Short Story:The High Meggas

The High Meggas was written around the same time as The Colour of Magic and was abandoned after the success of the fantasy stories, the short story would later form the foundation of the Long Earth Novel series with the aid of Stephen Baxter. This story contains many elements and characters that would later become more realised in The Long Earth, such as stepping, intelligent non-humans and disasters on alternate earths.

On an alternate Earth in the High Meggas, millions of 'moves' across other alternate Earths, the loner Linsay is about to get some company: Anna Shea and Joshua Valienté. Only one of them isn't who they say and a murderer to boot, so Linsay must figure out who is telling the truth and avoid the dangers of the High Meggas such as the deadly 'Fist' event and intelligent super-baboons.