A Chinese author is bringing out a novel that will only be available as a sequence of text messages.

BBC Online, quoting China’s official Xinhau news agency, says Qian Fuchang has reduced his novel Outside the Fortress Besieged into 60 chapters of 70 characters each.

And pundits insists the novel, described as a steamy tale of adulterous love, will not be a gimmick.

Xie Wangxin, vice chairman of the Guangdong Literary Academy in southern China, said it will be ‘a real literary work’.

Xinhua claims China sent more than 220bn text message last year - over half the global total.

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