I woke up this morning to find The Long Earth on my Kindle. I pre-ordered this beginning of a new series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter sight unseen. Sir Terry is one of the very few authors I’d spend $12.99 on without even sampling first, and I’m interested to see what he comes up with here in his return to SciFi (and a return to collaboration, such as the marvelous Good Omens he wrote with Neil Gaiman). From the Amazon blurb:

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

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. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of no-man’s-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive—some say mad, others allege dangerous—scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson find a curious gadget: a box containing some rudimentary wiring, a three-way switch, and . . . a potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way humankind views the world forever.

The first novel in an exciting new collaboration between Discworld creator Terry Pratchett and the acclaimed SF writer Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth transports readers to the ends of the earth—and far beyond. All it takes is a single step….

It looks like I’ll either be busy this weekend, or not getting enough sleep for the rest of this work-week.