Venus on the Half Shell by Kilgore Trout
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| Copyright KrisAsard on DeviantArt |
Author: Kilgore Trout
Publisher: World Classics Library (which specialises in pornographic novels and magazines).
Source book: God Bless You, Mr Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
The case of the fictional author Kilgore Trout is complicated. For a start, he seems, or his fictional novels, short stories, autobiography, and a play, seem to feature in a number of books by his creator Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse-Five; Breakfast of Champions; God Bless You, Mr Rosewater etc.
Kilgore Trout was born in 1907 in Bermuda. His parents were American. He was married three times, divorced three times and father of one child: Leo. Except, see below, where did Jenny come from?
For a fictional character he had a surprisingly active writing life. Trout has written 117 novels and 2000 short stories.
For lots more information than I can provide here’s a link
https://web.archive.org/web/20110716210548/http://www.vonnegutweb.com/vonnegutia/trout/
The complicated part comes when a real author, Philip Jose Farmer, wrote a book - an epic science fiction saga - called Venus on the Half-Shell, using the nom de plume Kilgore Trout. Which is kind of weird. I once read a book by Philip Jose Farmer. If I remember correctly it wasn’t really my style of book, but don’t let that put you off.
Kilgore Trout also pops up in books by Salman Rushdie, (The Ground Beneath Her Feet and I bet you weren’t expecting that), and Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle & Michael Flynn (Fallen Angels) although in this case it is Kilgore’s daughter, Jenny Trout.
So I haven’t read any Kurt Vonnegut yet, and the only Philip Jose Farmer I’ve read I don’t remember at all. So there’s obviously a lot of fictional fiction here. Why don’t you see what you think?
And here’s what Wikipedia has to say.
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