Birthday Surprise

It's my birthday today and my lovely wife organised a special gift for me, a proof copy of Vaseem Khan's first "Q Mysteries series" novel "Quantum Of Menace".

I've been hunting for this "Uncorrected proof" from the U.K. for over six months, so I was stoked when I unwrapped it this morning.

The front cover of the trade size book features the subtle single alphabetic character "Q", the code name of the main protagonist of the novel. The rear cover reads "Pay Attention", a famous quote from the film "Goldfinger" during a meeting between James Bond (Sean Connery) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn).

The book was published in 2025 by Zaffre, an imprint of Bonnier Books.

Yarragon Annual Book Fair 2026

My wife and I missed last year's book fair in Yarragon as we were about to travel overseas.  This year, along with her parents, we travelled the 230km round trip to Yarragon in Gippsland to hunt for books.

I'm always optimistic of finding some great condition vintage James Bond paperbacks at this event.  Every year there's always new stock which has been donated by the local community for the benefit of their local fire brigade.

As always the hall was full of people, many of whom had also travelled the Princes Highway from Melbourne to be there.

Unlike previous years this was the only Bond related book I encountered, a copy of Jeffery Deaver's novel "Edge" which featured a small circle on the cover promoting his forthcoming (at the time) Bond novel "Carte Blanche".  As I already have this book in my collection I left it for another possible Bond collector to discover.

No Bond novels for me this year.  But that's just part of the book hunt.  My wife and her Dad were more fortunate with both of them managing to find some new reading material.

A wander through the local shops and art gallery, the carrot cake from the Yarragon Bakery and a delicious lunch at the town pub rounded off an enjoyable day out before our drive home.

Bluestone & Bond Books

Last Sunday, a day after the book fair in Mornington, I visited the north of the City while on a book hunt.

Many areas north of Melbourne still feature the blue cobblestones laid more than a century ago when the area was first developed.  And as I drove from secondhand bookstore to bookstore they seemed to become more prominent. 

First stop was Howard Bolton Bookseller in Northcote.  As always Howard greeted me upon entering his charming little store.  Full of plenty of hardback first editions and hundreds of great quality paperbacks, it wasn't long before I found a paperback to purchase (see end of this post).  It was also great to see other people inside scouring the shelves too.  Just a final note, this store is open only on weekends and also only accepts cash.

Next stop was Already Read Bookshop in North Fitzroy.  I only took one photo inside the store as it's very compact, and it was busy with plenty of other people also looking for books to purchase.  The Crime & Thrillers section was still near the front cash register, but as the store is so well organised, they would have been easy to find anyway.

After a short drive I ended up at Through The Looking Glass bookshop in Fitzroy.  Yet again another busy secondhand bookstore full of people, which was great to see.  

Heaps of paperbacks and hardbacks, some stored low and others high.  There was also a glass cabinet near the entrance which included a couple of Jonathan Cape Bond hardbacks as well as some book club editions.  I haven't previously visited this store but I'll definitely return soon to see what new acquisitions they might have for sale.  The owner was very friendly and explained they also have two other stores in Sassafras and Belgrave.

Next up was Brunswick Seconhand Books in... Brunswick.   There's a table of cheap paperbacks out on the street, and up a short flight of stairs are four or five rooms full of hardbacks and paperbacks of all categories.  

This store had lots of older paperbacks available as well as plenty of modern titles.  The shelves were packed but well sorted and the rooms separated the categories.

There were also plenty of customers browsing the shelves, although I did manage to avoid them in my photos.

Second last stop was Golden Bowl Books in Coburg, or at least that's where it was last time I visited.  This time there was just an empty store.  According to their website they're now located at Market Fair Preston which I'll have to visit in the future.

Final stop, Lobos Collectables in Thornbury.   Sure they have some science fiction books in store, but I've never seen any Bond's.  However they don't have some Bond collectables and today was no exception with some Gilbert toys from the 1960's, many still on cards, and a few scale model Aston Martins.

And my sole purchase for the day, a copy of Ian Fleming's "From Russia With Love" published by Pan Books in 1976.  This book features in the Still Life Series.  It was in such good condition, and apparently unread, that I couldn't go past it.