LIBRARIES across Herefordshire are inviting readers to take a tour of the literary solar system and one customer could win a prize that is literally out of this world.

During September and October the county’s libraries will be running the “Out of this World” promotion which aims to promote a wide range of books including fantasy, horror, sci-fi, romance and popular science.

Councillor Adrian Blackshaw, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for community services and economic development, said: “We came up with this idea as a way of promoting the National Year of Reading and making people more aware of the wide variety of books we have on offer.

“The idea is that the reader travels round the universe reading a book from each planet.

"Suggested authors have been chosen to reflect the traditional personality of the planets, so Venus is romance, Mars conflict and so on.”

Each library will have one winner who will get a bag of specially selected books including a signed copy of the bestselling novel The Crystal Skull by Amanda Scott.

One of those winners will then get to own their own acre of the Moon with a deed of ownership, a map of the plot and a document confirming the mineral rights to their land.

The closing date for the prize draw is Friday, October 31.