Slaughterhouse-Five was a recommended read when I began researching time travel stories earlier this year. It’s an odd combo which mixes sombre WW2 historical fiction—centred on the horrific British (and American) bombings of Dresden in 1945—and fantasy, involving flying saucers and aliens. Weird, hey?  There isn't a time machine in sight, though lots of flashbacks and flash-forwards. I think Vonnegut nailed the perfect name for an alien race. The Tralfamadorians have a comedic ring, but represent a real concept in cosmology. I think Einstein came up with the Block Universe (also known as Eternalism), in which, the cosmos is simply a movie reel, playing a scripted past, present, and future.…