"Ranger's Apprentice #9: Halt's Peril" by John Flanagan Available Now from Australian Book Shops

Waiting with bated breath for the next Ranger's Apprentice Book Nine, Halt's Peril? Wait no longer!

Several years ago, just by chance, I was browsing through Powells Books in Portland, Oregon when I stumbled across a treasure: John Flanagan's first book, Book One in the Ranger's Apprentice series, "The Ruins of Gorlan." (Though I'm middle aged, I confess that I've always been very fond of juvenile and young adult fantasy.) I devoured it, and eagerly searched online for any more in the series. I was delighted to discover Book Two "The Burning Bridge", ready to be ordered from Amazon. That, too, was quickly devoured. Then I started searching online to see when Book Three was to be released and great sadness descended: it was going to be months, if not years before I would be able to read number three!

But wait, wasn't John Flanagan an Australian author? Perhaps, just perhaps, his books were being published earlier in Australia... and then happiness returned! There I found by searching online, ready to be ordered from an Australian book shop months and even years before Amazon's American release, Book Three "The Icebound Land", Book Four "Oakleaf Bearers" and Book Five in the Ranger's Apprentice series, "The Sorcerer in the North." Oh, and they had much more interesting covers than the the American editions, though these are large soft covers, instead of hardbacks. And so I've continued feeding my Ranger's Apprentice fix to this day: I don't bother waiting for the American editions to be published on Amazon, I pay the extra in cost for the privilege of reading the books months or even years before most of my American peers by ordering the books directly from Australian book shops as soon as they are published. I have ordered Book Six "The Siege of Macindaw", Book Seven "Erak's Ransom", and Book Eight "The Kings of Clonmel" in this way and plan on ordering the latest volume, Book Nine "Halt's Peril"(available this November 2009 from Australia) from an Australian book shop, as well.

So, to help out my fellow Americans who can't bear to wait months for the next Ranger's Apprentice volume, I'm including links below to the home pages of Australian book sites that are currently listing "Halt's Peril" for sale. You will need to use their individual search engines (just type in "Halt's Peril" into the title field; if nothing comes up, try "Halts Peril" without the apostrophe.) to bring up the correct page. I'm not listing these in any particular order, and may periodically switch the order these are listed, so that each Australian book store has an equal chance at an American book buying customer.

Australian Book Shops that Are Currently Selling Copies of Ranger's Apprentice #9: Halt's Peril by John Flanagan:
Galaxy Bookshop..
Random House Australia.
Booktopia.
Infinitas Books.
Borders in Australia.

Blessings!