After firewalking in Polynesia, fundamentalist minister Alexander Hergensheimer never saw the world the same. Now called Alec Graham, he was in the middle of an affair with his stewardess, Margrethe, and natural disasters kept following them. First, there was an impossible iceberg that wrecked the ship in the tropics; then, after being rescued by a Royal Mexican plane, they were hit by a double earthquake. To Alex, the signs were clear that Armageddon and the Day of Judgment were near. Somehow, he had to bring his beloved heathen, Margrethe, to a state of grace, for heaven would be no paradise without her. But time was growing short. And, while he was at it, there had to be a way to save the rest of the world.

ROBERT ANSON HEINLEIN (1907–1988) was born in Missouri. He served five years in the U.S. Navy, then attended graduate classes in mathematics and physics at UCLA, took a variety of jobs, and owned a silver mine before beginning to write science fiction in 1939. His novels have won the Hugo Award, and in 1975 he received the first Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement.