Unassigned Territory

by Kem Nunn

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440500095
• ISBN13: 9780440500094
• Release Date: March 1988
• Publisher: Laurel Press
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Really remarkable, unique beyond description

I share Mr Hagen's opinions about Kem Nunn's work, which I came across while reading Mike Davis' new book, "Ecology of Fear." Davis quoted from Nunn's "Pomona Queen" and I was intrigued, so I tracked down a used copy and thought it was hilarious, pointed and creative in the extreme. I located his other three novels rather easily, read them quickly, then reread them. A really remarkable writer of books with powerful Gothic overtones, dark and scary (especially "Dogs of Winter"). A few months ago, finging myself in Southern California, I went looking for Kem Nunn's Huntington Beach. It's not there anymore; I gather the city fathers got fed up with NeoNazi, motorcycle and surfer gang warfare, runaway colonies and pornography filming, tattoo parlors and transient life at the intersection of the pier and the Pacific Coast Highway. A great writer, and many of us wait impatiently for his next book.

Really remarkable, unique beyond description

I share Mr Hagen's opinions about Kem Nunn's work, which I came across while reading Mike Davis' new book, "Ecology of Fear." Davis quoted from Nunn's "Pomona Queen" and I was intrigued, so I tracked down a used copy and thought it was hilarious, pointed and creative in the extreme. I located his other three novels rather easily, read them quickly, then reread them. A really remarkable writer of books with powerful Gothic overtones, sometimes dark and scary (especially "Dogs of Winter"). A few months ago, finding myself in Southern California, I went looking for Kem Nunn's Huntington Beach. It's not there anymore; I gather the city fathers got fed up with NeoNazi, motorcycle and surfer gang warfare, runaway colonies and pornography filming, tattoo parlors and transient life at the intersection of the pier and the Pacific Coast Highway. A great writer, and many of us wait impatiently for his next book.

A surrealistic journey in search of The Way

I was surprized to see that this book is out of print, as well as being amazed that no one had reveiwed this work here until now. Unassigned Territory is Kem Nunn's 2nd, and argualby best, novel. In it we follow junior missionary Obediah Wheeler on his first, and last, recruiting trip through the Mojave desert with a religious cult in search of fresh blood for the followers of The Way. Brother Harlan Lowe is the leader of this 60's throwback group, and Obediah's mentor. Before the serious brainwashing takes hold, the group is stricken with car trouble forcing Harlan and Obediah in separate directions to find help. Obediah stumbles across a motorcyle gang at a roadside dive and falls in love with one of its younger members. Harlan is haunted by his past and confronts a new assessment of the very morals he lives to pitch. The story takes many wild and wonderous turns, involving UFOs, extraterrestrials, deception and peril, not to mention the lunatic laced supporting cast, before climaxing like Tom Sawyer's flee from injun Joe into the depths of a desert cavern with Obediah and Harlan seeing the light and becoming a new men. I read this book about 10 years ago when I was in my mid-twenties. At the time it was one of the best books I had ever read, and remains one of my all-time favorites. On the recommendation of a freind, it served as my introduction into the eloquent world of Kem Nunn. It is Nunn's unique style that really captivated me, and remindes me of the haunting descriptiveness and meter of Edgar Allen Poe. It is that style that pushed me on to reading Nunn's other, and equally captivating works: Tapping the Source and The Pomona Queen. Nunn's writing gave me a craving for books with a similar uniqueness in style, like those of John Updike or Elmore Leonard, that will last a lifetime. That freind and I have since gone our separate ways, but the influence Unassigned Territory has had over me will forever keep us kindred in spirit.

A surrealistic journey in search of The Way

I was surprized to see that this book is out of print, as well as being amazed that no one had reveiwed this work here until now. Unassigned Territory is Kem Nunn's 2nd, and arguably best, novel. In it we follow junior missionary Obediah Wheeler on his first, and last, recruiting trip through the Mojave desert with a religious cult in search of fresh blood for the followers of The Way. Brother Harlan Lowe is the leader of this 60's throwback group, and Obediah's mentor. Before the serious brainwashing takes hold, the group is stricken with car trouble forcing Harlan and Obediah in separate directions to find help. Obediah stumbles across a motorcycle gang at a roadside dive and falls in love with one of its younger members. Harlan is haunted by his past and confronts a new assessment of the very morals he lives to pitch. The story takes many wild and wonderous turns, involving UFOs, extraterrestrials, deception and peril, not to mention the lunatic laced supporting cast, before climaxing like Tom Sawyer's flee from injun Joe into the depths of a desert cavern with Obediah and Harlan seeing the light and becoming a new men. I read this book about 10 years ago when I was in my mid-twenties. At the time it was one of the best books I had ever read, and remains one of my all-time favorites. On the recommendation of a freind, it served as my introduction into the eloquent world of Kem Nunn. It is Nunn's unique style that really captivated me, and remindes me of the haunting descriptiveness and meter of Edgar Allen Poe. It is that style that pushed me on to reading Nunn's other, and equally captivating works: Tapping the Source and The Pomona Queen. Nunn's writing gave me a craving for books with a similar uniqueness in style, like those of John Updike or Elmore Leonard, that will last a lifetime. That freind and I have since gone our separate ways, but the influence Unassigned Territory has had over me will forever keep us kindred in spirit.