Two Sales! "Shadow Transit" To Buzzy Mag, And "Shoebox Heaven" to ASIM!

I’m pretty weird about announcing sales; everyone else yells out their triumph when they get the email.  Me?  Paranoid, I wait for the contract.  But I’m going to try to change things up.
The first sale is an extremely happy one, as it’s a very special story about a mother trying to deal with the ramification of Cthulhu.  “Shadow Transit” is the first (and only) tale I’ve ever written that inspired a fellow workshop writer to pen a story in the same universe, with the same characters.  (And I sincerely hope George sells that story somewhere!  He did a great job!)
“Shadow Transit” bounced around for a while, getting wonderful feedback from editors who rejected it because it’s a weirdie tale – too horror-tinged for science fiction mags, too science-fictiony for the straight horror tales.  People seemed to like it (and I even got a few rewrite requests), but it never seemed to land.  Fortunately, Buzzy Mag – an up-and-coming professional zine who’s already published some great writers – has taken it.  Now, my Delta Green-inspired story about a mother trying to care for her insane child will find a home.  And I’m happy.  Even if my lead characters aren’t.
The second sale is “Shoebox Heaven,” which is a story that’s gotten some bizarre reactions.  I’ve had slush readers come up to me at cons and ask, “Hey, did you ever sell that story about the boy flying to heaven to find his dead cat?”  Not once, but twice.  Even if the editors didn’t buy it, clearly “Shoebox Heaven” made an impression.  And I actually did sell it once, to an anthology that dicked me around for a year and ultimately collapsed.  Fortunately, even though I have yet to get the contract, I trust Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine – you may remember them for publishing my time travel story “The Backdated Romance” – and they have taken it! So yay!  You will eventually get to read the tale of the kid who flies to meet some very angry angels.