Hal Spacejock: Big Bang by Simon Haynes

Hal Spacejock: Big Bang by Simon Haynes is the seventh Hal Spacejock book (not counting the spin-off Hal Junior series). Like its predecessors, it stands alone well and the series does not need to be read in order to be enjoyed. I picked it up now after buying it a few years ago (when it came out) because I needed a relaxing and cheerful read during a very stressful time of packing and moving.

A house clearance job sounds like easy money, but rising floodwaters, an unstable landscape and a surprise find are going to make life very difficult for Hal and Clunk.

The most hilarious thing is that the book I chose to distract me from the horrors of moving opened with Hal and Clunk taking on a job that involved... moving the contents of a house. Oops. But at least Hal's and Clunk's moving tribulations were funny, which is the important thing.

Having read the earlier Hal Spacejock books, I went in with certain humour expectations, which were absolutely met. Hal remains accident-prone, self-interested and lacking in foresight. Clunk remains the long-suffering brains of the operation and the main reason Hal is alive. The Navcom computer aboard their spaceship... seemed more vindictive than I remembered, but then it's been a while since I read the other books.

The story focuses mainly on Hal and Clunk and the trouble they manage to get in doing what should be a fairly straightforward job. A new character is also introduced: Amy, who inadvertently finds herself in a similar mess to the others. The three of them have to work together to survive. Big Bang makes for an entertaining read and had me laughing out loud several times. I particularly appreciate that the jokes are not rooted in disregarding/mocking the laws of physics but rather are more of the comedy of errors school. The physics is reasonably well grounded (with the allowed exception of fancy alien technology).

I enjoyed Big Bang and I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series, when/if it comes into existence. I recommend this book — or indeed any Hal Spacejock book — to fans of comedic SF, or indeed any SF fans in need of a laugh.

4 / 5 stars

First published: 2014, self-published
Series: Yes. Book 7 of on-going series, but all the books work as stand-alones
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from Smashwords
Challenges: Aussie Science Fiction Reading Challenge

Snapshot 2014: Simon Haynes

Simon Haynes was born in England and grew up in Spain, where he enjoyed an amazing childhood of camping, motorbikes, air rifles and paper planes. His family moved to Australia when he was 16.

Simon divides his time between writing fiction and computer software, with frequent bike rides to blow away the cobwebs. His goal is to write fifteen  Hal books (Spacejock OR Junior!) before someone takes his keyboard away.

Simon's website is www.spacejock.com.au.

You’ve just released the seventh Hal Spacejock book, Big Bang. With this latest novel, you initially released it in serialised form. How did this different release method work out for you and do you think you will be doing it again?

Hal 7 was my 12th novel, and I desperately needed a new challenge. I've always been a chronic rewriter, fiddling with scenes, changing the plot, messing about with characters and so on. But at the end of the day, who cares if a fruit salad has a dollop of vanilla or chocolate ice-cream on top? I found myself dithering over irrelevant details, when I could have been writing more novels.

So, the serial. I planned 10 parts of approximately 7500 words each. I promised I would have the next part ready before I published the previous one, which meant people knew it wasn't just going to fizzle out. This also gave me the opportunity to revise the previous part if changes arose during the writing of the current one.

And it worked. I found myself looking forward instead of back. I wrote quickly, I had no trouble with subplots or fiddly details, and the reviews for book seven have been great.

The only problem was when I reached part ten. Everything had gone so well for parts 1-9 that I decided to publish part nine before I finished the novel. Then I discovered I needed to write about 15,000 words for part ten, to do the rest of the book justice. That took far longer than expected, which meant everyone had to wait for the final part. I've had fans writing to me, politely asking whether the next Hal book will also be a serial. When I reply that it won't be, they seem very happy.

Now, the thing with the serial was that I found it easy to motivate myself to write and publish 7500 word parts. Since I finished Hal 7, I've hardly written a word (again). So, perhaps I need to write in serial form, but just not publish any of the parts until they're ALL done.

As well as the original English, Hal Spacejock is available in French. How did that come about and did you have much contact with the translator?

