Saturday, July 19, 2008

New review of Hal 1 & 2

We Read Science Fiction just posted their review of Hal Spacejock books 1 & 2. (The blog author discovered the books via the download version of Hal 1, and requested the whole series for review purposes.)

Couple of snips from the review:

Australia's Simon Haynes successfully lampoons the bedrock of science fiction themes and doesn't take himself seriously. At all.

No kidding!

First, you will need to read these books with an open mind and an understanding of why they were written to enjoy them. If you try and take them too seriously you'll hate them, but if you grok Hal, you'll love them. Second, they are great for teenagers who you want hooked on SciFi. Remember that if you don't have the mind of a teenager.

I've seen a couple of comments around the place from people who tried to take Hal seriously, and it wasn't pretty. Fortunately, the other 99.99% of the population still has a sense of humour.

One of the most interesting comments in the review was that Hal 2 was a lot better than Hal 1. I hear that a lot (usually followed by 'Hal 3 is better than Hal 2' and 'Hal 4 is better than Hal 3'), but I really don't mind at all. Getting better as the series goes along means I'm growing as a writer, and my goal of fifteen Hal novels isn't completely loopy. (Oh sure, people laugh at my bold claims now...)

Anyway, feel free to descend on the We Read Science Fiction blog and comment on the review. The site encourages this sort of reader reaction.

(You'll also find a lot of other book reviews - perfect reading for a lazy weekend.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

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