Kurt Vonnegut, the American novelist, died yesterday aged 84 after sustaining injuries after a fall. He was one of my favourite author. Although he was best known for the book Slaughterhouse 5, which centres around the bombing of Dresden, he wrote plenty of other book which are nearly all well worth reading.
 
Cat's Cradle and Sirens of Titan probably show off his science fiction credentials, though he never liked being described as a SciFi author.
 
BBC obituary: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6547399.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/629620.stm