A while back Myndi Shafer tweeted about how she was afraid of libraries, and how this is not good for an author. I offered to create a past life which would explain this odd fear, and she said ‘go for it’. So here is a possible past life explanation as to why our dear Myndi would be afraid of libraries:

She knew it was wrong but she couldn’t stay away. One of the best things about being married was her husband’s immense library. It was against the law for her, a mere woman, to be able to read, but her father had taught her, and now she couldn’t stay away from the hundreds of books that lined the walls; books her husband couldn’t read.
She loved it when her husband left. Not only could she read, but every time he would leave her alone, he begged her forgiveness and promised to bring her back trinkets to prove he’d been thinking of her while he was away. Her uncle had picked a kind man for her to marry, and she was content. However, if her father had been alive, then her chosen husband would be a man who would have also found the law forbidding woman to read foolish and worth ignoring.

Her finger tips were numb by the time she had traced over the leather spines and finally settled on a book, a ghost story. Curled into the furthest corner of the room she hid. The servants knew she liked the smell of the books, that they reminded her of her father. They thought she gazed out the window, depressed by her husband’s absence. Today she brought some embroidery to pretend to work on.

Biting her lip she curled over the book, reading quickly as she feared for the heroine’s life and had to know what happened. So, lost in the story, she didn’t hear the door creak open, the footsteps echo through the room, or the gasp of horror as her husband found her.

The slick cold sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard did pull her from one nightmare into another.
“Husband,” she whispered. Her mind raced as she desperately tried to come up what she could say to make this all right.

He snarled and in two steps he crossed the floor and ran her through. The book dropped with a splat in a puddle of crimson life. She stared at her stomach. Her blood coated the gleaming metal. “No, wife of mine will disobey the law. It is not proper or safe for a woman to read.” He jerked the sword from her body.

She gasped. Her hands fluttered, and she placed them on her stomach below the mortal wound. Tears ran down her cheeks. “My baby.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw her husband step back. His voice echoed, but she couldn’t understand the words. Pain shook her body as she fell over. Chaos surrounded her, but all she saw was blood and books.

And this is why Myndi is afraid of libraries. So what do you think? Does anyone have another idea? Or an odd fear that we can make up a past life excuse for?

And some music to for your Monday. Today I have Seth Lakeman Race to be King.