Hal Spacejock [Kindle Edition]

Simon Haynes (Author)

Book Description

An incompetent space pilot, a massive debt and a twenty-four hour deadline...

Freighter pilot Hal Spacejock has a life to die for: His very own cargo ship, a witty and intelligent flight computer ... and a debt so big it makes the GFC look like a rounding error.

Hal's an upright sort of guy, and he won't take jobs from gun runners, drug smugglers or politicians. On the other hand, the finance company's brutal enforcer is on his doorstep, and Hal has barely twenty-four hours to pay him off. Miss the deadline and he - and his ship - will go under. Way, way, under.

Faced with an impossible choice, Hal chooses an impossible job ... and gains an impossible new co-pilot into the bargain.

(Also available in French)

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

'Things start to go wrong and just keep going that way in this clever novel. A very funny science fiction read' Fiction Focus

"The quirkiest genre satire to hit bookshelves since Terry Pratchett's Discworld"
The West Australian

"Riddled with slapstick humour and glib one-liners" Courier Mail, Brisbane

"Simon Haynes is the Australian Terry Pratchett" Midwest Book Review

"A space opera full of humorously cringeworthy moments" Dominion Post, New Zealand

"An underground cult hit . . . just the thing to read when all you want is to forget your troubles for a while and enjoy someone else's engaging and well-crafted world" January Magazine

From the Publisher

The first book in a series.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 1375 KB
• Print Length: 338 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1877034088
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Bowman Press; 4 edition (August 15, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005HGAJV2
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,977 Free in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Free in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

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

By Jim C. Hines

Format: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.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

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

By K. Weber

Format: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.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars In space, no-one can hear you laugh September 11, 2011

By N. Brett VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Can't believe I have had this in my reading pile for over five years. I picked in up in Oz back in June 2006 and it kind of buried itself in my pile of books.
It's not bad and the author does show potential. It took a while to get going, initially I was slightly underwhelmed but by the end I discovered I had grown more fond of Hal and Clunk then I was expecting.

It's slapstick space humour with a daft cago pilot and a sidekick robot that is slightly less daft. Here they try to transport a dodgy cargo in a ship that is barely spaceworthy and mayhem is the order of the day.

So it grows on you and it does have some very nice moments. Not Douglas Adams yet though.

More About the Author

Simon Haynes was born in England in 1967, and moved to Spain with his family in the mid-70's. He enjoyed an amazing childhood of camping, motorbikes, air rifles and paper planes. His family moved to Australia when he was 16.

After two years in an English-speaking school - which was a novelty after a Spanish-based education - Simon entered Curtin University, graduating three years later with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Creative Writing. In 1997 he returned to the same university, and graduated with a second degree in 1999 ... this time, Computer Science.

In 2004 Simon was writing his fourth novel when Fremantle Press, an Australian trade publisher, offered a contract for his first three books. They were published over a five-year period, and were distributed by Penguin across Australia and New Zealand.

Simon now has five Hal Spacejock novels, two Hal Junior novels and a dozen short stories in print, all of them available on Amazon Kindle.

Simon is the programmer and designer behind Spacejock Software, and is responsible for popular programs like FCharts, yWriter and yBook.

Hal Spacejock 5: Baker's Dough is his latest novel, released July 2012. Hal Junior 3: The Gyris Mission, is slated for a September 2012 release.