The translator, Albert Aribaud, instigated the whole thing. He contacted me several years ago, and I referred him to the publisher. Cut a long story short, Albert and I collaborated on the translation between us, and I released the resulting novel as an ebook. Riviere Blanche will be releasing the paperback later this year.

Apart from Hal Spacejock in French, Bastei Lubbe recently released the first two novels in German as 'Ein Roboter namens Klunk' (Hal 1) and 'Helden Heulen Nicht' (Hal 2). This is a traditional publishing contract, organised by the original Hal Spacejock publisher, Fremantle Press. The interesting thing is that the German publisher picked up on a little in-joke of mine. That is, they released the first Hal Spacejock book with the title 'A robot named Clunk', recognising that the entire series is actually about Clunk the robot, not Hal Spacejock.

Over the years people have occasionally posted reviews saying that Hal is a jerk and a little shallow, while Clunk is far more interesting. No kidding. Anyway, it's good to see that ten years after Hal Spacejock was published, someone saw through that little ruse.

Then there's Hal Junior … the first novel has been translated into Italian by Lia Desotgiu, and was recently published as an ebook. I have the layout for the paperback edition on my screen right now, and will be publishing that later today after I finish this interview.

Lia contacted me a year or so back after I blogged about translations, and I was highly impressed with her lengthy resume. She's translated a huge number of famous AAA computer game titles, including one of my all-time faves, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Lia is also keen to translate Hal Junior 2 and 3.

A french translation of Hal Junior: The Secret Signal, also by Albert Aribaud, is nearing completion and should be published soon.

What I'd really like is a native Spanish speaker for a Spanish translation of my works. I'm fluent in Spanish but not to the degree needed, and I'd love to read my work in that language. So … if anyone's interested, contact me and we can discuss details.


As well more Hal Spacejock (and Hal Junior?) books, it looks like you’re planning another spin off series about Harriet Walsh. Can you tell us a bit about that?

The Peace Force was mentioned in the first Hal Spacejock novel, and the idea was that they're the police of the future Galaxy, although with a more military approach to crime fighting. They have a reputation for ruthlessness and brutality, hence 'Peace' Force.

Anyway, Harriet Walsh is a Peace Force officer, and she's a tough, independent character. She seemed to hit a nerve with readers, and I remember one Hal fan emailing me to ask for a short story or novella featuring Harriet. I toyed with the idea, then decided to write a novel instead.

The problem is, writing a futuristic police procedural is hard. Imagine a future where you point a gadget at a bloodstain or a fingerprint, and the suspect is immediately identified and located. E.g. their car stops mid-traffic, the doors lock, and a large transport drone flies out to scoop the car up and deliver the suspect to the nearest station. All while the detective is still sipping coffee at the crime scene.

I don't quite have the same problem in the Hal novels, because he's broke and can't buy any cool gadgets. He can barely afford fuel, and when he finally buys a mobile phone he discovers Galactic Roaming charges would cripple him for about 40 years.

I found a solution for this problem in Harriet Walsh, but I've not yet got my teeth into writing the thing. And, in the meantime, the siren call of Hal Spacejock 8: Shaken and Stirred, has pulled me in.
By the way, the Hal Junior series is set 10-12 years after Hal Spacejock, and features Harriet Walsh as the mother. (A lot of people got the idea Hal Junior is just Hal Spacejock as a kid. Including me, when I first started writing The Secret Signal. However, Hal Jnr worked much better as a new character.)


What Australian works have you loved recently?

I confess I haven't read anything at all for the past two years. About a year ago I got into board gaming by accident, and it's become a major passion. Like many, I suffered through Cluedo and Monopoly as a kid, but I put all that behind me when home computers burst onto the scene in the (very) early 80's.

Looking around now, the variety of complex, interesting, challenging board games is breathtaking. Puerto Rico, Game of Thrones, Pillars of the Earth, Caverna/Agricola, Village, Shadows over Camelot, Descent, Neuroshima Hex, 7 Wonders, Battle Line, Lords of Waterdeep, Jaipur, Lost Cities, Eldritch Horror … who has time for reading? (Or writing!)


Have recent changes in the publishing industry influenced the way you work? What do you think you will be publishing/writing/reading in five years from now?

