Hal Spacejock [Paperback]

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

A laugh a page and dryly witty: this is a book to be enjoyed over and over again.

Funny, comically infectious and inventively casual.

Described as one of the most memorable figures in sci-fi, Hal Spacejock explodes onto the science fiction scene with the subtlety of a meteor strike and the hushed reverence of a used car salesman.

A perennial loser, Hal borrowed heavily to fund his intergalactic cargo business. His loyal customers evaporated after several highly publicised mishaps, and mounting bills have confined him to planet Lamira, a mining colony with the vibrant, up-and-coming economy of a rubbish tip.

As the book opens, the finance company is despatching heavies to all points of the compass, desperate to track Hal down and extract money and/or vital organs. Meanwhile, on a nearby planet, a wealthy businessman needs a freelance cargo pilot for a suicidal cargo mission. Ideally, he wants a desperate, debt-ridden loser . . .

This is the first in a series of three novels featuring Hal Spacejock. Influences on my writing include the TV series Minder, PG Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster, William F. Temple's excellent Martin Magnus series and any other writers with a dry sense of humour. Understated is the way to go, and it's just tough luck if the reader misses a gag or two.
The next title, Hal Spacejock Second Course, will be available in April 2006, and the third, Hal Spacejock Just Desserts, in September 2006.

Simon Haynes was born in the United Kingdom and moved to Spain with his family just after his eighth birthday. He emigrated to Australia in 1983 and has lived in Perth ever since. Graduating from Curtin University in 1988 with a degree in film and creative writing, he went to work in the computing industry. Ten years later he was writing fiction, and so returned to Curtin to study computing. An early version of Hal Spacejock was written during the lectures.

A regular visitor to science fiction and fantasy conventions, Simon is a founding member of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. His fiction has appeared in several Australian genre magazines and his humorous SF story 'Sleight of Hand' won the 2001 Aurealis Award for horror. Simon is also a keen archer and tortures himself with the occasional game of golf.