Hal Spacejock 3: Just Desserts [Paperback]

Simon Haynes (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

A mysterious sealed crate, a pair of shady mercenaries with more guns than brain cells, and an amnesiac robot that may or may not be on a secret mission are some of the situations interstellar ignoramus Hal Spacejock and the unflappable Clunk encounter in the third book in this series. Three simmering planets, two cocky spacemen, and one huge mess make for hilarious adventures with Hal.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fast, funny, quirky, enthralling comedy adventure"  —Tom Holt, author, Wish You Were Here

"Just as well devised, and proficiently written as its predecessors . . . Mr Haynes is that rare thing—a writer who not only composes great science fiction, but has fun with it too."  —AntipodeanSF

About the Author

Simon Haynes is the award-winning author of the Hal Spacejock series, and a founding member of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Fremantle Press; Second edition edition (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1921064390
• ISBN-13: 978-1921064395
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,635,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Haynes is the author of four Hal Spacejock novels, a number of articles on writing and publishing, and several short stories, one of which collected an Aurealis Award in 2001. He divides his time between writing fiction and computer software, with frequent 25-40km bike rides to blow the cobwebs away.

Born in the UK and raised in the south of Spain, Simon emigrated to Australia with his family in 1983. He's a founding member of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and lives in Perth with his wife and two children.

His goal is to write fifteen Hal Spacejock books (adult OR junior series!) before someone takes his keyboard away.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous SF Humor, April 4, 2007

By 

Rip8fan1 "[e-mail]" (Noblesville, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hal Spacejock 3: Just Desserts (Paperback)

The THIRD book in the series. The intrepid Space Pilot Hal Spacejock and his robot sidekick Clunk in another misadventure. Comparisons to Isaac Asimov's Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw are just going to happen, but it is not fair to either pair (or author). Hal, once again, needs to deliver some cargo, gets sidetracked (a couple of ways), Clunk comes to the rescue then needs rescued himself. Hal to the rescue, and finally they deliver the cargo.

Plenty of laughs. Plenty of references to other Science Fiction. Plenty easy to read, but hard to put down.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best one yet!, February 21, 2007

By 

Robert Salyers (Northglenn, CO, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hal Spacejock 3: Just Desserts (Paperback)

The plot moved so quickly and so smoothly that if it hadn't been for the chapter breaks, I might have missed some things -- meals, for instance. Once again, the adventures of Hal and Clunk are just plain fun to read, especially if you keep your eyes open for references to other works of science fiction, both books and movies. (For instance, I started to wonder if it's intentional that Hal Spacejock and Han Solo have the same initials, but the author has said that it's a coincidence.)

I imagine Simon Haynes is frequently compared to Douglas Adams, but there's a different tone. I loved the HHGG series, but I think Adams just sort of fell into SF; Haynes is clearly grounded in it. Plus, according to things I've seen on his blog, he's more than capable of disciplining himself to write and meet deadlines. With any luck, this means we won't have to wait long for Hal 4. Until then, we'll just have to get by with the first three.

I've got my copies! Where are yours?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Australian SF Reader, July 31, 2007

By 

Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" (Legion clubhouse) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hal Spacejock 3: Just Desserts (Paperback)

There once was a robot named Clunk
His old boss more than a skunk
With Spacejock sent flying
Quite often near dying
Right now he would rather be drunk


Ok, bad limericks aside, I read the third Spacejock book because my slowpoke spousal unit still has her mitts on book 2.

To readers, though, the book happily stands alone.

Again, Hal takes on the odd job with less than a picosecond's consideration, or even the ability to consider for a picosecond, what really might be going on.

Female assassin androids, Mercs 'R Us and more get involved in this tale of corporate skullduggery and Spacejock tomfoolery.

I, like Hal, have also given up on those useless coffee makers.

Anyway, although I will rate them the same, I think this book is more polished than the first. The story is more evenly entertaining, less of the outright hilarity to flat spot segues that could be found in this first book. Not that there is anything wrong with outright hilarity, of course.

More use of unexpected missiles, and again, quite a lot of fun.