One of America's greatest writers has died. Kurt Vonnegut, whose "Sirens of Titan" was first recommended to me by a long-vanished proto-hippie friend in the early 1960s, wrote an imaginative blend of science fiction and satirical political commentary that kept me and millions of other fans entertained, amused and reflective for decades. "Sirens" was turned into a movie but the film was as nothing compared to the book. His other early works were "Slaughterhouse Five," "Welcome to the Monkey House" and "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater," to name just those that I can recall off the top of my head, all of them brilliant and entertaining. I always meant to go back and re-read, now I'm going to have to. To any of you readers out there, if you're not familiar with Vonnegut's work (although I can't imagine a reader who isn't) I'd say this would be a good time to look into it. To Kurt himself, if he's able or willing to look into the goings-on at this board, I'd like to express the appreciation I never bothered to express during his life and am very sorry I didn't.
P.S. "Cat's Cradle." That's another early work, the name that failed to come up a minute ago as I was writing the above, but just as good as the rest of them.
