The Third Mile A Journey Into the Afterlife

The Third Mile - A Journey into the Afterlife is a work of fiction that explores what may lie in the world beyond death. The novel follows its protagonist, Jackie Istinoff (surname derived from the Russian word 'istina' meaning spiritual truth) through a series of life events, told in flashback form, many of which she relives while dying during an extreme heat wave that occurs late in the summer of 2027 in a world ravaged by accelerated climate change and overpopulation. At age 72, Jackie is reduced to living in an impoverished neighborhood after a lifetime of struggle with bipolar disorder and medical crises. The neighborhood is dangerous and depressing, scarred with derelict factories and pollution. It also matches the setting of a recurring nightmare, which, prophetically, has plagued her most of her life. While training for a 5K- three mile, hence 'the Third Mile', charity race that she feels mysteriously compelled to undertake, which turns into an allegorical footrace over nightmare terrain that results in Jackie suffering a fatal heart attack. The novel follows her through near-death altered states of consciousness, during which she experiences, among other visions, a reliving of another dream which she experienced on September 27th, 1970 at the age of fifteen. Non-recurring, unlike the nightmare, this dream contained a once-in-a-lifetime vision of a glorious afterlife of breathtaking landscapes and brilliant blue skies reaching towards infinity. This dream sustained Jackie throughout a troubled life, and she came to think of it as '927'. This dream comes true and Jackie enters paradise.The process of dying releases her from the desolate world of her nightmare, freeing her into the wondrous one of 927. The narrative follows her journey through a mystical forest, where, guided by an all-benevolent Higher Power, she finds the answers to all the questions that plagued her all her life, and continues on to her reunion with all the people she knew on Earth- family, friends, teachers, pets,various acquaintances, and finally an old lover. These people reveal surprising things about themselves as their true natures unfold She also attends a reunion of all members of the human race who meet on the other side after the apocalypse of nuclear war and natural disasters brought on by global warming is over with in the early 22nd century. It is during these encounters that she shares other events and aspects of her life, revealing a surprisingly vibrant inner nature hidden behind a wall of defenses. In this perfect afterlife of infinite time and resources, no defenses are needed by anyone, and all forms of conflict, from interpersonal friction to war to a food chain which has killing as its basis disappear in a world where food and all things 'are assembled directly from the elements of the universe. In the concluding chapters it is revealed that the apocalypse is not 'the end of the world', but the 'End of Days', the end of finite time- the beginning of Eternity. This novel offers view of the afterlife which is both alternative to an complementary with traditional religious concepts of life after death which is all-inclusive and non-judgmental. Through the eyes of one woman, it explores an alternative vision of what may lie beyond the boundaries of this world.