The Long Earth

It's 1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where have the mud, blood and blasted landscape of No Man's Land gone? 2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive - some said mad, others dangerous - scientist when she finds a curious gadget - a box containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way Mankind views his world for ever. And that's an understatement if ever there was one..."The Long Earth" is the first novel in an exciting new collaboration between the creator of Discworld Terry Pratchett and the acclaimed SF writer Stephen Baxter. "An absorbing collaborative effort from two SF giants...a marriage made in fan heaven - Pratchett's warmth and humanity allied to Baxter's extraordinarily fertile science-fictional imagination...I, for one, found it extremely refreshing...There's much to enjoy...it's a charming, absorbing and somehow spacious piece of imagineering." -- Adam Roberts Guardian "The idea of parallel Earths is one of the most enduring that science fiction has given us, but rarely has it been explored with quite so much gusto as in this new novel by two of the giants of British speculative fiction... a triumph... This is an accessible, fun and thoughtful SF novel that offers the potential for a multitude of stories as great as the myriad of Earths." -- David Barnett Independent "***** Literary alchemy...In the hands of Pratchett and Baxter, the possibilites are almost infinite...It's a story that revels in big ideas...You can sense the excitement of the authors as they toy with the labyrinthine possibilities of their premise, and it's infectious...The canvas of the Long Earth is so vast, so full of storytelling potential, that it would be a crime not to explore further...thrillingly expansive, joyously inventive and utterly engrossing." SFX "[Pratchett] succeeds in working seamlessly with Baxter, with his ever-present whimsy...adding a welcome shot of fun to the world of science fiction." -- Alison Flood Sunday Times "a wonderfully rich fantasy, full of ingenuity, humour and some rather deep thoughts" Reader's Digest