Unassigned Territory — Kem Nunn

"[An] accomplished new novel that confirms the promise of Nunn's first book, Tapping the Source .... Nunn writes with a keen portentousness about the warped people in this wasteland, creating what might be described as a western gothic. His examination of cultish thought is respectful, intriguing, and funny, in a narrative that never loses dramatic momentum." -- Publishers Weekly
Lay preacher Obadiah Wheeler is responsible for conducting a group of missionaries into "unassigned territory," a stretch of Nevada wilderness open to evangelistic efforts. Obadiah's faith is shaky at best and no match for the tempting charms of the co-proprietor of a desert museum, raven-haired beauty Delandra Hummer. Together the two set off into the vast emptiness of the Mojave in search of a buyer for the museum's prize exhibit, an extraterrestrial relic. Their hilarious road trip -- punctuated by encounters with UFO cults, wild rednecks, and hippie burnouts -- throbs with violence and madness as well as the possibility of spiritual enlightenment. This "desert noir" by National Book Award nominee Kem Nunn was recognized as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice; the author has also written for and produced numerous TV projects, among them John from Cincinnati, Deadwood, and Sons of Anarchy.