Venus on the Half-Shell by Kilgore Trout, Rare 1970s Science Fiction Novel

Venus on the Half-Shell is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer, writing pseudonymously as "Kilgore Trout", a fictional recurring character in many of the novels of Kurt Vonnegut. This book is for mature readers and collectors only. Philip Jose Farmer and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. were among the most interesting science fiction writers of the 20th century, and this book acts as a historical artifact for those interested in either author. Whether you are a long-time science fiction reader or just beginning, this would make a great addition to your library. It would also make a great gift for the collector in your life!

This book first appeared as a fictitious excerpt attributed to Trout (though written by Vonnegut)—in the ninth chapter of Vonnegut's God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965). With Vonnegut's permission, Farmer expanded the fragment into an entire standalone novel (including, as an in-joke, a scene that incorporates all of Vonnegut's original text). Farmer's story was first published in two parts beginning in the December 1974 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The plot, in which Earth is destroyed by cosmic bureaucrats doing routine maintenance and the sole human survivor goes on a quest to find the "Definitive Answer to the Ultimate Question", was an inspiration for the plot of the later Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

From the back cover:
"Kilgore Trout Epic Science-Fiction Saga of The Space Wanderer, an Earthman wearing an eye-patch, levis, and a shabby gray sweater who roams the cosmos in a Chinese spaceship...The Space Wanderer, a man without a planet who has gained immortality from an elixir drunk during an encounter with an alien queen in heat...
The Space Wanderer, an intergalactic rover whose constant companions are a dog, an owl, and a female robot programmed for, among other things, unique fleshly delights... The Space Wanderer, a pretty nice guy whose only fault is that he asks questions that no one can answer; primarily, Why are we created only to suffer and die?
Venus on the Half-Shell, Available for the first time without lurid covers!"

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS
Venus on the Half-Shell by Kilgore Trout
A Dell Book
Published by Dell Publishing Co., Inc., New York
Copyright © 1974, 1975
by Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc.
7th Printing

CONDITION
Good used vintage condition with normal signs of use and wear, shelf and edge wear. Pages are clean and free of writing, binding is tight.

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