I just finished the first book in the Hal Spacejock series by Simon Haynes, and I couldn't possibly count the number of times I laughed out loud.

I do know it started with the very first page. To set the scene, our hero, Hal Spacejock himself, is playing chess against his spaceship's navigational computer:

'Your turn,' said the Navcom, in a neutral female voice.

'I'm thinking.'

'While you're planning your opening move, can I tell you about a special offer?'

'What kind of offer?' asked Hal suspiciously.

'Planet Books have a chess title on sale.'

[...]

'Chess for the intellectually challenged?' said Hal, staring at the cover in disbelief. 'Is this some kind of joke?'

'It's part of a popular series,' said the Navcom.

'What are the others? Interstellar navigation for nutters? Moon landings for morons?'

'Shall I add those titles to your basket?'

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.

Add in a smart-mouth shipboard computer, a debt collector with a burly robot henchman, and two competing industrial tycoons who would do just about anything to get their hands on a shipment of robot parts, and you have the perfect recipe for one wild and uproarious ride across the galaxy and back again.

It's readily available in bookstores throughout Australia, and also currently available at Powells Books in the US. Happy reading!