Mind-Reader

by Kenneth Hursh

An e-reader and a dead (but still writing) Kurt Vonnegut lead a wannabe novelist to the brink of losing his mind, his career, and his family. In Mind-Reader, the latest story from Kurt Vonnegut appears on a wannabe novelist’s e-reader. Written from beyond the grave, it depicts Vonnegut’s alter ego, Kilgore Trout, as someone exactly like the novelist—a suburban family man, administrative law judge, and frustrated, self-published horror writer. Storybook Trout makes the best seller list by an illegal scheme against the publishing industry, and the novelist thinks Vonnegut, from the “all-knowing ether,” has selected him to become a real-life Trout. When reality, especially his daughter’s cutting addiction, keeps him an arm’s length from Trout’s success, the novelist has to weigh the damage already done by his writing dream and how far he’s willing to go to see himself in print.

194 pages, Paperback

First published June 26, 2012