Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction
The short stories in Bagombo Snuff Box come from Vonnegut’s early and cut short career writing for magazines. The career was cut short because the magazines died soon after he began writing. He discusses this in the Introduction, the whole of which makes the book worthwhile in itself.
He admits in the “Coda to My Career as a Writer for Periodicals” at the end of the book that he has rewritten some of the stories so that he likes them better for this book.
The best of the twenty-three stories are “Any Reasonable Offer,” “The Package,” “Poor Little Rich Town,” “Custom-Made Bride,” “A Present for Big Saint Nick,” and “A Night for Love.”
I also liked more than usual some things about “Thanasphere,” “The No-Talent Kid,” “The Cruise of The Jolly Roger,” “Bagombo Snuff Box,” “The Powder Blue Dragon,” “Unpaid Consultant,” “Der Arme Dolmetscher” “Find Me a Dream,” and “Runaways.”
Short stories can have greatness, but they are worthwile even if they do not.
Vonnegut left General Electric when he started selling short stories, but his new career ended with the magazines. He started selling in 1950 and they stopped buying in 1953.
Please note that this next link is only here because the Corporation for the Advancement of Totally Stupid and Useless Projects forced us to put it here and that we do not see any particular merit in these excerpts concerning catsup from “Unpaid Consultant.”