The long war
The Long War (Original title: The Long War ) is a science fiction - novel of the British writer Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter . The English language first edition was published by Harper in June 2013 in the HarperCollins publishing group. The German translation by Gerald Jung was published by Manhattan Verlag in March 2015 .
Humanity has started to colonize the countless parallel earths of Long Earth . This was made possible by the invention of an easily reproducible device, the “changer”, which allows most people to step into worlds further “west” or “east”. New settlements have emerged on many distant worlds, which can be reached by changing airships. Since the United States of America wants to exercise sovereignty over the parts of all parallel America corresponding to its national territory, it comes into conflict with the freedom-loving settlers. Similar to when the USA was founded, there is a threat of a war of independence with the new colonies.
action
The "Long Earth" was largely populated within a generation after the "Changeover Day" in 2015, especially towards the "West", with some zones of worlds being more suitable than others. Hardly anyone settles in the ice belt near Earth 0 (“date earth”), while the more distant mineral-rich mine belt and the productive grain belt attract many settlers. Especially in the so-called “high megas” of the western worlds beyond 1 million steps from date earth, a new center of civilization has formed, the city of Valhalla, which extends over several worlds. This is located around Earth West 1 400 013 on the banks of a North American inland sea. Much of the original North American culture was retained, but new social developments and the urge for independence from the original America are also evident.
Joshua Valienté, one of the first explorers of the Long Earth, settled down and founded his own family on Earth West 1 397 426 with Helen from the pioneering Green family. He became a father and was elected mayor of the tranquil settlement "knows-the-cuckoo-where". When the lonely Sally Linsay turns up unexpectedly, an acquaintance of Joshua from his youth, he is forced to travel to Date Earth with his family because of the looming colonial conflict. Further problems arise because the intelligent, giant ape-like trolls who are in demand as workers are repeatedly abused by thoughtless and brutal people. While there is a movement that advocates for the rights of trolls, trolls respond to the bad treatment and increasingly leave human-populated areas.
On Date Earth there is also a meeting of Joshua with Lobsang, the artificial, conscious intelligence, with whose airship the first big expedition into the western worlds of Long Earth was carried out. Together with his friend Bill, but without his family, Joshua sets out to find Sally and the missing trolls. At the same time, a scientific expedition with the airships Zheng He and Liu Yang is starting from China to explore the Long Earth in an "eastward" direction. Also on board is the highly gifted, super-intelligent 16-year-old Roberta Golding, who, however, does not particularly cope with the Chinese mentality. Similar to the "West", the most diverse climates, evolutionary stages and bizarre geological developments are evident. Marsupials that communicate with color patterns or a planet dominated by turtles are among the discoveries until Earth East 20 million is reached as the furthest point.
In a further parallel plot, the ex-priest Nelson Aziwike finds the remote transEarth Institute in Wyoming after a long search , where he meets Lobsang in a synthetic body. He invites Nelson on an airship voyage to New Zealand some 700,000 worlds west. There they meet second person singular, a multi-organism similar to first person singular. This appears as a living island that offers plants, animals and people a home and can itself change from world to world. Some of the residents, who have adopted into a very simple culture, are apparently descendants of the crew of the ship Mary Celeste . Nelson gets involved in a brief love affair with a young islander, but otherwise discusses the meaning of the Long Earth with Lobsang, which will at least ensure the long-term survival of mankind.
Sally and Monica arrive at a western earth beyond 1.6 million, on which the intelligent breed of dog, the so-called Beagles, lives, who walk and can speak fair English. Their hunter and warrior culture with matriarchal organized clans tends to recurring wars, which prevent social development. The "Beagles" capture Joshua and use a device to prevent him from changing. With this, Sally and Monica are blackmailed into creating highly developed radiation weapons from the nearby "rectangular world" of a lost civilization of intelligent reptiles. This also succeeds with the help of the goblin Finn McCool, who is however not a reliable companion and mainly thinks about his own profit. Eventually Joshua is given the honor of being hunted by the "Beagles", which he survives only badly injured. Finally, the signs restless activity of several under the Yellowstone National Park located super volcano on the date earth.
Under the command of Captain Maggie Kauffmann, the military airship Benjamin Franklin has flown to many western colonies and scouted out the political situation. Kauffmann's interest lies more in resolving conflicts than in enforcing the laws and sovereignty of the Date United States, as is desired by Captain Ed Cutler of the USS Abraham Lincoln, for example . She even chose a troll family to accompany her to better understand their culture. After all, in Walhalla the climax of the Long War comes. The population opposes the troops of the united US airships with civil disobedience. Cutler wants to use brutal force against the rioters, but in the end common sense wins out on both sides.
main characters
Joshua Valienté: Joshua Valienté is a natural changer who grew up in an orphanage in Madison and has wandered the parallel earths since his youth. Lobsang chose him as the only companion for the first exploration of the western "Long Earth" with the airship "Mark Twain".
Sally Linsay: Sally is the daughter of the missing Willis Linsay, the inventor of the "changer". Like Joshua Valienté, she can switch to the parallel earths without technical aids. After Joshua settled down, she explored the vastness of the "Long Earth" largely by herself.
Lobsang: Lobsang is a self-conscious artificial intelligence that was said to have been a Tibetan motorcycle mechanic in a previous life. Although he is distributed over various mobile units and computer networks, he was able to be judged to be a human being.
Monica Jansson: Monica Jansson is a former Madison policewoman who was involved early on in fighting the novel crimes made possible by "switching". However, she was unable to prevent the atomic bomb attack on Madison in Date Earth Wisconsin. She has leukemia and becomes Sally Linsay's companion.
Maggie Kauffman: Captain of the US military airship Benjamin Franklin , which was sent to the distant worlds of Long Earth to calm the rebellious colonists.
Nelson Azikiwe : Black South African who first works as a paleontologist , then goes to England as a priest. His penchant for complex puzzles leads him to trace Lobsang's existence.
Sister Agnes : Former Madison (Ohio, Date Earth) Orphanage Caretaker, created by Lobsang as artificial intelligence as its female counterpart after her physical death.
Petra , Li-Li and Snowball : Intelligent, upright walking “Beagles” who live on Earth West 1 617 524.
Finn McCool: A seedy goblin who sells information for a price, such as an "antique" Walkman on which he can hear the kinks .
Position in the series
The Long War is the second part of a series that began with Die Lange Erde (German 2013) and was continued with the books Der Lange Mars (German 2015) and Das Lange Utopia (German 2016), which were also published in German. A final fifth book, The Long Cosmos ( The Long cosmos ), was released in June 2016 in the English language. In an interview with the BBC 2 radio station , the authors stated that they had signed a contract for "at least" 5 books.
Web links
literature
- Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter: The Long War. Manhattan, Munich 2015. ISBN 978-3-442-54728-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Pratchett and Baxter on BBC Radio 2 of July 2, 2013 (English; last accessed on May 20, 2014).