I always thought that Vonnegut wrote that. It was a kind of unforgettable read. A sort of run of the mill fair to middling science fiction work, which is exactly how Trout was described, a somewhat failed Sci Fi writer. Probably the best thing about it was the lurid picture on the cover....
Venus on the half shell was blatantly stollen and turned into, both concept and much of the story into Douglas Adams, money making project Hitchhikers Guide, series.