Welcome to a festive edition of Extremis Etc. Extra this December. I hope that you are looking forward to the pleasures of the festive season, in whatever form that they may take. For Tom and me, it’s about having some much anticipated downtime, and meeting and reconnecting with friends that you only seem to manage to see at this time of year because we all live such busy lives. I can also add, we also plan to connect with a tin of Cadbury’s Roses, a good book, and some festive TV!
After a very busy year, we are taking a few weeks away from our desks for a much-needed break over the festive season. We’ll be switching off our computers on Monday 23rd December, and we will be open for business again on Monday 5th January.
Tom and I would like to thank all of you for your support throughout 2025, helping us to celebrate our tenth anniversary, and encouraging us to look forward to the next ten years in business. We hope that you have a great New Year when it comes, and we’ll raise a glass to you, all of our authors, friends and readers, when the bells ring in 2026.
Have a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
Julie
The Cinematic City of Dundee
Many thanks to everyone who supported our launch events for our new book Lights, Camera, Dundee! On Friday 21st November, we took part in a presentation for Book Week Scotland at Dundee Central Library, where the public was invited along to find out more about Lights, Camera, Dundee! and the films and TV series that shaped the book. Tom gave an illustrated talk about some of the features that had been filmed in Dundee, Tayside, and Angus, and there was a Q&A afterwards followed by a chance to have a copy of the book personalised. Thanks to Library and Information Officer Neil Paterson for all of his much-appreciated help on the day.
Then, on Saturday 22nd November, there was a “meet the authors” book signing event for Lights, Camera, Dundee! where we were on hand to meet with readers at Dundee’s iconic McManus Museum and Art Gallery. It was a real pleasure to meet with so many people and answer their questions about the book. Thanks to Paul Campbell, the McManus’s Engagement Officer, for having organised the event. The idea for the book had been hatched in Paul’s office last year, so it was amazing to see things come full circle by having the book autographing session in the McManus too!
We were back at the McManus in December to take part in their famous Christmas market, where we again had copies of the book available for sale and personalisation. With everyone in a wonderfully seasonal mood, it was fantastic to meet so many festive shoppers and talk with them about their own Dundee memories. With over 1,100 visitors to the museum that day, we were certainly kept busy!
The book was also covered by The Courier’s past times editor, Graeme Strachan, so for a taster of what to expect please check out his feature at: https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/past-times/5382795/dundee-filming-locations-guide/
James’ Tweed Trail Challenge Photographic Exhibition Closes Soon
If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit the Tweed Trail Challenge Photographic Exhibition yet, there’s still a few days left before it closes for the season on Sunday 21st December.
The exhibition is located in the stunning Paxton House near the town of Paxton, on the Scottish Border. The pictures are all included in James Herriot’s latest book, Tweed Trail Challenge, and are well worth a visit. However, if you can’t make it along to the exhibition before Christmas, there will be another opportunity to view the photographs when Paxton House reopens in Spring 2026.
As with all of our books, you can buy them online at all major retailers, or they can be ordered from your favourite independent bookstore. I have to give a special shout-out to two bookshops in Berwick-upon-Tweed which are stocking Tweed Trail Challenge. I have been buying books from George Grieves in Church Street since I was a child, and Neil the manager there is always very obliging. However, there is also a newly-opened bookstore this autumn called The Book Loft. Both shops are stocking Tweed Trail Challenge in-store, so if you live in the area and you are looking for a book for someone who has everything, or you just love the region like we do and want to see how James has captured the beauty of the area by drone, plane and kayak in his book, please go along and support your local shops.
Tom Entered the Bermuda Triangle of Christmas Movies this December
Tom managed to return from the Bermuda Triangle of Christmas Movies not once but thrice over the past few weeks, as he gave his regular festive presentations about the different Christmas movies of the twentieth century. This year, it was the turn of the films of the 1960s and '70s, which have a quirky charm all of their own.
The presentations tied into Tom’s book A Seriously Groovy Movie Christmas, which is an instalment of his four-volume history of Christmas cinema. During the sixties and seventies, most commercial effort was going into the sale of colour televisions, and Christmas movies on the big screen became an abstract and neglected category of film. Some of these features were experimental, some were quite bizarre, and a few have disappeared into the mists of Christmas past for good reason!
