Title: HAL SPACEJOCK
Author: Simon Hayes
ISBN: 9781920731892
Publisher: Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Pages: 347
Reviewed By: Adam Donnison

HAL SPACEJOCK is a pilot, but not one of the successful ones. His ageing ship, The Black Gull, is about to be taken as collateral for his debts when he finally gets a break. All he has to do is to take an obsolete robot with him to help him land on a planet in the dark in the middle of a field and retrieve a cargo of robot parts for the rich eccentric owner of Jerling Enterprises. Simple really ... except that the planet is under embargo due to war games, and nearly everyone seems to want a piece of the pie.

I started laughing on page one and didn't stop until the epilogue. The humour may wax and wane but on the whole it is pretty well non stop. Great one-liners, and some puns that on their own would have been worthy of a groan at best, but due to Simon Hayes' comic talents, the set up transforms the groan into a guffaw.

Thoroughly enjoyable with a fluid style that keeps you reading, and the pairing of Hal with the eager to please but naive robot Clunk is a classic comic duo.