Now that you're here - Amy Nichols

Danny and Germ have been doing random jobs tagging buildings and getting paid for it.  The jobs first started out small, but became bigger.  Once they realize it's Red December, a group of extremists, calling the shots they agree to do one more job and are done.  An evacuation order is given and everyone runs for the secure zone.  Danny tries to find Germ, but gets caught by a security officer.  There is one explosion, and then a second enveloping Danny in a white light.  Eevee is really smart and likes numbers as they don't change.  As she sits in English class thinking why short stories can't be more like geometric puzzles, Danny Ogden bolts up in his seat.  He recognizes Eevee and then bolts from the classroom.  Danny tries to find Germ, but ends up back at school getting picked up by someone who isn't his dad.  Danny shows up at Eevee's house later that night telling her he can't find his parents house or Germ, and nothing looks like the Phoenix he knows.  Her father lets him stay at his place, and as much as he's grateful for the hospitality he leaves to try and find his parents.  Danny shows back up on Sunday night.  After a shower and dinner Eevee's father says he can stay provided he doesn't run away again, and helps Eevee with her English homework.  While Eevee heads to school, Danny goes back to the foster home to grab clothes and money.  He goes to the local library to look up his parents only to find they died when he was 11 and was placed in a foster home.  Eevee talks to her friend Warren about Danny.  She tells Warren about how different this Danny is to the one they knew growing up.  She thinks he's from the future and wants Warren's help to find out what is going on.  Warren agrees to help, but is still skeptical about Danny as he was bullied by Danny back in the sixth grade.  Eevee talks him into going to school until they figure a way to get him home.  He does better than this Danny ever did, which leads to some of the teachers to think he's cheating.  After school Danny and Eevee go to Warren's and Danny explains what happened to him.  Warren comes up with the idea that Danny might be from a parallel world.  Warren puts a post on the Dark Web to see what other people say.  They agree to tell their teacher Mac about Danny and see if he can help since he used to be a NASA engineer.  The next day at school there is a substitute for Mac, so they decide to do their own research.  They look into EMP pulses as a possible explanation for what happened to Danny.  As the days progress the people from the Dark Web say it was an EMP detonation that sent Danny over to this parallel world.  Eevee and Warren come up with plans for their own machine to emit an EMP pulse.  The machine theoretically will send Danny back to his own world.  Will their plan work, or is Danny stuck in this parallel world? 

Any book that has Star Trek and Doctor Who references along with a parallel worlds storyline makes for an enjoyable read for me.  I do enjoy a parallel world story because it makes you think of what could be different if you were to choose another path, instead of the one you are on.  How different would the world be if America had lost the Revolutionary War or if the Berlin Wall hadn't come down?  There will be a companion novel coming out in August called While You Were Gone which tells the story of slacker Danny in the other Danny's world.  If you enjoy Now That You're Here I also recommend Fair Coin by E.C. Myers and Shift by Kim Curran.

T.B.
1/13/15