author
J. Maclaren (James Maclaren) Cobban
1849–1903
A Scottish novelist and journalist with a taste for strange premises and popular storytelling, he wrote across sensation, adventure, detective fiction, and early science fiction. His best-known work today is probably Master of His Fate, a dark tale of unnatural vitality and moral cost.
1 Audiobook
Master of His Fate
by J. Maclaren (James Maclaren) Cobban
About the author
Born in Aberdeen on April 24, 1849, James Maclaren Cobban trained at New College, London, for the Presbyterian ministry, but ill health forced him to leave that path. He went on to build a career in journalism and fiction, writing under the name J. Maclaren Cobban.
Cobban was a versatile late-Victorian author whose books ranged widely in subject and mood. His novels include The Cure of Souls, A Reverend Gentleman, The King of Andaman, The White Kaid of the Atlas, and The Green Turbans. He is especially remembered in genre history for Master of His Fate (1890), a novel noted for its eerie blend of psychology, occult ideas, and proto-science-fiction themes.
He died in London on October 31, 1903. Although he is not as widely read now as some of his contemporaries, his work still attracts interest from readers of Victorian popular fiction and early speculative writing.