Published: Aug. 19, 2011
Words: 82,548 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781877034145

Short description

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 ...

Extended 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)

Tags

comedy, humor, science fiction, humour, robots, future history, galactic empire, first in a series, space empire, violent robots, dumb humans, british spelling, ongoing series

Available ebook reading formats

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Format	Full Book
Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser)	View
Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)	Download
Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)	Download
RTF (readable on most word processors)	Download
LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)	Download
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)	Download

Reviews

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Review by: Benjamin Andrews on Dec. 02, 2011 :
Favorites: Very funny, good writing, interesting characters.

Least favorites: Indenting, somewhat stagnate at times.

Hal Spacejock, fumbling captain of the barely-able Black Gull is a cowboy of the stars. A cowboy who can't take two steps without something around him going wrong. Catching a break would be asking too much, even catching a meal seems like a pipe dream. No money, no luck, seems like there's no chance. Hal isn't the type to give up though. Set in the future, when intergalactic space travel is common place, this series follows the adventures, or misadventures, of this pilot.

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing of Simon Haynes. Hal, as well as other characters created in this world, have very unique personalities. They interact with one another in very believable ways, which pulled me as a reader into the story. Some of the exchanges between Hal and the Black Gull's computer are especially entertaining. The mishaps and adventures are quite inventive. One complaint I have is that the story stagnates at points, due to all the problems faced by Hal. This may be the author's intent, but there were times where I just wanted the story to continue, instead of another problem to drag it on. I would only equate this to a minor difference in story preference between people though. Shouldn't be a deal breaker for most readers.

I encountered multiple parts in this book that made me laugh out loud. The dialogue is rich, and some of the things characters say are brilliant. Beyond that, some of the gadgets, and the way robots are portrayed is quite unique. I hope to see the planets and life of the human race in general opened up more in future books though. That's probably the only area description lacked any. Areas with “civilians” were usually gleaned over, and story details focused on instead. Not necessarily a negative, as it was done in a tasteful and workable way that still makes the story rich.

One of the biggest turn-offs I found with this book was the indenting. The indents were quiet small, so it sometimes made it difficult to distinguish between paragraphs, particularly in dialogue heavy parts. A minor inconvenience though, and it's not like it isn't separated into paragraphs (Note: I read the Kindle ebook via Smashwords). The author has told me the files available on his website have proper indenting.

Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful adventure to take. Readers will quickly find themselves immersed in Hal's world, wondering how he'll bumble his way out of the next jam. It should be very interesting to see what kinds of adventures await him in future installments of this series.
(review of free book)

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