Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t have a nostalgic bone in my body. I much prefer looking forward to the next thing, as opposed to glancing over my shoulder at what I might have previously done.
So 2026 is a very strange year for me. My debut novel, Tombstoning, was first published twenty years ago and, to celebrate, Orenda has produced a beautiful new edition with an amazing introduction by Chris Brookmyre. Similarly, my second novel, The Ossians, will get a lovely new edition in April, with Val McDermid writing the introduction. And my twentieth novel, Ghost Notes, a new Skelfs mystery, will see the light of day in August.
So, despite my aversion to nostalgia, even I have to admit that twenty books in twenty years feels like a time to briefly look back at where I’ve come from.
In the case of Tombstoning, this nostalgia works twofold, as the book itself is about whether or not the past shapes us in the present. Set in the small Scottish fishing town of Arbroath where I grew up, it’s about David and Nicola, who return after fifteen years to attend a school reunion. David hasn’t visited the town since he left school, after his closest friend died in an accident at the local cliffs. The book is set up to examine whether the past defines us or whether we can reinvent ourselves anew every morning when we wake up. It’s disorienting to think that there is less time – eighteen years – between when I was at school and when the book came out, compared to the twenty years between when the book came out and the present day.
Re-reading Tombstoning in 2026 creates a strange anxiety for me. In one sense, it feels like it was written by a completely different person but, in another sense, I can see many of the same ideas, stylistic quirks and themes that I have been writing about across all twenty of my novels. There is dark comedy, a strong anti-authority streak, chaos and violence, and an obsession with how we live our lives in the face of death. All of that continues in my writing today, although hopefully in a slightly more refined manner.
What has been most gratifying is seeing readers’ reactions to a book written twenty years ago. The reviews of Tombstoning by book bloggers have been incredibly kind and gracious, and have highlighted positive aspects of the book that I was previously blind to. The fact that a novel I wrote two decades ago can still resonate with readers is something I feel immensely grateful for. So maybe looking back – at least for a brief moment – isn’t quite so bad after all.
Doug Johnstone is the author of Tombstoning, reissued by Orenda Books in a special anniversary edition, with an introduction by Christopher Brookmyre.
