Hal Spacejock Omnibus One by Simon Haynes

Hal Spacejock Omnibus One by Simon Haynes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hal Spacejock, just the name envisions adventures that defy belief and well this omnibus was a bargain and I never turn my back on a good title, blurb or ebook value for money. The first three novels in the series A Robot Named Clunk, Second Course and Just Desserts are included in this kindle edition and I started reading and just kept reading to the point where I forget it was a trilogy and was delighted when the first story finished and the second was on the next page.
Hal is a put upon small time space freighter captain who is up to his neck in debt and finally has to take a contract which lumbers him with a robot co-pilot, of course a shady job brings all manner of complications into Hal's simple life as he tries to stay ahead of debt collectors, shipping agents, customs personnel and all manner of things inherent in a ship owner who does not know how to navigate and beyond pressing a button labelled "land" or "launch" has no real piloting skills.
These three stories in this omnibus were great fun, Hal is not a great guy for sure but compared to most of the people he has to deal with he comes across as the "good" guy and of course Clunk and the ships AI add greatly to the chemistry of the team.
I've already bought the second omnibus and looking forward to reading the further adventures of this flying disaster zone.

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The O.C.L.T. Omnibus: Books 1-4

The O.C.L.T. Omnibus: Books 1-4 by David Niall Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've grown very fond of the idea of having a single world which allows multiple authors to write for it with as much interconnectedness as they see fit. The world of OCLT uses this writing style to offer up in this collection four stories which while standalone tells a bigger story and in this case the notion of the sum of its parts holds true.
In the first story "Brought To Light"written by Aaron Rosenberg we have a US military intelligence unit searching for a scientist and one of their own agents in Sweden and they come across something totally unexpected. The second story written by David Niall Wilson is called "The Parting" and deals with ancient magics brought into the modern world with a geo-political twist and those who seek to protect the world and it's people from such things. In the third story "The Temple of Camazotz" by David Niall Wilson we have a mystery surrounding an ancient religion/god in Mexico and its use to aid in a drug smuggling operation and finally the fourth and probably best of the bunch a very X-Files style of story called "Incursion" written by Aaron and deals with mystical and everyday forces on a tribal reservation when a number of strange deaths occur.
While each of the stories are entertaining in themselves when read together the use of the same characters and structure really comes to the fore and adds immensely to the enjoyment.

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