A Library With a Life of Its Own

Wednesday, November 4, 2026 John Hocking Comments 1 comment

**This is one of six shelves in my study and doesn’t show my multiple floor stacks, three of which are, seriously, as tall as I am.**

Hello, it’s my first post in 13 years (since The Before It’s Too Late List, way back in October 2013) and I have to discuss my library again. Obviously.

It occurred to me that my library, the mass of books I’ve spent my life accumulating, has acquired a kind of life of its own.

A few years ago I was reading a history of detective fiction, and it was mentioned that the longest running detective series was the one about Mike Shayne by ‘Brett Halliday’ (originally Davis Dresser but later many ghost writers working under the Halliday name). Damn, I thought, I really ought to try some Mike Shayne. I seemed to recall I had picked up a Shayne novel somewhere, so I checked my shelves. I had two. Which ones? The first and second volumes. My library was prepared to answer my needs perfectly even if I had no recollection of setting it up to do so.

A couple days back, inspired by the autumnal weather, I decided I should dig into one of the several collections of ghost stories I have in the library. I selected Oxford University Press’s Victorian Ghost Stories, which I bought back in the 90’s.

**The Book in Question: *Victorian Ghost Stories: An Oxford Anthology*, edited by Michael Cox and R.A. Gilbert (Oxford University Press,‎ January 14, 1993**

I seemed to recall having dipped into this anthology sometime in the past but was surprised to find an index card serving as a bookmark and yet more surprised to see the card was positioned at page 385. Had I really read the 384 pages of tales preceding the bookmark? Then I saw what I’d written on the index card, probably more than 30 years ago…

The stories collected in the book are arranged in the chronological order of their composition. So, I understand I was more interested in sampling the more recent tales when I first began to read.

I have returned to the book and continued reading the stories in backwards order. It’s a fine collection and if you’re in the mood for some seasonal classic ghost stories, I recommend it even if you read it forwords.

John C. Hocking is the author of two novels starring Conan the Cimmerian, Conan and the Emerald Lotus (Tor Books, 1995) and Conan: City of the Dead (Titan Books, June 18, 2024). He is the winner of the Harper’s Pen Award for sword and sorcery fiction. His short fiction has appeared in the Flashing Swords ezine, Black Gate, Skelos, Weirdbook and Tales from the Magician’s Skull. Recently retired, he is currently working on a new novel. He lives in Michigan with his wife, son, and an alarming quantity of books.