I transferred to self-published ebooks (with POD paperbacks) about 3 years ago now. The speed with which I can reach fans influenced my decision to publish Hal 7 as a serial. It also triggered the wave of translations, and I'm keen to continue with those.

I have plans for a present-day thriller, and a friend and I are planning a collaborative novel which is just a bare-bones idea at the moment. To that end I've been modifying yWriter (my free novel writing software) to add collaborative features so that two authors can work together on the same novel, in realtime. Right now it's using Google Drive to store data temporarily, which is just a stop-gap until I work out something better.

 ~

This interview was conducted as part of the 2014 Snapshot of Australian Speculative Fiction. We’ll be blogging interviews from 28 July to 10 August and archiving them at SF Signal. You can read interviews at:

http://tsanasreads.blogspot.se/search/label/2014snapshot (here)
http://fablecroft.com.au/tag/2014snapshot
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/tag/2014snapshot
http://bookonaut.blogspot.com.au/search/label/2014snapshot
http://www.davidmcdonaldspage.com/tag/2014snapshot/
http://tansyrr.com/tansywp/tag/2014snapshot/
http://randomalex.net/tag/2014snapshot/
http://jasonnahrung.com/tag/2014snapshot/
http://stephaniegunn.com/tag/2014snapshot/
http://helenstubbs.wordpress.com/tag/2014snapshot/
http://ventureadlaxre.wordpress.com/tag/2014snapshot/
http://mayakitten.livejournal.com/tag/2014snapshot/
http://benpayne.wordpress.com/tag/2014snapshot/ 
http://www.merwood.com.au/worldsend/tag/2014snapshot
http://crankynick.livejournal.com/tag/2014snapshot

Hal Junior: The Gyris Mission by Simon Haynes

Hal Junior: The Gyris Mission by Simon Haynes is the third book about Hal Junior, although it stands alone and the series doesn't have to be read in order. It is aimed at younger readers. I have previously reviewed the second book, Hal Junior: The Missing Case, and two Hal Spacejock books for adult readers, set in the same universe: Hal Spacejock: Baker's Dough and Hal Spacejock: Safe Art.

Hal Junior and Stephen 'Stinky' Binn live aboard a high-tech space station, far from the nearest planet. The rules are strict, and their lives are carefully regulated.
That's why they're so excited about the camping trip to Planet Gyris ... imagine a whole week of fishing, swimming, sleeping in tents and running wild!
Unfortunately, the boys crash land in the middle of a forest, and there's little chance of rescue. Is this the end of the camping trip ... or the start of a thrilling new adventure?

First I want to emphasise that this book absolutely stands alone in terms of the other Hal Junior books and the Hal Spacejock books. You do not have to have read any of them to enjoy The Gyris Mission. However, if you have read them, as I have, you may find yourself, like I am, desperate to know exactly how the Hal Junior books fit into the larger Hal Spacejock universe. Is Hal Junior Spacejock's son? If he is, how did Spacejock meet his mother? If not, why is he called Hal Junior and why does he idolise "Captain Spacejock"? Or is Hal Junior about Hal Spacejock's childhood? I was already curious before I read The Gyris Mission, and then Spacejock characters showed up AND NOW I MUST KNOW.

Ahem. As for the actual story. The Gyris Mission is a funny and exciting comedy of errors. Hal Junior does a lot of silly things, Stinky is forever reminding him of things they learnt in class and adult characters are absent at opportune moments. I've mentioned in my other reviews of Haynes' books that despite the honour and light-heartedness with which his books are written, he goes out of his way to include accurate physics. The Gyris Mission is no different. Stinky's reminders to Hal of relevant information they'd learnt in class felt natural and I think was a gentle way of educating the younger audience without preaching or talking down to the reader. It's certainly a book (/series) I'd encourage my kids to read. Y'know, if I had any. Haynes also does a particularly good job of describing space station life by portraying Hal and Stinky as being surprised by various aspects of being on a planet.

