The Long Utopia

In this sequel to The Long Mars, Pratchett and Baxter introduce new twists to their already original concept to create an intriguing work of speculative fiction. The premise of their "Long Earth" series is relatively simple to explain—what if there were not a single Earth but an uncounted myriad, each but a "step" from the others to the nominal "East" or "West"? AI Lobsang chooses to fake his own death so that he may live as a human and even raise a child on an Earth distant from the original only to discover that something unknown in all the Long Earths is occurring—beings from an outside universe have arrived on his world and have begun to change it to their benefit. The authors also treat readers to a history of Steppers, those individuals who can move among the Earths without technology. In so doing, Pratchett and Baxter reveal a cabal of Steppers that stretches back to the Victorian Era and forward to include Joshua Valienté, the most famous Stepper of them all.