Here, There & Everywhere

When Roxanne Bonaventure is eleven years old, a dying woman gives her a gift that changes her life utterly, making her a singular creature, with no analogue or equivalent. With the strange device called the "Sofia," she is granted the ability to travel anywhere in space and time, not only through times that were and will be, but also through the worlds that could have been and might someday be. From that day forward, no place or time can contain her, no danger can assail her, and no mystery can elude her. From the deepest secrets of the past to the furthest flung visions of the future, Roxanne's life knows no boundaries except those she can imagine. But such power comes at a price: the life she might have led is forever lost to her, twisting away among the infinite threads of the Myriad. Roxanne finds herself isolated, unable to make lasting, meaningful relationships with friends, family, or strangers.

Here, There & Everywhere is the story of one woman searching for herself, and for someone with whom to share her life. It is one story, and many stories - the jigsaw puzzle of a life, from youth to old age, projected against the backdrop of everything that ever was, might have been, and may yet be. Roxanne's adventures take her from Victorian England to Ancient Egypt, from the End of Time to the birth of the Beatles. Along the way, she encounters every method of time travel theoretically possible: Visser Wormholes and Tipler Cylinders; a mysterious substance called chronium; and the slow and steady path we all take, moving forward one day at a time. And somewhere in the endlessly splitting paths of the Myriad lies the secret of Roxanne's own life, her future and her past, woven together into an eternal braid.

Publishers Weekly

If Roberson tends to tell in his first novel rather than show as he does in his short fiction (his stories have been finalists for World Fantasy and Sidewise awards), this episodic romp through the Myriad, where literally every version of events plays out, offers many felicities, not least a spunky heroine. As a schoolgirl, wisecracking Roxanne Bonaventure stumbles across a wounded old woman, who gives her a bracelet. After the woman disappears, Roxanne accidentally discovers that the bracelet, the Sofia, permits travel to any point in the multiverse. Roxanne slowly learns to use the Sofia, and later, with the help of her scientist father, to control it. Her travels then begin in earnest. But several questions dog her: Was the old woman a future version of herself? Where did the Sofia come from? And why are there so few other venues that permit cross-time stream travel in the Myriad? Just when Roxanne believes her life is over, she finds herself in the far future, with one more adventure before her-one that may answer all her questions. Clever popular culture references, amusing showdowns and true human feeling lift this well-crafted debut. Agent, Richard Curtis. (Apr. 5) FYI: This SF title is one of the first releases from Prometheus Books' new Pyr imprint. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Chris Roberson's critically-acclaimed short fiction has appeared in the anthologies Live Without a Net (Roc, 2003), The Many Faces of Van Helsing (Ace, 2004), and the forthcoming FutureShocks (Roc, 2005), with previous and forthcoming appearances in the pages of Asimov's Science Fiction, Black October, Fantastic Metropolis, RevolutionSF, Twilight Tales, Opi8, Alien Skin, Electric Velocipede, and Lone Star Stories. His writings have received positive reviews from Locus Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov's Science Fiction, The New York Review of Science Fiction, Infinity Plus and RevolutionSF. He was a 2004 World Fantasy Award finalist and the winner of the 2003 Sidewise Award for Best Short Story.