[Spacejock]

I was going to mention him but a few things stopped me -- his books are only easily available in Australia (any good news on that front yet?)

Alas, no. Book four is almost done and will be released in Australia early next year. Maybe when there's 10-15 of the things in the series, a UK/US publisher will take another look. Who knows?

[lin]

The comic strip Brewster Rockit is similar to Hal Spacejock (based on my reads of sample chapters and the artwork). I don't know how many papers carry it, but I see it every day on the Yahoo site. Hilarious stuff.

[Spacejock]

Re the artwork ... never judge a book by its cover ;-) The Hal covers evoke Buzz Lightyear, but the books themselves tend to the dry sort of humour and not the absurd, as per HHG.

(Not sure how to explain it, but perhaps this will help: In Hal, everyone is deadly serious and doing the absolute best they can, while the reader is offstage laughing at their pitiful attempts and inevitable setbacks. Think of Fawlty Towers, were Basil isn't a wise-cracking comedian dishing out one-liners, even though his muttered asides can be funny, and it's mostly his antics and attempts to fix the latest cock-up that have you in stitches.)

[Rocket Sheep]

Hal Spacejock has every known male flaw... and yet isn't sitting on a sofa with his hand down his pants (ala Al Bundy) but is out trying to make a living delivering stuff in a spaceship that has a personality and is overdue for a service with the help of an ex-scrapheap robot. The possibilities for things to go wrong are endless... the possibilities of sorting anything out are miniscule. He couldn't even make a sandwich in book one!

Hal Spacejock is the kind of man your mother clone warned you about.

[Spacejock]

That's something else to consider when writing humour ... if you write with no sex, no violence and maybe just a touch of swearing you can also find a market for your books in school libraries and YA.

[Rocket Sheep]

Tomorrow When the War Began has sex and violence and swearing and makes it into schools quite easily... but it's not funny.

The sex scene in Black Crusade is funny... but it doesn't get a YA rating or make it into schools.

Snow Crash is YA and it has a freakish and violent sex scene... I haven't met a kid who's read it yet tho.

Would you let your kids read these books? They all have great appeal and are worthy of reading.

[Spacejock]

Yes, basically there's a choice of whether to go for the adult market exclusively (Black Crusade is a good example) or a crossover which can make it in one or both markets.

My kids are 9 and 12, so no. The eldest will probably be reading the Dark Materials or Temeraire books soon.

[lin]

if you write with no sex, no violence and maybe just a touch of swearing you can also find a market for your books in school libraries and YA.

So it's the same in Oz as the USA... you can only market books to kids by omitting all the things the kids are most avidly interested in?

[Rocket Sheep]

Most 12 year olds have already read Marsden's Tomorrow series, so I think you'd have to work hard to avoid that one.

I have a young US mentee who writes using the whole swear word, but then uses euphemisms for blasphemies. I think that's hilarious. In most places blasphemies are more acceptable than sexual-based swear words.

[Spacejock]

So it's the same in Oz as the USA... you can only market books to kids by omitting all the things the kids are most avidly interested in?

Kids don't buy books - parents and school librarians buy books! So the answer is yes.

However, if you can sneak the good bits in under a veneer of respectability, double-entendres and/or misdirection then you could be onto a winner.