book. And the ‘tussle’ for the souls of the living takes centre stage.