Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Zilla: We’re big fans of libraries around here. In the real world, they’re necessary collective spaces for sharing information and community. And in the fictional world, they’re that plus a bit more. So The Library Cosmic, by Ben Berman Ghan, caught our attention! Ben, can you describe your speculative fiction collection for us?

Ben: My next book is a collection of loosely connected novellas and novellettes titled The Library Cosmic, in which people throughout time and space are confronted with terrifying giants and monsters and systems of oppression that are worth fighting even when the odds seem impossible. A ghost builds a library in the spiritual plane that grows to the size of a planet. A golem adopts children throughout the universe as stars collapse, while on Earth, a young man chases a legend of a disappearing library. There is one cute robot.

Zilla: Only one? I kid, I kid. What inspirations did your story draw on?

Ben: When I think of the scale and the creatures of The Library Cosmic, I think of the work of Jack Kirby. I think of the Celestials as he depicts them through The Eternals. I think of his Galactus as the devourer lands on Earth in the pages of Fantastic Four. He was Jack “The King” Kirby for a reason. Fighting Nazis and dreaming in a scale our cosmos can barely contain.

Zilla: If you could meet your characters, what would you say to them?

Ben: I would either say “Yikes! Get away from me!” And then run, or I would offer a hug, and an apology, and a coffee. All my characters are tragedies, or devils, or me.

Zilla: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. We’re looking forward to reading! Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Ben: You can find me online at or on Bluesky at @inkstainedwreck.ca or on Instagram @ink.stained_wreck! And you can pre-order The Library Cosmic from your local bookstore, or directly from the publisher.