David Halperin’s debut novel, Journal of a UFO Investigator, is evidence that the adolescent ache never quite expires. Halperin, professor emeritus of religious studies at UNC-Chapel Hill (his specialty is Judaica), published several nonfiction books about myth and religion before a close encounter of the academic kind. At a 1995 conference, he delivered a paper comparing ancient religious “ascensions” (e.g., Jacob’s ladder, Ezekiel’s wheel) to modern UFO abductions.