Who knew that reading about the world ending over and over again could be so fun?

Exterminator! isn't as talked about as William Burroughs earlier work even though it contains some of Burroughs' most popular short stories, including "Twilight's Last Gleamings", "The Discipline of DE", and "Wind Die, You Die, We Die".

In the context they're included here, we found the stories sang out twice. This is a collection of strange and affecting stories that seem to swirl together into a single text thanks to the steady (but not predictable) employment of leitmotifs throughout. Themes, images, phrases, or even whole characters or events pop in and out of these stories, adding to the richness of the reading experience.

Over our conversation on this pleasant evening, we attempt to scratch the surface in a wide-ranging discussion of these leitmotifs and their strange prescience concerning modern American life.