A New Novel - The Long Earth

Stolen from DiscWorld Monthly news section:-

Latest news from Terry via http://www.pjsmprints.com:

This is the cover information from the upcoming new novel - The Long
Earth

The possibilities are endless (just be careful what you wish
for...)

1916: the Western Front, France. 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 has the mud, blood and
blasted landscape of No Man's Land gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson has returned to the
burned-out home of one Willis Linsay, a reclusive and some said
mad, others dangerous, scientist. It was arson but, as is often
the way, the firemen seem to have caused more damage than the fire
itself. Stepping through the wreck of a house, there's no sign of
any human remains but on the mantelpiece Monica finds a curious
gadget - a box, containing some wiring, a three-way switch and
a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that Linsay called
a 'stepper'. An invention he put up on the web for all the world
to see, and use, an invention that would to change the way mankind
viewed his world Earth for ever. And that's an understatement if
ever there was one...

...because the stepper allowed the person using it to step
sideways into another America, another Earth, and if you kept on
stepping, you kept on entering even more Earths...this is the Long
Earth. It's our Earth but one of a chain of parallel worlds, lying
side by side each differing from its neighbour by really very
little (or actually quite a lot). It's an infinite chain, offering
'steppers' an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And
the further away you travel, the stranger - and sometimes more
dangerous - the Earths get. The sun and moon always shine, the
basic laws of physics are the same. However, the chance events
which have shaped our particular Earth, such as the
dinosaur-killer asteroid impact, might not have happened and
things may well have turned out rather differently.

But, until Willis Linsay invented his stepper, only our Earth
hosted mankind...or so we thought. Because it turns out there are
some people who are natural 'steppers', who don't need his
invention and now the great migration has begun...

Signed copies available to pre-order from April 21st June 2012 via
http://www.pjsmprints.com/

The book is due for release in June. You can see the reveal of the
cover art at:
http://www.terrypratchett.co.uk/index.php/books/the-long-earth

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Curious how other people feel about this. Part of me is looking forward to it, but another part of me is almost ... angry that Pterry is using what little time he has left to write anything other than Discworld. Which I know is selfish, and I do feel suitable ashamed.

I know what you mean, can't wait for the next DiscWorld novel, but Sir Terry has a long record of other writings, the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, Nation, the Bromeliad trilogy, Strata plus collaborations such as Good Omens.

Looking forward to this the answer has to be yes, pre-order already placed on amazon UK.

I'm eager to go back to Discworld at any time, but I've enjoyed all Sir Terry's non-discworld books, too. Whatever he writes, I will read!

Much as I love Discworld (and I do - I really really do!), I am SO excited by this. Maybe becasue I love sci-fi as well - it just looks brilliant. Can't wait.

how ... odd. Somehow I can't imagine pTerry doing serious SF. It's hardly a new idea, so I wonder where he's going with it. Obviously there will be plenty of opportunites to invoke some suble social commentary - something that is more native ot SF than fantasy anway - but perhaps much less chance for the trademark humour.

I probably will buy it to find out, but it's unlikely to be at hardback prices.

I really didn't like Snuff, so I'm actually rather glad his is writing a non-Discworld book.

It actually looks really interesting and will be a nice change of pace, I think. Anyway, I will buy and read anything he writes. :)

Some of my favourite Pratchett books are non-discworld. Even though I too really really love it.

I just finished The Long Earth! It was good - not Discworld good, but still good.

My copy is on the way, so I'll lift my hopes a bit.
How does it compare to Good Omens?

It is available as an e-book. I came here looking to see if anyone had read it yet. I am not sure if I want to read it or not. I think that Pratchett has lost that special spark which makes his books so brilliant.

I'll wait a while and see how the reviews pan out and then decide. His last few books have been, to me, a disappointment.

10> Good Omens was better, or at least in my opinion.

In reply to 7

I agree, I just finished Snuff yesterday.

My copy had first chapter or two of both Dodger and The Long Earth and I have to say I enjoyed/was more into The Long Earth - It feels slightly "Hitchhikers Guide" to me which should make it quite interesting, looking forward to reading it.

Strange #13, I have read Snuff and it is a slightly different swerve on the "guards" series, but your link takes me to a quite different book :-)

#14 The touchstones sometimes need a little help to find the right book if there is more than one with the same name
You have to click on "others" and select the correct author.

Snuff

Err, #15, pinko, I only mentioned it 'cos it took me to a porn-snuff movie reference :-)

#16 LOL - lead me to it ... :)

Guido, you have to take it easy on Minnie. She's from the West and is not a sophisticated as us Melbournites!

Hey!! I grew up in the forgotten city of Adelaide.

I can cope with snuff books - it is the thought of snuff movies which turns me a little green around the gills.

Hi "pinko" (AKA. Minnie), ask a "USA'er" where Adelaide is...

Ask a New South Welshman where Adelaide is ...

Should we start a new Thread entitled "Does anyone know where Adelaide is"?

I think that is cruel.

Why, some of my best friends come from...

ETA. I am still unsure if I should/want to get Sir Pterrys
new book. I will probably get it because of my "completist" nature.
And the book does sound interesting. But but It 'aint Diskworld.
I think #3 above sums it up.

I don't think that I will get Pratchett's new book; it was co-written so is not pure Pratchett and who knows just how much input he actually had.

I'll stick with the Discworld unless the Long World gets reviews based on the book and not the author.

I'm about 80 pages from the end and I've loved it. It's not pure Pratchett that's for sure but his touch is everywhere - that comic lightness and subtlety. I can't wait for bedtime to finish it - because I've no idea how he's going to finish it in the chunk I have left...

Bek, I'm looking forward to hearing how you found the whole book - when you have read it to the end.

Maybe I'll change my mind.

Thanks, Bekkak,

You have convinced me. I will get it. Tomorow.
See my profile.

Guido.

I read The Long Earth as soon as I got it in my hands, and liked it very much. I see reviews and threads (here and elsewhere) saying Pratchett's voice isn't heard in it... but I think his presence is quite strong. Only HE could come up with much of the humor and pokes at human nature, etc. I thought it positively reeked of him. But, it is not Discworld to be sure.

I also don't think a comparison to Hitchiker's guide is fair. This book, while mind-bending, isn't as absurd or silly, and not quite as wild-ride fun either. It has its moments of levity but overall it's more subdued and serious, thought-provoking.

This isn't my favorite book by Pratchett, but it's strong, and I'd recommend it to any fan. They've already stated there will be a second book (at least).

Just finished - and Unruly Sun has it so right. In fact I have nothing more to add - excpet I WANT the next one NOW please...

FYI my favourite Pratchetts are kind of torn - any of the three death novels from his older stuff or Thud from his newer stuff - Thud made me cry so much (I think I was pregnant though so that might have been part of it).

I have just finished reading The Long Earth and I was very, very disappointed with it.

It was an interesting concept which went nowhere and it lacked the sparkle and humour of the Discworld books. I don't know how much input Pratchett had, or if he merely lent his name to it but I won't be reading any sequels.

I wish that Pratchett had stopped writing, or at least publishing, a couple of books back

I recently finished it too. Whilst I won't say I was very disappointed with it, it certainly felt like 80-90% Baxter with just a touch of pTerry here and there.