Sexual awakening in the shadows of UFOs and the Vietnam war.

(from The Iowa Review, Fall 2005)

Moody and mysterious, this story was a cloudy little trip through confused times. It captured boyhood attitudes toward sex, politics and war nicely. At times, “Haunted Earth” reminded me of one of my favorite songs, “Tulsa Imperative” by The Mountain Goats. Here’s the first bit of it:

your mama’s failed wheat field
is a good place to lie down together
three weeks deep into the guts of summer
we sweat like hogs and i felt light as a feather

i saw a disc-like object
reflected in your eye
and the noise grew louder
as we looked up to the sky

and the sleek silver body
headlights along the side
and the sleek silver body
headlights all underneath

Here‘s a link to all of the lyrics. I could find no homepage to Nic Pizzolatto. Authors, I mean, seriously.