author
J. Maclaren (James Maclaren) Cobban
1849–1903
A Scottish novelist and journalist of the late Victorian period, he wrote sensation-filled fiction that ranged from social novels to uncanny tales. His best-known work today is probably Master of His Fate, a dark story with early speculative and vampiric touches.
1 Audiobook
Master of His Fate
by J. Maclaren (James Maclaren) Cobban
About the author
Born in Aberdeen in 1849, James Maclaren Cobban trained at New College, London, for the Presbyterian ministry before poor health forced him to abandon that path. He went on to build a career in journalism and fiction, writing under the name J. Maclaren Cobban.
Cobban published a long list of novels and stories in the late 19th century. His work moved across several modes, including social fiction, adventure, and the supernatural. Modern readers who encounter him today often do so through Master of His Fate (1890), a novel noted by reference works on science fiction and fantasy for its strange mix of psychological, occult, and proto-vampiric ideas.
He died in London in 1903. Although he is not a household name now, his books survived in library catalogs, public-domain archives, and genre reference works, which show the range of a productive Victorian writer whose fiction could be both earnest and unsettling.