Book Haul – Canberra Bookfair – September 2025

During the last weekend I was able to attend the Canberra Lifeline Bookfair, an event that occurs several times a year and gives great opportunities to pick up secondhand books donated for charity. I ended up managing to pick up several pretty awesome books at this bookfair which I was very happy with. This includes multiple books I had been keeping an eye out for, as well as a few interesting novels that proved to be very welcome surprises. Due to these successes, I decided to do a bonus Book Haul post to show off just how varied the books you can potentially find at this bookfair can be.

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

One of the most talked about fantasy novels in recent years has to be The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman.  I heard a lot of awesome things about The Blacktongue Thief when it first came out, and I even did a Waiting on Wednesday post about it.  Despite this, I kept failing to find a copy of The Blacktongue Thief, even though I was still extremely interested in reading it.  As such, I was pretty damn happy to find a good secondhand version of this book on the weekend and I’m hoping to read it soon.

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Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher

Another book I was particularly happy to find over the weekend was Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher.  The second book in Butcher’s Unorthodox Chronicles, Long Past Dues is the awesome sounding sequel to the author’s debut novel, Dead Man’s Hand.  I had a great time reading Dead Man’s Hand when it first came out, and I’m very excited to finally get my hands on the sequel.

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Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien De Castell

I just had to pick up a copy of Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien De Castell when I saw it was available, especially after enjoying some of the author’s more recent novels.  The first book in the author’s Greatcoats series, Traitor’s Blade sounds pretty amazing, and I’m curious to see how De Castell set up his entertaining universe.

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Apocalypse Cow by Michael Logan

So, I’m not going to lie, I picked this one up purely because of the puns on the front page, which still makes me chuckle.  A comedic novel about zombie cows is frankly something I’d never be able to turn down, and it sounds like Apocalypse Cow is a particularly funny read, which I am very keen to check out.

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Star Wars: The Mandalorian Armor by K. W. Jeter

While I haven’t explored the now defunct Legends canon of Star Wars fiction as much as I would have liked, I was very interested in this copy of The Mandalorian Armor by K. W. Jeter I found.  The first book in a series that pits the infamous bounty hunters of Star Wars universe against each other, The Mandalorian Armor sounds pretty damn awesome, and I look forward to diving into it when I get a chance.

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Warhammer 40,000: Grey Knights by Ben Counter

More fun Warhammer 40,000 fun from the always impressive Ben Counter, how could I possibly turn that down.

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Footprints of Thunder by James F. David

The final book I picked up is the intriguing classic science fiction novel, Footprints of Thunder by James F. David. A compelling and thrilling novel that sees the modern world merged with the dinosaur inhabited past, Footprints of Thunder is an excellent book that I was very happy to find a good copy of.  I think I actually read this book when I was younger, so it will be interesting to revisit it after all these years.

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Well, that’s the end of this latest Book Haul post.  As you can see I have quite a bit of reading to do at the moment thanks to all these awesome books that have come in.  Let me know which of the above you are most interested in and make sure to check back in a few weeks to see my reviews of them.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books on my Spring 2023 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics.  The official Top Ten Tuesday topic for this week was based around favourite character relationships, which, while interesting, isn’t something I felt I could contribute to.  However, as we are already a couple of weeks into the Spring (Autumn for folks in the Northern Hemisphere), I decided to instead move up my quarterly post about the best upcoming books to read (TBR) for the following three months.  This is a regular post I do at the start of each season, and I honestly should have pulled this together a couple of weeks ago.

For this list, I have come up with 10 of the most anticipated novels that are coming out between 1 September 2023 and 30 November 2023.  There are quite a few very cool novels set for release in the next few months that I am extremely excited for, including some of my most anticipated book of the year (as well as my most anticipated fantasy/science fiction books of the year).  Due to how impressive some of these upcoming books are, it took me a little while to finalise my list but I was eventually able to whittle it down into a Top Ten list (with a few honourable mentions).  I have primarily used the Australian publication dates to reflect when I will be able to get these awesome novels, and these might be somewhat different to the rest of the world. I also excluded several awesome Spring releases that I have already read or started reading (such as Holly by Stephen King which I am nearly at the end of).  I have previously discussed a number of these books before in prior Top Ten Tuesdays and Waiting on Wednesday articles and I think all of them will turn out to be pretty incredible reads.  I have extremely excited for the next three months as quite a few up these upcoming reads are easily going to be amongst the best books of 2023.

Honourable Mentions:

Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher – 10 October 2023

Long Past Dues Cover

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The Exchange by John Grisham – 17 October 2023

The Exchange Cover

The long-awaited sequel to Grisham’s iconic novel, The Firm, this should be a very interesting and compelling thriller.

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The Shadow King by Harry Sidebottom – 9 November 2023

The Shadow King Cover

 

Vendetta by Sarah Barrie – 15 November 2023

Vendetta Cover

Top Ten Tuesday:

Code Red by Kyle Mills – 12 September 2023

Code Red Cover

The latest book in the iconic Mitch Rapp spy thriller series (originally written by Vince Flynn and currently authored by Kyle Mills), Code Red sounds like a very exciting and intense novel that I am hoping to read this week.

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The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman – 12 September 2023

The Last Devil to Die Cover

Filled with mystery, great characters and a wicked dose of humour, Richard Osman’s fourth Thursday Murder Club book, The Last Devil to Die, is going to be exceedingly awesome and so much fun to read.

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The Armour of Light by Ken Follett – 26 September 2023

The Armour of Light Cover

An epic and massive historical fiction novel from the master of elaborate character-focused tales, Ken Follett.