The Gyris Mission is a fairly short read (about par for the age group, I think) and full of action and laughs. I recommend it to younger readers with any passing interesting in science fiction or adventure stories. Or to adults who want a light read and/or are fans of Haynes' books.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2012, Bowman Press
Series: Hal Junior, book 3 of ? Standalone series
Format read: ePub on iPhone
Source: Purchased from SmashWords
Challenges: Australian Science Fiction Reading Challenge

Hal Spacejock: Safe Art by Simon Haynes

Hal Spacejock: Safe Art by Simon Haynes is the sixth book in the ongoing Hal Spacejock series. Although there is a very small amount of chronology, the books all stand alone nicely, Safe Art being no exception. I have previously reviewed Hal Spacejock: Baker's Dough and Hal Junior: The Missing Case, the latter being part of a spin-off series for younger readers.

A wealthy patron is sponsoring a series of art exhibitions, and Hal Spacejock has been employed to transport valuable pieces from one venue to the next.

The only question is which of them will last longest ... Hal or the artworks?

For readers new to to the Spacejock universe, Safe Art is not a terrible place to start. A few characters from earlier books show up, but you don't have to have read any earlier books for the story to make sense. Even better, Safe Art doesn't contain any significant spoilers for earlier books (unless you count the status quo as a spoiler). I think the most compelling argument for reading these books in order is that they get funnier as they go along and reading in reverse order might be slightly anticlimactic for that reason.

This book made me laugh a lot, news that I'm sure won't come as much of a surprise to people familiar with the Hal Spacejock books. There were a few serious bits, but there were no long gaps between laughs. If puns and written slapstick are your thing (I have to say visual slapstick doesn't really do it for me, but the way Haynes writes definitely does), or if you enjoy a good comedy of errors, then this is a book for you.

And if that hasn't convinced you, it also has pretty good physics, especially considering the lack of seriousness in most of the story. It's like if The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy made more than a passing nod at the laws of physics. And also if Ford Prefect was a cargo pilot. (Yes, as I mentioned in my review of Baker's Dough, the ship travels faster than light and has artificial gravity, but everything else has accurate physics. There were a few instances I particularly appreciated since I can imagine another writer may not have bothered to be so careful.)

As well as enjoying Hal's and Clunk's antics as they attempt to deliver their cargo — and make snide remarks about the quality of the art they're transporting — I was also pleased to see the characters from "Framed" show up (a Hal Spacejock short story that's a fun read but not compulsory to enjoy Safe Art). And Harriet Walsh who appeared in an earlier book, although I have to admit it was a book I'd read long enough ago to not remember much about her except her name. Another reason I'm confident readers new to the series will have no trouble picking up Safe Art.

What more can I say? It's hilarious. Read it.

5 / 5 stars

First published: May 2013
Series: Hal Spacejock, book 6 of ? Standalone.
Format read: ePub on iThings
Source: Purchased from SmashWords
Challenges: Australian Science Fiction Reading Challenge

Hal Spacejock: Baker's Dough by Simon Haynes

Hal Spacejock: Baker's Dough by Simon Haynes is the fifth book in his Hal Spacejock series. I've read all the others, but it's definitely not necessary to have done so to enjoy this book. It's the kind of series that can be enjoyed just as much out of order. I have previously reviewed the second in the companion Hal Junior series for younger readers, Hal Junior: The Missing Case.

Robots have a tough life in Hal Spacejock's universe: as second-class citizens they have no rights, and most are overworked, mistreated, and recycled at the drop of a hat. When Kim Baker, a wealthy industrialist, leaves his vast fortune to an elderly robot, it's front page news. Unfortunately, the robot hasn't been seen for decades ...

Hal Spacejock is the captain of a cargo ship, haphazardly delivering cargo across the galaxy. His trusty sidekick is Clunk the robot — eminently more competent at just about everything than Hal is — and the ship itself is personified via the Navcom. In this adventure Hal and Clunk stumble into the middle of a mad rush to claim an inheritance left to a robot. The catch? Because robots are reprogrammed and have their memories wiped when they're sold to a new owner, no one is entirely sure exactly which robot is supposed to be inheriting. To make matters worse, the prospective inheritors and their owners have to go on a somewhat convoluted quest to dig up the robots' histories, all with a twenty-four hour time limit. High jinks ensue.

