Awards & Bestseller lists for this title

"This book had me roaring. From the first page to the last, Hal Spacejock is a comically lovable idiot — the dubious hero with a heart of gold buried under a whole cargo load of impatience, underhandedness, laughably questionable habits and an indomitable devil-may-care attitude. His faithful sidekick robot, Clunk – with enough common sense for two and a healthy dose of good guy morality – saves Hal's foolish hide at every turn and steals the show on every glorious page." Mind Unbound

Download Hal Spacejock - Free!

"Fast, funny, quirky, enthralling comedy adventure" Tom Holt

The Hal Spacejock series is published by Fremantle Press
and distributed by Penguin Australia

To celebrate the release of Simon Haynes's latest novel, Hal Spacejock: No Free Lunch, Fremantle Press are giving away electronic copies of the first book in the series! Read this free novel on your PDA, Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader or straight off your computer screen. You can even print the entire manuscript and read it on paper.

Whichever you choose, you get the whole book exactly as published, completely free.

Even if you're not interested - what about sons, daughters, nephews, neighbours, nieces, grandkids, fellow workers, friends, enemies ... Give them all a treat!

Click any one to download:

(Only click one of the buttons - they all give you the same file.)

Share this page via email: http://www.spacejock.com.au/Hal1Download.html

Share this page on major news sites (e.g. Facebook):

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the book like?

If you enjoy TV shows like the Young Ones, Firefly, Blackadder, Red Dwarf and Dr Who, or books by Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt or Jasper Fforde, then the bestselling Hal Spacejock series is for you.

Is it a kids book?

The books were written for adults - i.e. me - but are suitable for ages 14+. According to official figures there are nearly 1000 copies of Hal Spacejock in school libraries across Australia. Frightening thought, eh?

Are the Hal Spacejock books any good?

Why not check out some of the feedback from hundreds of happy readers?

Is it self published? Who's the publisher?

The Hal Spacejock series is published by Fremantle Press, who recently celebrated three decades in the industry. Fremantle Press books are distributed by Penguin Australia - and you'll find the Hal Spacejock series right here on the Penguin website. So no, it's not a self-published book.

What's in the download? Which file formats do I get?

You get identical copies of Hal 1 in rtf, prc, html and text format. This should cover most reading devices, and because they're open formats you can use them to generate other files (e.g. PDF, Sony e-Reader, etc)

How big is the download file?

The download file is 988kb in size (less than one meg), and should download in under a minute. It's zipped to keep it as small as possible.

Zipped? How do I extract the contents?

On most operating systems you can double-click the downloaded file, which will display the contents in a window. Highlight the files and drag/drop them into your destination folder (ie. where you want to keep them). Otherwise, extract the contents with 7-zip, Winzip or similar.

How do I open and read the ebook?

• Just double-click the HTML file and read it in your web browser.
• Windows users might like to install yBook, my ebook reader.
• Handheld PC users will probably use the PRC, Text or HTML version.

Why is this book free?

My publisher wants to introduce more readers to the Hal Spacejock series, and nothing generates interest like free books. For more details, see the official press release

Can I email it to friends or put in on a CD to give away?

I can't stop you doing that, but I really need hard figures to show my publisher how many people have downloaded a copy. Therefore, I would ask you to please share a link to this download page instead. Not only that, but everyone will have the very latest corrected edition if they download a fresh copy from my site.

Will the first book still be on sale in the shops?

Yes - in fact, Hal Spacejock is undergoing a third printing. All four books are in stores across Australia and New Zealand, and are also available as imports in the US.

Can I download the other books in the series?

At this stage, no. However, my publisher has put together a very generous offer, giving you up to 20% off the books AND subsidising worldwide postage to the tune of 70% or more.

Can I help with publicity?

Yes please! Any of the following will prove you're a gold-plated Hal Spacejock aficionado:

• Share this page on social networking sites:

• Tell others where they can get the free ebook.
• Consider reviewing Hal Spacejock on your blog.
• How about rating the book on Amazon, LibraryThing, or other review sites?
• Forward this page to anyone you think might enjoy Hal Spacejock.
• Remember there are four books in the series. Try the others!

if you'd like to share a download link to this page, here are a number of buttons: