Venus on the Half-Shell assumed that Vonnegut wrote the book. This problem was solved by the book being reprinted under Farmer's by-line. A common element to this novel is the origin of many of the characters' and locations' names. Farmer "put in a lot of references to literature and fictional authors... Most of the alien names in Venus were formed by transposing the letters of English or non-English words." The title and paperback cover art are a reference to an Italian Renaissance tempera painting by Sandro Botticelli, "The Birth of Venus", which depicts the birth of the goddess Venus as her rising from the
The Story of Virginia (Botticelli) The Story of Virginia (Botticelli) The Story of Virginia (Italian, Storie di Virginia), is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli. It is a tempera on panel and measures 86 cm tall and 165 cm wide. It is currently held by the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, Italy. It is one of the last works that Botticelli made exemplifying virtue, like The Story of Lucretia. The painting has as a fundamental theme of violated honor and matrimonial fidelity. The combination of several scenes in a single image was common in the art of the early Renaissance. These are read