Goodnight Mr. Vonnegut

On the iPod: "Borderline" - Madonna

Last night, one of my favorite authors died. The work of Kurt Vonnegut, helped shape my course as a journalist. When I first started reading his work in my freshman year of high school, I was impressionable. I fell in love with his style. My first Vonnegut novel was the odd, but intriguing Cat's Cradle, of which I happen to have a first-edition, hardcover copy.

His 1973 work, Breakfast of Champions, has long been one of my favorite works in American Literature, though not regarded as his best work, it has always been my favorite piece of his work.

I can also speak volumes about how good I think Slaughterhouse Five is, but won't go into all that here. I will say that I've learned a lot of my descriptive styles in both my speech and my writing from that particular book. How can you argue with lines like

"The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of the zipper on the fly of God Almighty,"

Those of you who have had the displeasure of reading sample chapters from my fiction, might notice that I tend to write descriptive passages like the above frequently.
Rest easy Mr. Vonnegut. Thanks for the inspiration.