The Last Trump

[1] By order of the Council of Ascendants and approved of by the Chief, it is decided that the Day of Resurrection is due on Earth, despite the protestations of Etheriel, a junior Seraph with responsibility for the world.Whilst he seeks an audience with the Chief to plead for a stay of execution for "his" planet, the Last Trump is sounded, and as of January 1, 1957, time comes to a stop on Earth.[2] Etheriel has his meeting with the Chief and argues that the date January 1, 1957, unqualified, is meaningless, and that therefore a single Day of Resurrection is also impossible.R. E. Mann, frustrated in his endeavours, plans to promote the adoption of a new calendar system, based on the Atomic Era, to begin on December 2, 1944.Peter S. Rieth describes the story as "a rather sorrowful account of the resurrection of the dead and one angel's valiant attempt to stop the end of the world", and says that "Asimov litters his story with a large quantity of simple, day-to-day practical examples of how our wildest hope (resurrection and eternal life) may in practice become a waking nightmare.
Short storyIsaac AsimovUnited StatesEnglishScience fictionFantastic UniversePeriodicalMagazineHardbackPaperbackEarth Is Room Enoughinter aliacalendar reform1 Corinthians 15the ChiefDay of ResurrectionSeraphAhrimanUniversity of California PressThe HumanistInternet Speculative Fiction DatabaseThe Dead PastThe Foundation of S.F. SuccessFranchiseGimmicks ThreeKid StuffThe Watery PlaceLiving SpaceThe MessageSatisfaction GuaranteedHell-FireThe Fun They HadJokesterThe Immortal BardSomedayThe Author's OrdealDreaming Is a Private Thing