eBook of the Month July 2012 – Hal Spacejock, by Simon Haynes

The last two eBooks of the Month, William King’s THE STEALER OF FLESH and Hugh Howey’s WOOL, have both been rather grim. Good books, to be certain, but definitely not lighthearted. So for this month, we’ll do something lighter – specifically, HAL SPACEJOCK, by Simon Haynes.

HAL SPACEJOCK is an entertaining humorous science fiction novel. It reminded me a great deal of the old RED DWARF television series crossed with the Sierra SPACE QUEST adventure games of yore. The protagonist, the eponymous Hal, is the owner of the rundown Black Gull, a space freighter that (like Hal) has seen better days. Hal is also up to his ears in debt, and unless he does something quick, a man with a very large repo robot is going to come around and break his thumbs. Granted, a lot of Hal’s problems are his own fault – his level of obliviousness and the fact that he is still alive would make a Darwinist weep with despair over the future of natural selection.

Things might turn around for Hal when he accepts a cargo of robot parts, but thinks quickly turn south, with angry corporate oligarchs, loan sharks, and an entire planetary navy in pursuit of Hal for one reason or another.

Hal, like the hero of all good farces, is thoroughly dense, yet nonetheless likable. HAL SPACEJOCK was quite funny, and I’ll be picking up the later books in the series at some point.

-JM