Terry Pratchett to Collaborate with Stephen Baxter on New Novels

Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter will join forces to finish a novel that Pratchett left on the shelf 25 years ago. The Long Earth story line of parallel universes will come out as two books.

By the way, if you are enjoying the World Cup you have to read Unseen Academicals, Pratchetts take on soccer culture and sports fanaticism.

Transworld Publishers are delighted to announce an exciting new collaboration between Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.

Sir Terry Pratchett first developed his vision of a chain of parallel worlds, The Long Earth, in an unfinished novel and two short stories in 1986, after writing Equal Rites, the third novel in what would turn into the hugely successful Discworld series. Now, at last, this long-gestating concept is to see the light of day in two as-yet-untitled books written in collaboration with Stephen Baxter, author of Flood, Ark and the Time’s Tapestry and Destiny’s Children series.

‘Our Earth is but one of a chain of parallel worlds, each differing from its neighbours by a little (or a lot) in an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And you can just step from one world to the next…’

The deal was brokered through Colin Smythe and Ralph Vicinanza and the first Long Earth novel is due to be published by Doubleday in spring 2012.

Additionally, Sir Terry Pratchett has recently completed I Shall Wear Midnight, the fourth in the Tiffany Aching books, to be published in September, and is already at work on his next Discworld novel for publication in autumn 2011. Number 37 in the series, Unseen Academicals, has just come out in Corgi paperback.

Kindle's v2.5 firmware upgrade & social networking

Kindle's v2.5 firmware upgrade in May will introduce some interesting new features that may play a part in how we read books in the future.

• Share book passages with friends on Facebook and Twitter directly from your Kindle. 
• Popular Highlights: See what the Kindle community thinks are the most interesting passages in the books you're reading. 

Variations on the book club appear all over the web in various formats. I am impressed by very well written and thoroughly researched reviews, even if they sometimes go over my head. I'd like to write quality in-depth reviews myself but they are beyond my ability and the time I'm willing to put into it. The quality or applicability of comments/reviews found on Amazon, in chat rooms, newsgroups, or forums range from excellent to execrable.

When reading on my ebookwise I often highlight words I'm not familiar with (or misspelled words for that matter), as well as passages that are either very good or very bad. When I'm done with the book the markup is never used for anything -- yet I continue to do it.

I think Amazon may have hit upon something here, tapping a body of knowledge that is not yet represented on the web. Readers, for the most part, can't be bothered with writing a review or commenting on a book. If the reading process itself can be modified to make it easy to share your impressions as you are reading we get two benefits: the "raw data" of passages that readers find interesting, and the impetus for people to work up the energy to express their opinions about a book.

Hopefully, if the experiment works, we can see a future where all readers on all devices can share their interesting passages. If anything, it can be a valuable resource for finding the good bits of the next potboiler or bodice ripper you plan on reading.