Episode Details

Today we’re stepping into the surreal, tragic, and darkly comedic world of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five—a story about war, time travel, and what it means to say, 'So it goes.'

My guest this week is Kat McClesse. Kat is an Archaeologist with her M.A. in Bioarchaeology and an amateur photographer. Slaughterhouse Five has been one of her favorite books since childhood and sparked a lifelong interest in activism and human rights. She's has a passion for horror and has driven her fiance insane with "too many books" (his words). They live in Tuckahoe, Virginia with their 2 cats. 

The protagonist of this story is Billy Pilgrim, a veteran of WWII who becomes unstuck in time. An important moment in the story is where time is explained as a bug caught in amber, so we paired it with an “Amber Old Fashioned”

Amber Old Fashioned Recipe (from vinepair.com)

1 ounce bourbon

1 ounce rich aged rum

1 tablespoon simple syrup

1 dash peach bitters

1 dash Angostura bitters

Garnish: Citrus peel

Directions

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled.

Strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice.

Garnish with citrus peel.

In This Episode

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The Writer’s Crusade by Tom Roston

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

Slaughterhouse Five: the Graphic Novel by Ryan North and Albert Montes