Sci-Fi Group Book Club discussion
Looking for the title of a book about parallel Earths.
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It certainly sounds a lot like Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's "The Long Earth" series to me. The devices (stepper boxes) are built from simple Radio Shack components but require something living to power power them (like a potato).Originally "stepping" was a family secret, but one day the inventor releases the plans on the Internet and all hell breaks loose as people start stepping away to parallel Earths.
The book covers many of the ramifications of this, not only pertaining to "discovering" other variations of Earth, but also in the political turmoil this causes (does the government have jurisdiction on the other Earths?), the security problems it causes (with people popping over to another Earth, walking a few feet, and then popping back over inside a bank vault), and the economic problems that result from people just up and leaving for greener pastures.
Also, as you remember, there are "gaps" along the line of possible Earths, as well as other "joker" worlds. In fact, they build a space station one step away from the gap to make it easier to launch things into space.
There is also an artificial intelligence who claims to be the reincarnation of a Tibetan motorcycle repair man, who plays a big role in the book.
Hopefully this sounds familiar and you've found this book. If you happen to rediscover it, you'll be happy to know that there are several sequels out now. It's a good series as long as you are OK with it being very slow moving and exploratory rather than fast paced and action packed.
That sounds like a series right up my alley...looks I need to start trying to get my library to carry that audiobook series...
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Richard wrote: "Brian in Post 2 above is exactly correct. The Long Earth by the late Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter is the first in the Long Earth series. The s..."I was really intrigued by this thread to go and discover The Long Earth for myself, so when I saw it wallowing in my local library, I snatched it from the shelf immediately.
I love its concept, but I can't say it lived up to my expectations. It wasn't bad - just not as brilliant as it could have been. Never mind. I might give the second book a go some time soon and see if it picks up from there. But in any case, thank you Irving and Brian for raising the topic!
If "The Long Earth" is not the book you're looking for, take a look at "Ring Around the Sun" by Clifford D. Simak, which has some similarities to the plot you outline. For example, one of the characters uses a child's toy top to move from Earth to a parallel Earth. Even if it is not the book you are looking for, I would recommend this one as a classic from the golden age of science fiction.
David wrote: "If "The Long Earth" is not the book you're looking for, take a look at "Ring Around the Sun" by Clifford D. Simak, which has some similarities to the plot you outline. For example, one of the chara..."I have recently been on a Simak kick. His books stand up to the test of time better than many. Just reread _The City_ Thanks for the recommend.
Great, I hope you like it! I just finished City also, and think it is a great book.
Parallel Earths is a science fiction trope many authors have used. My favorite is H. Beam Piper's Paratime series. Here's the Wikipedia page that tells all about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratim...The short stories are also free on Gutenberg.org here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc...
Another series about moving through parallel earths is the series by Harry Turtledove called Crosstime Traffic. It's about these teenagers who move from our future resource-depleted Earth back in history to parallel Earths to trade for that Earth's resources while attempting not to be discovered as not belonging to those worlds. There's a wikipedia page devoted to that series as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossti...
I've not yet read any of these, but other well-known parallel Earth series include the following:
1) The G.O.D., Inc. trilogy by Jack Chalker
2) Michael Kurland's Perchance (first volume of the not-yet-continued Elsewhen series)
3) Michael McCollum's A Greater Infinity
4) Richard C. Meredith's Timeliner Trilogy
5) The GURPS Infinite Worlds role-playing game setting.
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Books mentioned in this topic
The Long Earth (other topics)The Long Earth (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Terry Pratchett (other topics)Stephen Baxter (other topics)
Terry Pratchett (other topics)
Stephen Baxter (other topics)
I am looking for the title and author of a book about parallel Earths. I don't recall a lot about the book but I recall that the device that allowed one to travel from one Earth to the next was a very small and simple to make device powered by a (9v?) battery. I remember that each Earth was like the one "next" to it with slight changes, kind of like the Chronical Of Amber Series(But it IS NOT the Amber Series.) I also recall that the people who were traveling may have had spacesuits(?) on at some point and the suits saved their lives at a few crossing points. This was because when they went to travel to the "next" Earth, the Earth was not there and there was no atmosphere and they had to hurriedly travel to the next Earth in the series. Apparently the Earth in that dimension was destroyed by something or just didn't form in the first place. I do not recall anything else at this time. I don't recall a plot, nor why people were traveling.
I got a lot of "HITS" on Stephen Baxter's The Long Earth while searching for the title of this book. I can't find this book among my collection so I will try to locate a copy and read it to see if this is the book or not.
If you have title suggestions for this book I'm searching for, please let me know. If you want to tell me to move my post and how, I"d also welcome that.
Thank you very much.
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