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Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead by K. J. Parker – 3 October 2023

Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead Cover

An intriguing and awesome upcoming fantasy comedy book that I know I am going to love, Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead will follow a battlefield looter as they experience all manner of trouble.  Two sequels to Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead are also coming out in the next few months, but I think I will just highlight this first book for now.

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Everyone on this Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson – 17 October 2023

Everyone on this Train is a Suspect Cover

The fantastic sounding sequel to Stevenson’s hilarious and addictive 2022 Australian murder mystery, Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone, Everyone on this Train is a Suspect sounds extremely amazing and should be one of the funniest and most compelling crime fiction novels of 2023.

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Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly – 7 November 2023

Resurrection Walk Cover

Michael Connelly continues his entertaining and captivating Lincoln Lawyer series with Resurrection Walk, which sees the titular lawyer protagonist face off against a corrupt police force.  An awesome legal thriller featuring several of Connelly’s best characters, this is going to be something very special.

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Murtagh by Christopher Paolini – 7 November 2023

Murtagh Cover

Acclaimed author Christopher Paolini returns to the world of his original work, the Inheritance Cycle, with a new standalone novel focused on the amazing character of Murtagh.  Set to follow this conflicted and hated dragon rider as he encounters a new dangerous threat, this will be an awesome book and I am very excited to finally have a continuation of one of my favourite series.

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Rebellion by Simon Scarrow – 14 November 2023

Rebellion Cover

The always exciting Simon Scarrow continues his excellent Eagles of the Empire series with the fantastic sounding Rebellion.  Set to follow the brutal battles of Boudica’s uprising, Rebellion looks set to be an outstanding addition to this already epic series.

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Defiant by Brandon Sanderson – 21 November 2023

Defiant Cover

Sanderson brings his fantastic Skyward series to an end with the fourth book Defiant.  Following on from previous epic reads, Skyward, Starsight and Cytonic, Defiant should be pretty damn exceptional and I am eager to see how Sanderson brings everything to an end.

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Kill Your Husbands by Jack Heath – 28 November 2023

Kill Your Husbands Cover

The final book I want to highlight on this list is the awesome upcoming Australian crime fiction novel, Kill Your Husbands.  The sequel to author’s previous fantastic read, Kill Your Brother, Kill Your Husbands will feature a unique murder scenario with a twisted web of lies, deceit and intriguing characters surrounding it, and I cannot wait to read it.

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Well, that is the end of my Top Ten list.  I think it turned out pretty well and it does a good job of capturing all my most anticipated books for the next three months.  Each of the above should be extremely epic, and I cannot wait to read each of them soon.  Let me know which of the above you are most excited for and stay tuned for reviews of them in the next few months.  In the meantime, it looks like I have quite a few books to get through soon and they should all be pretty awesome.

Waiting on Wednesday – Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  For my latest Waiting on Wednesday, I check out a fun upcoming urban fantasy novel from a rising star with Long Past Dues by James J. Butcher.

Long Past Dues Cover

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Last year I was lucky enough to receive a copy of the excellent urban fantasy book, Dead Man’s Hand, the first book in the Unorthodox Chronicles and the debut novel from new author James J. Butcher.  Butcher, the son of legendary fantasy author Jim Butcher (check out some of my recent Throwback Thursdays), did a really good job with his first book, producing an intriguing and fast-paced urban fantasy read that I had a lot of fun with.  Following a relatively powerless magic user (an Unorthodox) with minor spells who finds themself in the middle of a massive magical conspiracy in Boston when he is accused of killing a powerful magical law enforcement officer and must team up with the victims retired partner to solve the crime.  Dead Man’s Hand was a very interesting and compelling first novel from Butcher, and it ended up being one of my favourite debuts of 2022.

Due to how impressive Butcher’s first book was, I have been keeping an eye out for any potential sequel for a while now and I was quite excited to see that Butcher had follow-up novel coming out later this year with Long Past Dues.  Set for release in October, the second Unorthodox Chronicles book will continue to follow the protagonist from the first novel as he settles into the world of magical law enforcement.  The new plot below sounds very compelling and I look forward to seeing the protagonist engage in a proper investigation, one loaded with magical rituals, hidden secrets and other cool aspects of this great magical world.  Based on how good Butcher’s first novel was, I am already quite keen for this fantastic sounding sequel and I know I am going to have a great time reading this book.  Long Past Dues has a ton of potential and I cannot wait to read the next book from this awesome new author.

Plot Synopsis:

Grimsby, the newest Auditor in the magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs, finds himself in hot water when he intercepts a friend’s case in this fast-paced and thrilling urban fantasy.

Against all odds, Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby has become an Auditor, enforcing laws about magic for Boston’s Department of Unorthodox Affairs. But Grimsby soon realizes the daily grind of his job is far removed from the glamour he imagined. Overlooked for every exciting case, Grimsby tires of being told to handle mundane magical troubles, and appropriates a case file intended for a friend.

Alongside Leslie Mayflower, the temporarily unretired Huntsman, Grimsby aims to crack the case and discover the origin of a strange, unfinished ritual—one that seems to imitate the handiwork of a foe Mayflower put down twenty years ago.

Together, they’ll have to deal with escaped werewolves, a cursed artifact, and a perilous journey to the mysterious subterranean city below Boston, all to uncover the shocking truth. At any cost, Grimsby must stop this ritual from finally being completed. Yet the cost may be paid not by himself but by his friends. . . .