Hal Spacejock (Hs Hal Spacejock)-[Simon Haynes].pdf

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Fremantle Arts Centre Press
Australia’s finest small publisher
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Simon Haynes was born in the United Kingdom and
moved to Spain with his family just after his eighth
birthday. He emigrated to Australia in 1983 and has
lived in Perth ever since. Graduating from Curtin
University in 1988 with a degree in film and creative
writing, he went to work in puting industry.
Ten years later he was writing fiction, and so returned
to Curtin to puting. An early version of
Hal Spacejock was written during the lectures.
A regular visitor to science fiction and fantasy
conventions, Simon is a founding member of
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. His
fiction has appeared in several Australian genre
magazines and his humorous SF story ‘Sleight of
Hand’ won the 2001 Aurealis Award for horror.
Simon is also a keen archer and tortures himself
with the occasional game of golf.
See the Hal Spacejock web site at

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Dedicated to my family
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CHAPTER 1
Hal Spacejock was sitting at the Black Gull’s flight
console, his attention riveted to a small chessboard
balanced amongst the toggle switches, flashing lights
and status displays. Recently he’d skimmed an article
extolling the benefits of the ancient game: how
playing it would sharpen his mind, improve his
memory and increase his attraction to the opposite
sex. Chess had been an important part of his daily
routine ever since, but after two hundred and seventy-
six losses in a row Hal was beginning to doubt the
article’s claims. He didn’t feel any smarter and he
couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken to a
member of the opposite sex, let alone attracted one.
Briefly, he wondered whether it was su