The Hal Spacejock books are light, fun and entertaining reads. Baker's Dough had me laughing and sniggering out loud several times. It was an easy book to pick up and during a stressful and busy week, it was the book I kept coming back to most consistently, despite being part way through two others.

Haynes doesn't skimp on the scientific plausibility (well... within reason) but he doesn't dwell on any of the science either. It was nice to read a book where the physics of weightlessness, for example, was actually mentioned as something relevant to the characters despite not being of high importance to the story. This sort of attention to detail is part of what kept me engaged at the story (as opposed to ranting at my husband/twitter/the reading device about a lazy slip of sciencefail) and contributed to making it a relaxing read. Also it had a strong ending which as I've typed this I realise I can't say much about without spoilers.

I highly recommend Baker's Dough (and all the other Hal Spacejock books) to fans of light-hearted science fiction. As I've said, the Hal Spacejock books don't need to be read in order to make sense; each is quite self-contained. I think each new book in the series has improved upon the ones before, however, so that might be an argument for starting at the beginning and working forwards.
 
4.5 / 5 stars

First published: July 2012
Series: Hal Spacejock, book 5 (but chronology is not important)
Format read: ebook (epub on iBooks)
Source: Purchased from Smashwords
Challenges: Australian Science Fiction Reading Challenge

Short Stories

"In The Tide" by Linda Nagata

“In The Tide” by Linda Nagata

An interesting story about rogue nanobots, Saturn and genetically engineered humans. Set in a space faring world still confined to the solar system, it was nice to see some hard SF eschewing interstellar travel. You can download it free from Smashwords.

"Loss Leader" by Simon Haynes

“Loss Leader” by Simon Haynes

A story which originally appeared in an early edition of ASIM (which makes me feel like I should’ve read it before, but apparently I missed that issue). What happens when a company spends piles of money on a spaceship filled with cryogenically frozen settlers that the settlers aren’t keen on boarding? You treat the mission as a loss leader, of course. A bleakly amusing tale. You can download it free from Smashwords.

"The Rebelliousness of Trassi Udang"

“The Rebelliousness of Trassi Udang” by Patty Jansen

This is a slightly dark and sinister story set on a space station with a large Indonesian population. In the background there is war, in the foreground minor rebellion. A well drawn world and a great read. You can download it for free from Smashwords.

"Fed" by Mira Grant

“Fed” by Mira Grant


This isn’t strictly speaking a short story but an alternate ending to Mira Grant’s novel Feed. It’s how things would have played out if one event near the end had happened differently. If you’ve read Feed you can probably guess which event. It’s understandably a little rougher than the finished novel (and somewhat lacking in characterisation where points of view have changed from the original), but still harrowing. You can read or download it (PDF link hidden at the bottom) on this Orbit page.

Hal Junior: The Missing Case by Simon Haynes

Hal Junior: The Missing Case by Simon Haynes is the second of his Hal Junior books, although they stand alone and reading order isn’t important. The Hal Junior series is itself a spin-off of Haynes Hal Spacejock novels for adults.

Hal Junior is a kid growing up on a space station who is particularly adept at getting himself into trouble and causing havoc. In The Missing Case, he is given the important task of entertaining and looking after a VIP visitor’s son Alex. Except that it turns out Alex isn’t the VIP’s son, but his daughter, much to Hal’s dismay. Alex is also entrusted with looking after her father’s very important (and titular) briefcase. Shenanigans ensue.

Since I started reading the Hal Junior books, I’ve been very curious as to how they fit into the larger Hal Spacejock universe. Initially I thought Hal Junior was going to be about Spacejock’s childhood, but this is obviously not the case once you start reading. There was a hint at the end of The Missing Case which suggests that maybe we’ll find out more soon, hopefully in Hal Junior 3 (which I think isn’t that far off).

The Missing Case is a quick fun read and good for a few laughs. I would also recommend it to kids (I believe the US category is called “middle-grade”, but in Australia I’ve only seen it called “for younger readers”) who enjoy space adventures or reading about general mischief-making.

4 / 5 stars