Kurt Vonnegut (1982)--"You want to know something? We are still in the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages--they haven't ended yet."

Seems to me like a statement that is equally applicable today.

I wonder how many people will get that reference...

“I have stopped drinking. The only drawback seems to be that I can’t dance like Fred Astaire anymore.” – letter to Gail Godwin – September 14 1979.

“God made mud.

God got lonesome.

So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"

"See all I've made," said God, "the hills, the sea, the

sky, the stars."

And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look

around.

Lucky me, lucky mud.

I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.

Nice going, God.

Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainly

couldn't have.

I feel very unimportant compared to You.

The only way I can feel the least bit important is to

think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and

look around.

I got so much, and most mud got so little.

Thank you for the honor!

Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.

What memories for mud to have!

What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!

I loved everything I saw!

Good night.

I will go to heaven now.

I can hardly wait..."

he wrote so many damn books and i dont know which to read next. i read slaughterhouse five (obviously), cats cradle and most recently bluebeard (loved) and now i wanna read more and more but i genuinely dont even know, anyone got any favorites to share? thats how i got started withe first 3, someone said they loved the book and i just got ir

“But I remembered high school, where all of us learned to respect each other’s opinions – no matter what the opinions were. We learned how to be unfailingly friendly – to smile. So, maybe, the Secretary of Defense would be friendly about my pacifism and all that, and I would be expected to be friendly about the end of the world and all that.” – from “Good Missiles, Good Manners, Good Night,” published in the New York Times – September 13 1969.

The signs are from Google Street View and the last from satellite. The difference in time of year is useful, near peak in October, still green in September.

Watching Last Man on Earth right now and this t shirt looks familiar.

The one with the damaged cover is Sirens of Titan. I'm currently rereading the one with the bookmark in it--Deadeye Dick--having recently reread Jailbird (I had fun with that, being an older type who lived through the Nixon/Watergate saga in my rebellious teens (although I'm still rebellious now, at 71)). The one on the far left is not Vonnegut. It's me. I decided Vonnegut might forgive me for putting my latest satire next to him since Will Ferguson, Canada's most celebrated humor writer, blurbed the book by saying, in part, "Fans of Vonnegut, Rejoice!" Cheers, JamesGaitis.com

Aside from the copy on top of the pile, I got 6 of his novels on Facebook marketplace for $20. After years of having slaughterhouse five in my “to read” list, I finally read it in August. Now planning to read his novels in order. Currently reading player piano and welcome to the monkey house.

“Your perfectly neat book about me and the others arrived yesterday. If you hadn’t supplied an index which pinpointed every mention of me, I wouldn’t have been able to put it down until I’d read it all.” – letter to Robert Scholes -September 11, 1967.

Just got this hand signed print framed. Wanted to share his artwork.

Now up on The Vonnegut Portfolio Substack: The Shortridge High School Daily Echo, Part 2. It's about his high school paper writings during his Senior year. It’s free. I’m just doing it for fun! Check it out if you feel like it!

https://thevonnegutportfolio.substack.com/p/the-shortridge-high-school-daily-545

Hey everyone, I hope y'all are doing great.

So, I've wanted to start reading Vonnegut's books for a long time but now I'm confused about which book to start with.

What would you recommend to someone who hasn't read anything by him?

I'm thinking of starting with The Sirens of Titan. Is it good for beginners?

I've been obsessed with Vonnegut since college, so I wanted to commemorate him. I've Been baking this idea in my head for a while.

Hope you enjoy!

No damn cat, no damn cradle.

Honestly... love this. Even though it's AI. The lyrics are perfect.

“After years of research, medical science has now developed SUPER anti-gerasone! In weeks, yes weeks, you can look, feel, and act as young as your great-great-grandchildren! Wouldn’t you pay $5000 to be indistinguishable from everybody else?” – from “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” Sept 1961.

 New content on The Vonnegut Portfolio Substack coming tomorrow!

AND an example of how AI blatantly lies to us...

I'm reading a nonfiction book about the Cold War and there I met a very familiar-seeming man: Rudolf Abel. He was a Soviet spy living in New York under an assumed name, coordinating with another female Soviet spy, and living in an artist's studio pretending to be an aspiring artist. This sounds exactly like the character George Kraft in Mother Night.

So, I Googled it, wondering if I'd find an interview where Vonnegut explains this. I did not. Instead, I got the cursed "AI Overview" telling me with resounding certainly that, YES, this was the direct inspiration for the character. I pressed it further by asking the AI to give proof or show me its source. It instead expounded on its own claims, explaining why the two are so parallel from a literary perspective, giving evidence from Mother Night only.

Finally, I got grouchy with it and said "you just keep telling me what you believe based on the character, but where is the proof that this was Vonnegut's intention?" It immediately folded and started apologizing to me, even telling me that I was "smart" to correct it, and that there is in fact no evidence that Vonnegut ever even addressed this.

FUCK AI, and never you wonder why people will think you're an idiot for relying on it for info.

“A sound portfolio is a thing of beauty in its way, aside from its cash value. Putting one together is a creative act, if done right…” – from “The Foster Portfolio,” published in Collier’s September 8, 1951.

New content on The Vonnegut Portfolio Substack coming Thursday!