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Summary
Summary
An unmissable milestone for fans of Sir Terry Pratchett: the first SF novel in over three decades in which the visionary inventor of Discworld has created a new universe of tantalizing possibilities--a series of parallel "Earths" with doorways leading to adventure, intrigue, excitement, and an escape into the furthest reaches of the imagination.
The Long Earth, written with award-winning novelist Stephen Baxter, author of Stone Spring, Ark, and Floodwill, captivate science fiction fans of all stripes, readers of Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen, and anyone who enjoyed the Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman collaboration Good Omens.
The Long Earth is an adventure of the highest order--and an unforgettable read.
Author Notes
Terry Pratchett was on born April 28, 1948 in Beaconsfield, United Kingdom. He left school at the age of 17 to work on his local paper, the Bucks Free Press. While with the Press, he took the National Council for the Training of Journalists proficiency class. He also worked for the Western Daily Press and the Bath Chronicle. He produced a series of cartoons for the monthly journal, Psychic Researcher, describing the goings-on at the government's fictional paranormal research establishment, Warlock Hall. In 1980, he was appointed publicity officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board with responsibility for three nuclear power stations.
His first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. His first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. He became a full-time author in 1987. He wrote more than 70 books during his lifetime including The Dark Side of the Sun, Strata, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery, Truckers, Diggers, Wings, Dodger, Raising Steam, Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales, and The Shephard's Crown. He was diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer's disease in 2007. He was knighted for services to literature in 2009 and received the World Fantasy award for life achievement in 2010. He died on March 12, 2015 at the age of 66.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this thought-provoking collaboration, Pratchett (the Discworld series) and Baxter (Stone Spring) create an infinity of worlds to explore. A revolutionary process known as Stepping has allowed humanity access to an unlimited number of parallel Earths, all devoid of human life. The further one travels, the stranger the variant worlds become. Joshua Valiente, one of a rare breed who can Step without external help, is hired by the transEarth Institute to travel by airship across the Long Earth, exploring as far as possible. Accompanied by Lobsang, a Tibetan reincarnated as an artificial intelligence, he journeys across millions of Earths, discovering just what sort of bizarre secrets lurk in the farthest reaches. The slow-burning plot plays second fiddle to the fascinating premise, and the authors seem to have more fun developing backstory and concepts than any real tension. An abrupt conclusion comes as an unwelcome end to this tale of exploration. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
Step Day, 2015: the day that physicist Willis Linsay posts the plans for a simple electronic device on the Internet-a device that unlocks the door to a million parallel, seemingly uninhabited Earths and leads to a wholesale exodus of the adventurous, the oppressed, and the disaffected. Fast forward 15 years. One of the handful of natural "steppers"-people who can move from one world to the next without the device-is loner Joshua Valiente, who's ventured farther into the chain of alternate worlds than anyone else. He's enlisted by Lobsang (a late Tibetan motorcycle repairman who's been reincarnated as the world's smartest computer and is part owner of transEarth Technologies) to accompany him on an exploratory mission to find out if there's any end to the Long Earth. But what Joshua doesn't know is that some of the worlds are inhabited after all, just not by humans. Verdict Unlike Pratchett's previous collaborations (Good Omens with Neil Gaiman; The Science of Discworld with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen), this is a surprisingly serious and thought-provoking work, albeit one with unmistakably Pratchettesque flourishes of humor throughout. The overall tone is much closer to Baxter's excellent "Destiny's Children" series, with numerous diversions into alternate histories, evolutionary biology, and the search for the spiritual, both human and otherwise. Pratchett and Baxter fans will enjoy.-John Harvey, Irving P.L., TX (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.