The Long Cosmos: The Long Earth series - Hardcover

Pratchett, Terry; Baxter, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0857521780 ISBN 13: 9780857521781

Publisher: Doubleday UK, 2016

Synopsis

Completed by the authors some eighteen months before Terry Pratchett's untimely death, The Long Cosmos is the grand climax of the Long Earth series. Terry had always wanted to explore the question 'what's it all for?' -- and in this novel, we find an answer.

2070-71. Nearly six decades after Step Day and in the Long Earth, the new Next post-human society continues to evolve.

For Joshua Valienté, now in his late sixties, it is time to take one last solo journey into the High Meggers: an adventure that turns into a disaster. Alone and facing death, his only hope of salvation lies with a group of trolls. But as Joshua confronts his mortality, the Long Earth receives a signal from the stars. A signal that is picked up by radio astronomers but also in more abstract ways -- by the trolls and by the Great Traversers. Its message is simple but ts implications are enormous:

JOIN US.

The super-smart Next realise that the Message contains instructions on how to develop an immense artificial intelligence but to build it they have to seek help from throughout the industrious worlds of mankind. Bit by bit, byte by byte, they assemble a computer the size of a continent -- a device that will alter the Long Earth's place within the cosmos and reveal the ultimate, life-affirming goal of those who sent the Message. Its impact will be felt by and resonate with all -- mankind and other species, young and old, communities and individuals -- who inhabit the Long Earths.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

2070-71. Nearly six decades after Step Day, a new society continues to evolve on the Long Earth.

The Next—the hyper-intelligent post-humans—realize that the missive contains instructions for kick-starting the development of an immense artificial intelligence known as The Machine. But to build this computer the size of an Earth continent, they must obtain help from the more populous and still industrious worlds of mankind.

Meanwhile, on a trek in the High Meggers, Joshua Valienté is saved from death when a troll band discovers him. Living among the trolls as he recovers, Joshua learns something profound about life and its purpose in the Long Earth . . .

About the Author:

TERRY PRATCHETT was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. His fortieth Discworld novel, Raising Steam, was published in 2013. His books have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, as well as being awarded a knighthood for services to literature. He died in March 2015.

STEPHEN BAXTER is one of the UK's most acclaimed writers of science fiction and a multi-award winner. His many books include the classic Xeelee sequence, the Time's Odyssey novels (written with Arthur C. Clarke) and Time Ships, a sequel to H. G. Wells's The Time Machine, a Doctor Who novel, The Wheel of Ice, and most recently the epic, far-future novels Proxima and Ultima. He lives in Northumberland

About this edition

• Publisher: Doubleday UK
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0857521780
• ISBN 13: 9780857521781
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400