$ 9. 90 $11.90 in Canada
and Lieutenant General Franklin Dane are directing Rice on his mission and are present when Rice begins sending strange messages back to the base in Boston, Massachusetts. While in space, Rice begins seeing the deceased, “shimmering like northern lights”, including his wife Margaret and Dr Groszinger’s mother. Instead of returning safely to earth, Rice crashes his ship into the ocean. Rice’s final words before his transmissions are jammed are Kurt Vonnegut is considered one of the most influential American novelists of the twentieth cen-
“For all I know, the moon is made of green cheese. So what. All I want is
tury. He blended literature with science fiction and
a man out there to tell me that I’m hitting what I’m shooting at. I don’t give
humor, the absurd with pointed social commentary.
a damn what’s going on in outer space.” - Dane, Lieutenant General Franklin
Vonnegut created his own unique world in each of
Ku r t Vo nne gu t
“If only you could see it, if—”.
t ha na s p he r e
The US Air Force sends Major Rice, a man with no family ties, 2000 miles above the earth to report on weather conditions. Both Dr Bernard Groszinger
t h an asph e r
e
his novels and filled them with unusual characters.
“Vonnegut goes back to his roots - the short
His experiences as an advance scout in the Battle of
stories he first wrote for the Saturday Evening
the Bulge, and in particular his witnessing of the
Post et al - to pick 24 stories never collected in
bombing of Dresden, Germany whilst a prisoner
book form.”
of war, would inform much of his work. This event
- Houston Chronicle
would also form the core of his most famous work, Slaughterhouse-Five. This acerbic 200-page book is
“Vonnegut said that his last book, Timequake
what most people mean when they describe a work
(1997), would be his last, but no one as imagi-
as “Vonnegutian” in scope. Vonnegut died in New
native and in love with language and story can
York City on April 11, 2007.
resist the lure of the page, and it’s obvious that he had a grand time working on this collection of his vintage stories.” Berkley Books Cover Design: Karen Dueñas Author Photograph: © Jan Baross
Printed in the U.S.A.
www.us.penguingroup.com
Kur t Vonneg ut
- Seattle Times