I discovered Vonnegut in high school.  His unique style of writing seemed tailored to my impressionable mind, so much so that it caused me to want to write, and I eventually studied writing in college.  I don't write anymore, at least not for publication, but Vonnegut always was, and remains, a strong artistic influence.  While Vonnegut influences and inspires my writing, I am also influenced and inspired as an artist.  Perhaps that inspiration is obvious, perhaps not.

Vonnegut's books have staying power.  Unlike so many works I once found profound, but no longer do in relative maturity, a Vonnegut novel is one I can read today with as much appreciation as I did 30 years ago.  They seem powerful in different ways to the man I am today compared to the boy I was then, but powerful they remain.  And I am sad to read of his passing.

Today Kurt Vonnegut is dead.  So it goes.