“The High Heaven” by Joshua Wheeler, Graywolf Press, 352 pages, and “Happy Bad” by Delaney Nolan, Astra House, 304 pages.

I’ve never been a fan of outer space. All those moons and stars — a bit much, don’t you think? I find astronauts uninteresting and the thought of Mars colonization just ... meh. (And don’t get me started on black holes).

But Joshua Wheeler’s debut novel has got me rethinking my stake in the universe.

“The High Heaven” opens in southern New Mexico, arguably the spaciest place in the United States — home to the otherworldly White Sands National Park, flying saucer-mad Roswell and Alamogordo, the first atomic bomb-testing site.

Oliver Gently, a local cattle rancher, stumbles across a spooky-natured tween named Izzy on the day following the 1967 Apollo 1 pre-launch disa

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