New Story! "Shoebox Heaven," In Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine!

“Shoebox Heaven” may be the most disturbing story I’ve ever written, and yet it’s strangely sweet. Even when it’s been rejected, I’ve had editors ask me, “So did that tale of the kid seeking his cat ever find a home?” It stuck with them.  (As contrary to popular belief, editors don’t always reject a story because it’s bad; sometimes they reject it because it doesn’t fit.)
And “Shoebox Heaven” is a weirdie – one where the whole universe has gone horribly wrong, and yet we’re all struggling along.  But enough sales pitch – here’s how it starts:

Andy found Oscar, his fur clotted with lint balls, behind the dryer.  Oscar’s body was still warm because he had curled up underneath the exhaust vent, but Momma told Andy that Oscar had been dead for hours — it was just old age, was all.  Andy wanted to pet Oscar, because Oscar’s head was still tucked underneath his paws.  It was like his cat was playing a game of hide and go seek.
Andy couldn’t understand why Momma was crying.  “Let’s go to the airport,” he said, “And fly to heaven, and get Oscar.”
So they did.

(I should add that the genesis of this story was started by my Godson Andy, who in fact precisely said that when he was four years old and his cat Oscar died.  This story’s dedicated to him, though even five years later he’s not quite ready to read this one.  But I wanted a better answer for Andy than the one his mother had to give.)
Anyway, I’m proud to announce that you can read my tale at Andromeda Spaceways InFlight Magazine, which previously published my story “The Backdated Romance.”  Andromeda is a great magazine, one of the best non-pro markets to sell to in my not-so-humble opinion, and the PDF/Epub/Mobi version of Issue #57 is a mere $4.99 – and you get tons of other cool stories to boot, as well as a poem from my Clarion Buddy Gillian Daniels.
Pick it up, if you like crazy trips to heaven with a cat in a glass shoebox.  I promise you the angels will scoff.