Daniel put the backpacks on the ground. “Where do dead gods go when they die?” he asked Kazuko. “All the gods of Ragnarok, Susanoo, now the Greeks. Where are they all?”

The woman smiled slightly. “The gods can never go away. There are merely reinvented.”

Daniel put his hand on Kate’s knee. “He’s not gone, Kate, any more than you or I were when we died.”

She covered her face with her hands. “Him, I remember.”

Daniel removed his hand awkwardly and looked at her for a moment. Then he fiddled with the backpacks. He groaned.

“What is it?” asked Kazuko.

Daniel pulled out a tacky necklace from one of the backpacks. “Looks like we’re going traveling again.”

“This is not surprising,” she said. “He requires you still to travel heaven.

Daniel opened an envelope he found under the gaudy necklace. He opened it and the color drained from his face.

“Not this time. We have to look other places for more missing souls.

“We’re going to hell.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THIS NOVELLA HAS HAD AN INTERESTING LIFE THUS FAR. I began it in 2006 as an experiment in writing serial fiction, and didn’t think it would ever be released in anything but audiobook (which is still free at podiobooks.com.) After attempts at rewriting, sending to publishers, rewriting in order to send it to different publishers, and finally rewriting so it fit what my original story concept was, I figured it was time to give the thousands of listeners a chance to finally own it in text form. It is different than the original podcast, but not jarringly so. So, before this turns more into an introduction instead of an acknowledgements page, I would like to thank the following for their unwavering support in the past five years: Matt Wallace, J.C. Hutchins, Evo Terra, Chris Miller, Podiobooks.com, Kickstarter.com, Minister Faust, Cory Doctorow, James Patrick Kelly, Angi Shearstone, Wendy Beasley, Pablo Defendini, Len Peralta, and Cheyenne Wright. George Hrab has allowed me to use his song, "Heaven Must Be Boring," since day one, in which he has my eternal gratitude. And none of my books would be what they are without the support of my husband, Jim Van Verth.

I will never forget the two groups of individuals who truly made this happen. The first includes all the listeners who made this book the #4 book of all time at podiobooks.com. The second group contains everyone who supported my Kickstarter campaign in March. And those fine people are....

SUPPORTERS

John Anealio

Brian "Arkle" Webber

The Brad

Ashley Fox Lincoln

Daniel Jackson Maxwell MUR Anthony Nybble Fermi Comer-Wyrd

Nansi B

Joe Kawano

Ron Molnar

Christopher Smyth

HEAVENLY SUPPORTERS

Lara Johnson

Mark Leslie

Ruth Stearns

Stewart Boyles

Thomas Beckett

Adam Christopher

HEROES

James and Jennifer Melzer

Angi Shearstone

Nicole L. Ireland

Jim Ryan

Ross Bennett

John A. Kilgallon

Mary Alice Reisse

Helene & Brian McLaughlin

Lianne Burwell

Jett Micheyl

Pockets

Natalie Metzger

Whit Barringer

Kevin Veale