http://cache.io9.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png http://io9.com/tag/kurt vonnegut http://io9.com/tag/kurt vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut finally got his first major biography recently, and so far everybody who's reviewed it has been shocked by one thing: just how bitter Vonnegut was, in his last years. Biographer Charles Shields spent a lot of time with Vonnegut while working on And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5865297&view=rss&microfeed=true

Here's something to galvanize you as NaNoWriMo 2011 rolls to a close. On August 29, 1949, The Atlantic Monthly sent this rejection letter to a 27-year-old Kurt Vonnegut, who had submitted his account of surviving the Allied bombing of Dresden (plus two other articles) to the magazine. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5861238&view=rss&microfeed=true

Most of us regard Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five as a masterpiece of thought-provoking science fiction, but the School Board of Republic High School in Missouri felt differently. They decided to ban the novel. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5828986&view=rss&microfeed=true

Charles J. Shields has written the first real biography of Kurt Vonnegut, due out in November. And he's been blogging about Vonnegut for a while over at his Writing Kurt Vonnegut blog, which is well worth adding to your RSS. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5796519&view=rss&microfeed=true

In honor of Banned Books Week, Geekosystem's Susana Polo looks at 10 great science fiction novels that have been banned, or at least threatened with removal from libraries and schools. Including some major classics of the genre! More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5653504&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's hard enough to define science fiction — but what makes for truly great SF? What's the crucial element, the X-factor? TimeSplash author Graham Storrs argues it's all about exploring who we are as humans. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5644381&view=rss&microfeed=true

That's basically author Frederick Reiken's argument in this provocative post, about novels that approach time in unconventional ways. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5623953&view=rss&microfeed=true For some of us, Kurt Vonnegut helped us fall in love with science fiction; for others, he brought us back to the genre after some time away from it. But few true lovers of the genre have missed the experience of reading one of Vonnegut's books and feeling the warmth, the cantankerousness and the inventiveness of a true innovator at work. And now Vonnegut is getting his own memorial library, opening November in Indianapolis. There will be a lecture series and possibly a literary magazine. And even more encouraging for struggling writers everywhere, Vonnegut's rejection slips. Says daughter Edie Vonnegut: More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5617494&view=rss&microfeed=true

Great science fiction and fantasy novels don't just expose us to other worlds and alternate timelines — they expand our minds and give us compass to steer by. Here are our favorite bits of advice and maxims from SF books. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5579212&view=rss&microfeed=true It's probably too late to stop our world from turning into a dystopia. But that doesn't mean you can't nudge society towards one type of dystopia or another. To help you decide which kind you'd prefer, Flavorwire has a hilarious quiz. Options include the dehumanizing futures of Vonnegut or Rand, a breed-then-die future like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, or a Canticle For Leibowitz-style wasteland. Best figure out your ideal future dystopia — before someone else chooses for you! [Flavorwire] More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5588571&view=rss&microfeed=true

Rick Moody's The Four Fingers Of Death might be the most metafictional science fiction book of all time: a science fiction novel about a science fiction novel, wrapped in a shroud of weirdness. It's loopy and weird... and surprisingly tender. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5567556&view=rss&microfeed=true

Never seen an episode of Star Trek? Never read any Philip K. Dick? What's the one hallowed piece of the science fiction firmament you've never seen or heard or read? Don't be embarrassed; we've all got one. At least. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5504010&view=rss&microfeed=true

Kurt Vonnegut was still alive when Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle consigned him to the sixth circle of Hell, in their 1976 novel Dante-inspired novel Inferno, which just had a follow-up, Escape From Hell. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5500292&view=rss&microfeed=true

People talk about science fiction as the literature of humanism. But actually, science fiction's explorations put it into conflict with humanism's tenets. The best science fiction questions the nature of humanity, and whether the universe will let us stay human. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5478829&view=rss&microfeed=true

There's only one thing Hollywood loves than a movie based on a toy: remakes. Dozens of science-fiction classics are slated for do-overs. But instead of remaking films that were fine the first time, here are 20 books Hollywood should film. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5481559&view=rss&microfeed=true

Whatever happened is fixed - or we rule our fates? Over 5 years, Lost has developed its philosophy of time-travel, influenced by works that came before. Here are 6 time-travel stories that are part of Lost's time travel pedigree. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5443735&view=rss&microfeed=true

The clunky backgrounds, blaring Midi sound files, and ugly ads... there's a lot we won't miss about Geocities when it shuts down today. But it was home to tons of fan sites and science-fiction resources: here are some we'll miss. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5389825&view=rss&microfeed=true

Click to viewHollywood has taken everything, from your childhood toys to the novels that haunted your dreams, and turned them into splashy vehicles for young Scientologists to gallop through. Are there any books that Hollywood absolutely can't turn into movies? Or shouldn't? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5318079&view=rss&microfeed=true

With Captain America: Reborn due in comic stores on Wednesday, we ask: Have Marvel Comics kept the secret to the star-spangled Avenger's resurrection in plain sight all along? We look at our suspecting method of resurrection. Potential-spoilery speculation ahead. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5301510&view=rss&microfeed=true

One of science fiction's most original voices passed away today. Philip José Farmer, author of the Riverworld and World Of Tiers series, is also known for writing as Kurt Vonnegut's fictional author Kilgore Trout. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5160340&view=rss&microfeed=true

Guillermo del Toro, who raised the bar on monster-making in Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth, is now set to helm two more classic monster movies — as well as adapt a classic Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. novel. Though del Toro's next project is a two-movie version of The Hobbit, he's also apparently cut a deal with Universal to remake two of its oldest monster franchises: Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. These stories, along with Dracula, were cornerstones of the Universal Pictures monster factory in the 1930s. Can del Toro surpass the glory of those crazy 30s Frankenstein sequels? He says he has a plan. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5045625&view=rss&microfeed=true

Got some spare time? The world's longest novel is available as a free download! Coppell, TX writer Mark Leach has just published an expanded 12.6 million word edition of his apocalyptic novel Marienbad, My Love. It's nearly ten times longer than the official record-holding longest novel, Proust's In Search Of Lost Time, not to mention the previously longest science fiction novel, L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth. And Leach says he's just getting warmed up. How does he fill so much space? More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5023076&view=rss&microfeed=true

Kurt Vonnegut's apocalyptic novel Cat's Cradle may be too weird for a straight-up adaptation into other media, with its crazy tangents about the religion of Bokononism and its meandering storyline. Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) took a stab at making a movie version, but now says it's probably not happening. Instead, you can see a very silly-looking "calypso musical" theater version, which opens Feb. 22 in New York. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=355809&view=rss&microfeed=true

When science fiction decides to get all deep and philosophical, it always comes down to questions of free will. Do we choose our actions, or are they already totally predictable to someone who could glimpse the future? For example, Terminator 3 caused a lot of controversy with an ending that suggests John Connor can't escape his destiny as a post-apocalyptic leader. Are we just puppets of a future history engraved in stone? We settle these debates once and for all, and list the four different types of fate-vs-free-will stories in SF, below. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=350435&view=rss&microfeed=true

You can't really call yourself an evil genius unless you've got a clever scheme for wrecking our planet once and for all. And no, using nuclear weapons doesn't really count as "clever." Nukes are so 1950. Here's a list of the 10 coolest ways to smash Earth, or at least render it uninhabitable, without splitting any atoms. More »
]]> http://io9.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=334860&view=rss&microfeed=true