Autumn has rolled around quickly, bringing us kicking and screaming into the last third of the year. But while the months continue to rush by, there’s still a lot to look forward to. It’s time to dive into this month’s reading schedule.

TBR

My TBR stack has grown so rapidly that I can no longer fit it all in a single picture. Not shown above are all the Star Trek books I still have tucked away elsewhere. As I said last month, I can’t really get to those until renovations are complete, so while I’m looking forward to Prometheus, it will have to wait a little while yet. I do however intend to complete my final Star Trek reread as I go back to that battered omnibus edition of The Captain’s Table. It’s the last of the Trek books I read prior to setting up At Boundary’s Edge, and will clear the way for a dive back into the Litverse for the coming months.

That’s not the only tie-in fiction I intend to read in September however. I’m opening the month with another omnibus, this time coming to you from the grim darkness of the future. Defender of the Imperium is the second Ciaphas Cain omnibus, and will let me finally get back to a series I started around five years ago. In other Warhammer 40,000 news, I’m planning to squeeze Peter Fehervari’s Requiem Infernal into my schedule later in the month. I’ve also got my hands on the chronological beginning of the Halo literary universe. I’ve been looking for another big series to start reading, so if I enjoy Greg Bear’s Cryptum, I will likely be embarking on a lengthy journey to that franchise. Fingers crossed.

Turning my attention to original fiction, my priority is to stay on top of series I’ve already started. That puts Jack Campbell’s Resolute and George Mann’s The Albion Initiative squarely in my sights. The latter book completes a series that started way back in 2008. While Newbury & Hobbes isn’t the most epic saga out there, its nice to see a long-running series come to a close. This little slice of steampunk should also break up my future-based reading quite nicely too.

After that, my TBR becomes something of a lucky dip. There are lots of books available, none of them in series I’m currently reading, and most of them on the shorter side. For September, I’m going to mostly stick with authors I’ve read before as I work my way through the stacks. That gives me Keith Laumer’s End As A Hero, Henry Kuttner’s The Best of Kuttner 1, Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man, David Brin’s Sundiver, and William C. Dietz’ Andromeda’s Fall. Though there’s nothing massive on that list, it should be enough books to see me comfortably through to the end of the month.

With all that taken into consideration, my reading schedule for September looks something like this:

• Defenders of the Imperium, by Sandy Mitchell
• Requiem Infernal, by Peter Fehervari
• Cryptum, by Greg Bear
• The Captain’s Table, by various authors
• Resolute, by Jack Campbell
• The Albion Initiative, by George Mann
• The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
• Sundiver, by David Brin
• Andromeda’s Fall, by William C. Dietz
• The Best of Kuttner 1, by Henry Kuttner
• End As A Hero, by Keith Laumer

AND BEYOND

In terms of television, most of the month will be spend catching up with things. I’m nearly at the end of the current season of For All Mankind, and plan to head into Foundation straight after. Invasion and Severance also appeal from AppleTV+’s offerings, but will likely have to wait. Likewise, while I very much plan to watch Strange New Worlds, I’m holding off on Paramount+ for the time being. Happily, I have the third season of Lower Decks to keep me going. The hyperactive reference-fest does get stale at times, but it’s always good to have Star Trek on the screen. In Star Trek related news, Una McCormack’s second Picard novel Second Self releases on the 15th. I’m hoping it’s more in keeping with season 1 than season 2, but I’ll have to read it to find out.

The only other book confirmed for a September release is the new Warhammer Crime anthology The Vorbis Conspiracy. This one looks like it will have a single overarching story, with each author approaching from a different angle. It’s an intriguing concept, and the strength of the range so far has set my expectations rather high.

There’s only one other release on my radar for September, but it’s a big one. Star Wars: Andor continues Disney’s trend of blandly naming shows after the main character, but this is the Star Wars show I’ve been most looking forward to. It looks a little grimier than the other offerings and (so far) there’s not a Jedi in sight. Even if it is a prequel to Rogue One, I’m hoping this shows a willingness for the franchise to try new things.

If nothing else, the slow release schedule should help me stay on top of my TBR tower. Hopefully the same goes for you as well. Be sure to let me know what you think of my TBR, and what science fiction you’re looking forward to this coming month.