Mladík Dom Sabalos má na své straně mnoho výhod. Je dědicem nesmírného majetku a jako jediný mužský potomek mocné dynastie se má stát prezidentem správní radě na planetě Protitoč.Podle staré věštby však má být den jeho jmenování také dnem Domovy úkladné vraždy…

A talking cat, intelligent rats, and a strange boy cooperate in a Pied Piper scam until they try to con the wrong town and are confronted by a deadly evil rat king.

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…

The UK's bestselling fantasy writer and a giant of British SF combine forces to write an astonishing, mind-bending new series… The Long Earth.2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Junior cop Sally Jansson is called out to the house of Willis Lynsey, a reclusive scientist, for an animal-cruelty complaint: the man was seen forcing a horse in through the door of his home. Inside there is no horse. But Sally finds a kind of home-made utility belt. She straps this on – and 'steps' sideways into an America covered with virgin forest. Willis came here with equipment and animals, meaning to explore and colonise. And when Sally gets back, she finds Willis has put the secret of the belt on the internet. The great migration has begun…The Long Earth: our Earth is but one of a chain of parallel worlds, lying side by side in a higher space of possibilities, each differing from its neighbours by a little (or a lot): an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And the further away you travel, the stranger the worlds get. The sun and moon always shine, the basic laws of physics are the same. However, the chance events which have shaped our particular version of Earth, such as the dinosaur-killer asteroid impact, might not have happened and things may well have turned out rather differently. But only our Earth hosts mankind.

Однажды в интернете появилась схема устройства, которое мог собрать любой, используя пару проводов, переключатель и картошку. И мир изменился. Перед человечеством открылось бесконечное число параллельных Земель. Там всё как у нас, вот только людей нет. Совсем. Теперь любой человек может сбежать от своих проблем в необозримую даль. Однако бесчисленные измерения таят множество загадок, а на Исходной Земле после массовой эмиграции разрушается экономика. К тому же остаются люди, которые никуда уйти не могут.Книга получилась довольно странная и спорная, неожиданно напоминающая как по духу, так и по стилю американскую фантастику Золотого века. Последняя проглядывает и в неспешном ритме действия, и в простоте языка, и в том, что вся книга направлена на исследование основной идеи. В центре книги «Долгая Земля» — поиск «конца миров», который ведут Джошуа Вальенте, человек, способный странствовать между измерениями без всяких устройств, и Лобсанг, первый ИскИн, который добился официального признания себя человеком. Вместе им предстоит выяснить, что на Долгой Земле живут и другие разумные существа, где-то в бесконечной череде миров таится странная опасность, а природа и структура реальности далеко не таковы, какими они казались поначалу. Но это только один из сюжетных пластов.В многоплановости, стремлении охватить явление со всех сторон и кроется главная слабость романа — его лоскутность. Авторы берут одну тему, а потом бросают её, толком не раскрыв. Персонажи зачастую выступают лишь статистами, которые нужны чтобы показать очередное явление из жизни Долгой Земли. Неравномерность текста чувствуется постоянно: действие то разгоняется, как метеор, то плетётся черепашьим шагом. Вдобавок ко всему заканчивается «Долгая Земля» фактически на полуслове. Но особенно разочаруются те, кто ждал от романа Терри Пратчетта многочисленных шуток и тонкой иронии, так как книга в основе своей предельно серьёзна, и за её написание, скорее всего, отвечал всё же Стивен Бакстер.

2040–2045: In the years after the cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption there is massive economic dislocation as populations flee Datum Earth to myriad Long Earth worlds. Sally, Joshua, and Lobsang are all involved in this perilous rescue work when, out of the blue, Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father and inventor of the original Stepper device, Willis Linsay. He tells her he is planning a fantastic voyage across the Long Mars and wants her to accompany him. But Sally soon learns that Willis has an ulterior motive for his request…Meanwhile U. S. Navy Commander Maggie Kauffman has embarked on an incredible journey of her own, leading an expedition to the outer limits of the far Long Earth.For Joshua, the crisis he faces is much closer to home. He becomes embroiled in the plight of the Next: the Long Mars.

2040-2045: In the years after the cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption there is massive economic dislocation as populations flee Datum Earth to myriad Long Earth worlds. Sally, Joshua, and Lobsang are all involved in this perilous work when, out of the blue, Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father and inventor of the original Stepper device, Willis Linsay. He tells her he is planning a fantastic voyage across the Long Mars and wants her to accompany him. But Sally soon learns that Willis has ulterior motives ...Meanwhile U. S. Navy Commander Maggie Kauffman has embarked on an incredible journey of her own, leading an expedition to the outer limits of the far Long Earth. For Joshua, the crisis he faces is much closer to home. He becomes embroiled in the plight of the Next: the super-bright post-humans who are beginning to emerge from their 'long childhood' in the community called Happy Landings, located deep in the Long Earth. Ignorance and fear are causing 'normal' human society to turn against the Next - and a dramatic showdown seems inevitable . . .

2045-2059. After the cataclysmic upheavals of Step Day and the Yellowstone eruption humanity is spreading further into the Long Earth, and society, on a battered Datum Earth and beyond, continues to evolve. Now an elderly and cantankerous AI, Lobsang lives in disguise with Agnes in an exotic, far-distant world. He’s convinced they’re leading a normal life in New Springfield – they even adopt a child – but it seems they have been guided there for a reason. As rumours of strange sightings and hauntings proliferate, it becomes clear that something is very awry with this particular world.Millions of steps away, Joshua is on a personal journey of discovery: learning about the father he never knew and a secret family history. But then he receives a summons from New Springfield. Lobsang now understands the enormity of what’s taking place beneath the surface of his earth – a threat to all the worlds of the Long Earth.To counter this threat will require the combined efforts of humankind, machine and the super-intelligent Next. And some must make the ultimate sacrifice . . .