Simon Haynes

Simon Haynes is the author of three Hal Spacejock novels, a number of articles on writing and publishing, and several short stories, one of which collected an Aurealis Award in 2001.

Book Four in the Hal Spacejock series, No Free Lunch, is due out April 2008.

I asked Haynes what he has been reading. His reply:

I always have several books on the go at any one time, and I switch between them depending on my mood, how much time I have available and how much I want to pick up a particular book again. Currently in progress? Stephen King's It, John Scalzi's The Android's Dream, Asimov's Bicentennial Man short story collection, Issue 31 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Also Gene Wolfe's Fifth Head of Cerberus, Conrad's Nostromo, Harry Harrison's Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers, Christopher Priest's Inverted World and a book of scripts from A Bit of Fry & Laurie. There are more - I just don't have time to go around the house to find them all!

As for upcoming, I don't have a To Be Read pile any more ... it's now a full-blown TBR bookshelf with overflow. On that I have three SL Viehl novels, three Marianne de Pierres novels, Mindy Klasky's Girl's Guide to Witchcraft, a large number of classics which I've been meaning to get around to Any Day Now, a couple of new books on plotting and writing novels, and every single weekly issue of Roy of the Rovers comic from 1976 to 1993.

I also have two bookshelves crammed with older SF novels, maybe 800-1000 of them, perhaps 200 of which I've yet to read. (There are over 3000 books in my house, by the way, along with a collection of British comics numbering in the thousands.)

Visit Simon Haynes' website and his blog, MySpace page, and Facebook page.

The Page 99 Test: Just Desserts (volume 3 in the Hal Spacejock series).

--Marshal Zeringue