Today, I'm mostly focussing on one of these - The Long Earth, written collaboratively by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.
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| Sir Terry casts aside his hat |
I picked this up almost on a whim, with the generously-loaded Waterstones card which was a birthday gift from the team at work (thanks, guys!). I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to pick up, but this caught my eye on a display stand, and looked like good flight reading.
I had assumed that this was a new book, having not heard of it previously, but it transpires that it was being promoted just ahead of the launch of the second book in the sequence.
It's very a sci-fi novel, making it feel like a bit of a departure for Pratchett. At a recent talk at the Institute of Engineering and Technology, he revealed that the concept was something he came up with even before Discworld, but her set it aside and only rediscovered it recently. He decided that it had been a great idea, but that he would need someone with a working knowledge of the 'quantum bollocks' (actual quote) to execute it - hence the collaboration with Baxter.
The premise is actually very simple, but opens up so many questions and interesting scenarios to explore that the series, I'm sure, could feasibly be spun on and on and still remain interesting. Pratchett and Baxter indicated that they've got solid material to explore for about five books, and are not sure about going beyond that at this point.
Right from the start, we are introduced to the 'Long Earth', on what becomes known as 'Step Day', the population of earth discovers an unknown number of parallel earths, trivially easy to reach from this one (dubbed 'Datum Earth'), through a process called 'stepping'. Each is effectively a copy of this world, with some small changes - most notably, that each world is untouched by the presence of humanity.
This makes each world a rich haven in its own right, a sort of natural paradise, rich with life and animals. There turn out to be some simple but crucial limitations around stepping which make the inevitable exploration and expansion more interesting - people aren't just able to port their entire houses across.
This turns the book into an exploration of frontiers and survivalism for humanity, and raises plenty of interesting questions - suddenly, scarcity is not the issue it once was. What does that mean for how people develop and fan out across the long earth. It is a great representation of what sci if can be - a sort of thought experiment with a relatively simple concept (though one with interesting characters and story to hang it together).
The main plot of the book follows a few characters aiming exploring the Long Earth and answer some of the many questions that it raises. This gave it, for me, a very 'Jules Verne', adventure novel feel - venturing out in the unknown. This is part of the reason I'm trying to discuss it rather elliptically here (with mixed success, I'm sure), to avoid answering too many questions, and leaving that for you to discover, if you choose to explore the book yourself.
From the title of the sequel 'The Long War', I'm expecting to find something rather different. I'm very much looking forward to breaking into that - though I'm reluctant to pick it up in hardback, so it will be one for audiobook or ebook formats.
If you've enjoy science fiction or adventure stories, or Pratchett or Baxter's previous works (though this feels nothing like Discworld), I'd recommend that you give this one a try.
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Right from the start, we are introduced to the 'Long Earth', on what becomes known as 'Step Day', the population of earth discovers an unknown number of parallel earths, trivially easy to reach from this one (dubbed 'Datum Earth'), through a process called 'stepping'. Each is effectively a copy of this world, with some small changes - most notably, that each world is untouched by the presence of humanity.
This makes each world a rich haven in its own right, a sort of natural paradise, rich with life and animals. There turn out to be some simple but crucial limitations around stepping which make the inevitable exploration and expansion more interesting - people aren't just able to port their entire houses across.
This turns the book into an exploration of frontiers and survivalism for humanity, and raises plenty of interesting questions - suddenly, scarcity is not the issue it once was. What does that mean for how people develop and fan out across the long earth. It is a great representation of what sci if can be - a sort of thought experiment with a relatively simple concept (though one with interesting characters and story to hang it together).
The main plot of the book follows a few characters aiming exploring the Long Earth and answer some of the many questions that it raises. This gave it, for me, a very 'Jules Verne', adventure novel feel - venturing out in the unknown. This is part of the reason I'm trying to discuss it rather elliptically here (with mixed success, I'm sure), to avoid answering too many questions, and leaving that for you to discover, if you choose to explore the book yourself.
From the title of the sequel 'The Long War', I'm expecting to find something rather different. I'm very much looking forward to breaking into that - though I'm reluctant to pick it up in hardback, so it will be one for audiobook or ebook formats.
If you've enjoy science fiction or adventure stories, or Pratchett or Baxter's previous works (though this feels nothing like Discworld), I'd recommend that you give this one a try.
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