NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Foreword by Dave Eggers
These previously unpublished, beautifully rendered works of fiction are a testament to Kurt Vonnegut’s unique blend of observation and imagination. Here are stories of men and machines, art and artifice, and how ideals of fortune, fame, and love take curious twists in ordinary lives.
An ambitious builder of roads fritters away his free time with miniature trains—until the women in his life crash his fantasy land. Trapped in a stenography pool, a young dreamer receives a call from a robber on the run, who presents her with a strange proposition. A crusty newspaperman is forced onto a committee to judge Christmas displays—a job that leads him to a suspiciously ostentatious ex-con and then a miracle. Featuring a Foreword by Dave Eggers, While Mortals Sleep is a poignant reflection of our world as it is and as it could be.
Includes the following stories:
“Jenny”
“The Epizootic”
“Hundred-Dollar Kisses”
“Guardian of the Person”
“With His Hand on the Throttle”
“Girl Pool”
“Ruth”
“While Mortals Sleep”
“Out, Brief Candle”
“Tango”
“Bomar”
“The Man Without No Kiddleys”
“Mr. Z”
“$10,000 a Year, Easy”
“Money Talks”
“The Humbugs”
Praise for While Mortals Sleep
“Immensely readable and thoroughly entertaining.”—The Washington Post
“Taut, concise . . . The stories set themselves up with neat swiftness, proceed at a clip, and shut down with equal speed, [showing Vonnegut] honing his skills in structure and satire.”—Los Angeles Times
“A lovely reminder of the mischievous moral voice we lost when we lost Kurt Vonnegut.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“These stories were all good when they were written decades ago, but many strike me as great now. Never has the voice of Kurt Vonnegut, humanist and humorist, been more relevant.”—The Seattle Times
“There’s something distinctly timeless about Vonnegut’s vision.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
- Everyone Reads: Social Emotional Learning
- Lonely Planet Travel Guides
- Spotlight on: Mental Health
- Deaf Culture, Experience, and History
- Autism Awareness
- Employment and Career Resources
- Black Lives Matter - Books for Young People
- Celebrate National Native American Heritage
- Latinx Authors
- Anti-Racist Reading
- Schomburg Center Black Liberation Reading List
- Books to Battle Quarantine Sleep Problems
- Never, Never, Never Give Up
- See all
- Newly added eBooks with no wait lists!
- eBooks: Best 2022 Adult Fiction Titles
- Most popular
- Just Added
- Books in Spanish/Libros en Español
- SciFi Old & New, Contemporary & Classic
- Read-Along Books
- Popular Mysteries
- Try something different
- Why Wait? Always Available Classics
- Comics and Graphic Novels
- Escape into History: Historical fiction
- Manga for Grownups
- See all
- All New Always Available Audio
- It's Your Lucky Day! Audiobooks+
- eAudio: Best 2022 Adult Fiction Titles
- Modern Scholar Audiobooks - NO WAITING!
- Legacy Washington Audio Collection - Listen NOW!
- Most popular
- Just Added
- Spanish/Audiolibros en Español
- Stranger than Fiction
- Try something different
- Family Road Trip Audiobooks
- You can't hit pause on these thrillers
- Best Audiobooks under 3 Hours
- See all
- 2023 Washington State Book Award Finalists (WSBA)
- Best of 2022: Adult Nonfiction
- Now's Your Chance!
- En español - lo nuestro
- Microhistories - Get down in the weeds with these intriguing titles!
- D-Day, June 6, 1944
- Unreliable Narrators
- Bibliotherapy
- Steampunk
- Dealing with Addiction
- Historical Fiction
- Presidents and Politics
- Laughing all the way to the bank
- See all