The Judging of Abigail Perdue

Your last day on the Earth may come as a big surprise. But your first day on Stasis is guaranteed to be monumentally unexpected. A professional cellist named Abigail Perdue crosses the divide. After a harrowing subway accident she awakens in the afterlife where she is processed and prepared for final judgment. But it's not what she'd ever imagined. Abigail's life will be judged, but that judgment is not handed down by a Creator. Instead five other new arrivals will examine her life and vote on her fate-and she will have a vote on theirs. These six of disparate religious, social and economic backgrounds must hear each other's stories and then decide on that soul's next step: eternal peace in Heofon; rebirth on Earth; or destruction in Gehenna. The Judging of Abigail Perdue is a provocative, touching story laced with moral dilemmas - how would you vote? Could you condemn a sullied soul? It also demands the reader ask: how have I lived my life, how will I be judged? A speculative fiction with deep empathy and spirituality, the story probes our myriad motivations: money, sex, greed, power, loss and the parts of us that exist in the gray. Abigail's tale mirrors the muddled human condition and the journey that we all must make, alone and afraid as we defend the choices and actions of a lifetime. Like Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven or W.P Young's, The Shack, this is a book that will be embraced by both those of traditional religious belief as well as non-traditional spirituality. Daniel Mallen is an artist and former firefighter. He lives in Ireland with his wife and three children.