Hal Spacejock [Paperback]

Simon Haynes (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hal Spacejock

Everyone knows a character like Hal Spacejock - he's the guy who plugs a 12-volt lantern into a mains socket and burns his house down. He's the guy who does his own plumbing and floods the neighbour's house. He's the guy who window-shops three hardware stores to save a few bucks on a hammer, then blows a hundred and twenty on a laser-guided tape measure with built-in bottle opener.

In short, Hal's your regular, everyday guy. He just happens to have a two-hundred ton spaceship ... and he's none too flash with the controls.


Hal Spacejock is one of the most memorable figures in sci-fi. (Joules Taylor, SFCrowsnest)

Editorial Reviews

Review

... a winner for almost anyone who can read. -- Specusphere Oct 2005

Fast, funny, quirky, enthralling comedy adventure; not just a genre parody but a well-made story in its own right. -- Tom Holt

The quirkiest genre satire to hit bookshelves since Terry Pratchett's Discworld. -- West Australian, 17th Oct 2005

From the Publisher

The first book in a series.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: Fremantle Press (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 192073189X
• ISBN-13: 978-1920731892
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,599,184 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

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast-paced Space Romp, August 7, 2006

By 

Jim C. Hines (Holt, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hal Spacejock (Paperback)

The cover blurb compares Hal Spacejock to Red Dwarf, so I went in expecting that same level of silliness and humor. (Rather, that level of humour -- Australian spelling, after all.) And silliness it delivers. Hal Spacejock, incompetent pilot on the cargo ship Black Gull, lands a job transporting robot parts from point A to point B. On his side is the old robot Clunk. Against him is, well, pretty much everyone else, from warships to desperate thieves to debt collectors to dockmasters who object to Hal's habit of accidentally setting their planets on fire.

The book moves along at a nice pace, and there are some entertaining bits. The "How much for that robot in the window?" exchange made me laugh. A lot of Haynes' computer and robot tech parallels today's PC-related troubles, such as Clunk the roboth having to clean up the code for the Navigational Computer. Then there's the accounting rationale behind disposing of perfectly good robots for tax and warranty reasons. All of this is discussed with a sharp eye for the absurd. (There were moments when I thought I was reading about my own office.)

What lost me from time to time was when the balance switched too far to the silly side of things, at the cost of plausibility. Hal felt too incompetent to have survived this long. It's funny that he can't land his own spaceship, and that he doesn't know what any of the buttons on the console actually do, but it leaves the reader wondering how he managed to get the ship at all, and how he got to where he is without getting himself killed.

Once or twice, complications felt like they were thrown in for the sake of another gag, as opposed to being natural consequences of the story. It's a very tricky thing to balance humor and suspension of disbelief. To some extent, it's probably a matter of personal taste.

Whether or not you'll like the book is going to depend a lot on your sense of humor. For me, it was an amusing read, but it didn't quite hit the mark. Given the success Haynes has had with the series so far (I would love to have some of his great reviews for my own work), Given the success Haynes has had with the series so far (I would love to have some of his great reviews for my own work), I'd say it's definitely worth checking out chapter one at the author's website to see if it's your brand of space humor.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Traditional but hilarious, April 4, 2007

By 

K. Weber "melydia" (Springfield, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hal Spacejock (Paperback)

The incompetent-but-lucky man with his capable-but-frequently-eyerolling companion who repeatedly (and thanklessly) saves his butt seems to be a staple in humorous science fiction. Hal Spacejock and his robot sidekick, Clunk, are no exception. I won't say that this story has anything new and novel to offer, but it sure is a good time. I especially enjoyed the random side scenes, like Hal's altercation with a stubborn automatic door. If you like outlandish SF like Red Dwarf and the Stainless Steel Rat, check out Hal Spacejock.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast, smooth read and a fun science fiction adventure, September 5, 2006

By 

Fahim Farook "Bibliophile/writer" (Colombo, Sri Lanka) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hal Spacejock (Paperback)

Simon Haynes' "Hal Spacejock" was a darn good read. More importantly, it was something that I completely enjoyed reading, after a long time. What was interesting for me while reading the book was to note that I was hooked by the time I was barely a quarter of the way through the book. Usually, it takes me a while to be truly invested in a story. For instance, Terry Pratchett is my favourite author but the last few books by PTerry took me at least till the middle of the book before I was really engaged in the story - you know, the point of no return, where you get so hooked in the story that you cannot bear to put the book down.

Am I saying that Simon is better than PTerry? Not really. (Sorry Simon :p) But I'm saying that Simon's style is very easy to read and to get into and that it is very different from that of Terry Pratchett - I enjoy books by both but I find that Simon's is a much more easier page turner for me a lot earlier on :) But I'm not going to compare one author to another, that's really not fair to either since each author has their own unique style and they bring completely different values and qualities to the table.

Basically, I enjoyed the story. It came together well and by the time I completed it, I wanted to get my hands on the sequel, "Hal Spacejock: Second Course" and continue reading. That's all that any author can ask for, right? :)