Heavens Above!

By Janet Roberts

The Afterlife: in the Tribunal of the Dead, the recently deceased Glaikit, an incorrigible cheat in life, is about to be sentenced to a new and very tedious form of existence by Judge Prudence Drinkwater. The sudden appearance of the chariot-driving hero Sleekit allows Glaikit to cheat her fate one more time, before she changes her mind yet again, reincarnating as the surprisingly spry 70-year-old Australian Merci, married to an American ex-marine and living with a small, slightly suspicious dog…

Full of inventive situations and witty insights, Janet Roberts’ sharply written novella combines imaginative fantasy with a sly, surrealistic humour.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Mar 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9781398463387

Janet Roberts

In Janet Roberts' books, you’ll often find someone spending a bit of time by a lake, river or ocean somewhere in the world. Born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, on the Great Lakes, she loves an endless view of water for as far as the eye can see. Janet graduated from Temple University with a degree in journalism. After working as a journalist and later as a paralegal, she obtained her masters in communications from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Janet began writing fiction and poetry as a child and never let go of her dream of publishing a novel.  Although her current job as a security awareness program lead has meant moving to a variety of cities, she often returns to her Western Pennsylvania roots in her writing.  

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About the Author

Janet Roberts lives in Melbourne, Australia, and has written many books for young adults. She has also been a popular columnist for The Age newspaper and a writer of philosophical essays for a New York publication. Janet enjoys her life very much in contact with her beautiful grandchildren whom she adores.

Janet’s book Coffee Table Rhymes is also published by Austin Macauley.

Janet Roberts

Heavens Above!

Copyright © Janet Roberts 2024

The right of Janet Roberts to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398463370 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398463387 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2024

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

To Bjorn, Jacqui, Eden and Tyson

Judgement Day

In the spheres high above the Planet Earth sat a judge, Patience Drinkwater. She was actually not patient and nor did she drink water.

Greetings, Newly Arrived, said Patience, and a storm gathered around her size 10 feet. We are here this morning for the assignation of your souls to an appropriate sphere or to a penance.

She shuffled the papers on the bench. As some of us have other pressing engagements, she said in an aside to the jury. We shall have to make do with eighty per cent unanimity.

There were three souls waiting in the dock and wearing a variety of masks. One bore a cat’s mouth drawn onto its whiteness, one was imprinted with the Stars and Stripes and the other had a Ned Kelly-ish flavour.

The judge pushed the pink curls of her wig off her face and cleared her long throat.

Your placement will be based on your behaviours and thoughts when alive and there will be no appeals.

The attention of the three in the dock was suddenly diverted by a hundred luminescent flashes from a hundred glass prisms that descended from the courtroom ceiling. A brilliant gold wing or fin appeared in each of the prism’s facets then disappeared.

Level One, the sphere which I occupy, is for those of us who have been truly selfless when alive and have placed their own needs second. Few reach this sphere. Anyhow, she finished abruptly, today’s cases, please.

The reflections in the mirrors above now resembled the bows of boats.

And make it snappy.

A spritely barrister, Eager-Beaver-Self-Deceiver,