Visiting two of our favourite venues, Legends at the Monument and Dundee Central Library, we enjoyed meeting the people who came along to the presentation. Judging by the amount of note-taking that was going on, there were a lot of people who were going out to look for some alternative and offbeat movies, rather than the mainstream ones that we see each year on TV!
Tom also produced a special presentation of the talk at the King Street ApartHotel in Stirling. Local philanthropic trust forthgiving was chosen by the hotel as their inaugural Christmas Charity of the Year, and all of the donations provided at the event will help to support people living in hardship throughout the Forth Valley area.
The audience enjoyed the hot chocolate, mulled wine and Christmas goodies provided by the hotel during the talk. You can hear more about what makes Christmas movies special - and if indeed Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not! - by listening to (or watching) the Stirling Business Podcast episode on the subject:
Could you support forthgiving’s work this Christmas?
forthgiving is one of the oldest charities in Stirling. Initially known as The Sons of the Rock, as it was situated in the shadow of Stirling Castle high on Castle Hill, they have been providing practical support for people in need since 1809. Acknowledging the need that was evident across the entirety of Forth Valley, they now provide small grants to individuals and families living in Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire Council areas for a variety of essential items, including clothing, food and fuel.
It is a small charity, but it has supported many applications for help in the past year, making a difference when people needed it most. A financial gift this Christmas would help forthgiving to support the rising number of referrals they are experiencing, aiding them in their efforts to help more people. All of the donations made are used to make life better for people living in Forth Valley.
Here are a few suggestions about how you can help:
By making a donation online via their website
By making a donation to the charity instead of sending Christmas cards this year
By becoming a member of the charity
For more information, please visit their website: https://www.forthgiving.org.uk/
Christmas Reminiscences with Robbie
Robert Murray, the author of The Grocer’s Boy trilogy, and his latest title - My Life in Carnoustie: A Lang Time Ago, which was published by Extremis earlier this year - shared some of his reminiscences of Christmases past with Tom in our December podcast. Robbie recalls the Christmases of his childhood growing up in Carnoustie in the 1940s and '50s, then moves on to working in Dundee from the sixties onwards. It’s a slice of life that is the same - but also very different - from now, as regards how we celebrate the festivities. Robbie weaves his story in his own inimitable way:
An Extremis Night Before Christmas
Every year, Extremis Publishing produces a Christmas video at the start of December, to kick off our Christmas festivities. This year, we decided that - as nothing is sacred - we would give Clement Clark Moore’s affectionately-remembered 1823 poem A Visit from St Nicholas the Extremis treatment! Much as we would love to have a publishing workshop like the one in the video, and have a journey in Santa’s sleigh to deliver our books, the process for our Christmas deliveries is actually a little more pedestrian!
Mel’s Alternative Christmas Message
For those of us who remember “Uncle Mel” Croucher’s time as a contributor to Crash magazine back in the 1980s, you will know that Mel used to regularly provide an annual festive message for his listeners. In a way, he predated the podcast by almost two decades by making his anarchic recordings available on cover-mount cassette tapes, bringing a bit of festive jollity to magazine readers across the land.
This Christmas we are very privileged here at Extremis, as Mel has once again dusted off his microphone and recording equipment to produce a Christmas Cracker for us this year. Keep an eye on our podcast channel to hear Mel’s festive message this week.
There will be more about Mel, and his latest book with Extremis Publishing, coming up next year.
Extremis Publishing are Scottish Enterprise Award Winners
As a lovely way to round off our tenth anniversary year, Extremis Publishing has been named as the Scottish Enterprise Award’s Best Independent Publishing House of the Year: our fifth award of 2025. For the Scottish Enterprise Awards - a programme operated by SME News, celebrating Scottish businesses - winners are chosen through a research-driven judging process where each nominee is assessed across a range of key business performance metrics including client dedication, innovation, business performance and growth, and community impact.
We would also like to take this opportunity to give Julie Howden, from Julie Howden Photography, a shout out. She took some amazing publicity pictures for us recently, using the King Street Aparthotel as a backdrop. Julie made the whole experience a fun one, and we now have a whole new appreciation for anyone who models for a living!
If you would like to see some of Julie’s diverse and interesting portfolio of photographs, please visit her website at: https://www.juliehowden.com/
Happy Christmas to All… and to All, a Good Night!
Wishing everyone a fantastic festive season - see you all in 2026!