Bookwild

Ashley Winstead IS BACK!  Gare and I ask all our burning questions about Hot Girl Murder Club. Listen to hear about: How Ashley Winstead wrote Hot Girl Murder Club as an act of creative defiance. Ashley shares the publishing and Hollywood conversations that told her feminist revenge stories were "over"—and why that made her determined to write one anyway.  The surprising inspiration behind the nov...

**If you're listening when this airs, note that this episode was recorded at the beginning of May and should've come out in May.  Due to an injury (and painkillers) it's been sitting in my drafts, and I forgot to publish it.** In this episode, I chat with Connor Martin about his new espionage thriller The Silver Fish . Listen to hear about: How a 20-year journey and a career in national security l...

In this episode, I chat with Zac Cannon about his new speculative thriller Stillwater Trace ! Listen to hear about: How a "dad action movie" premise transformed into a layered thriller exploring faith, power, surveillance, and belonging—and why Zac let the story evolve far beyond his original concept. The real-world inspirations behind Stillwater Trace, from corporate master-planned communities an...

In this episode, Gare and I chat with Avery Bishop about his new thriller The Girls in the Dark! Listen to hear about: An unfiltered look at editorial disagreements, publishing contracts, audiobook production, and why getting a book into readers' hands is often far more complicated than fans realize. The inspiration behind The Girls in the Dark , balancing suspense with emotional realism, portrayi...

This week, I talk with Kate Williams about her new romance spy thriller Fake Out Make Out! Kate's journey from self-publishing and writing across genres to landing a traditional publishing deal with Fake Out, Make Out .  How Kate built a spy romance, balanced action with emotional beats, and embraced genre mashups. How she drew from her own autoimmune journey and the importance of seeing disabled...

Halley Sutton is back from a trip through Greece and Turkey, and she shares some of the highlights of her trip!  We also discuss books, tv shows and movies we've been watching and reading recently, and dive into THAT Summer House Reunion a la Scamanda. Check Out Author Social Media Packages Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon Check Out My Stories Are My Religion Substack Get Bookwild Merch...

This week, Emma West , Kara Confer and I talk with Emma Brodie about her love story Into the Blue! Listen to hear about: How a single character—Noah—kept appearing across multiple abandoned projects until he became the foundation of Into the Blue   A behind-the-scenes look at how Emma's theater classes, improv training, and fascination with performance shaped the book's unique portrayal of acting...

This week, Gare and I talk with Olivia Worley about her new horror-thriller Man of My Dreams! Listen to hear about: How Olivia's real-life dating experiences—and meeting a man eerily similar to a character she had already written—inspired the premise of Man of My Dreams   A deep dive into blending rom-coms with psychological thrillers, why modern dating is the perfect backdrop for suspense, and ho...

This week, Elizabeth Rose Quinn and I discuss revelations we had while reading Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Each Other by Sophie Gilbert. Listen to hear about: How Sophie Gilbert's Girl on Girl traces a throughline from the 1990s to today, revealing how pop culture, celebrity media, and entertainment industries shaped modern misogyny and women's relationships...

This week, I talk with Rob Hart about his third Assassins Anonymous book Three Hitmen and a Baby! Listen to hear about: Why the series resonates beyond action: Hart uses professional killers in recovery to examine guilt, redemption, personal growth, and whether people can truly change.   Rob's writing philosophy, and why he believes even pantsers need to know where their story is headed emotionall...

This week, Gare catches Steph and I up on his trip to the Montreal Mystery Festival, and we all share what we gravitate toward in books, movies and TV shows when we need a comfort story! Books We Talked About Verity Hot Girl Murder Club We Used to Live Here Sublimation The Midnight Knock Jar of Hearts The Truth About Melody Browne The Spin TV Shows We Talked About Orphan Black Severance The Vampir...

This week, I talk with CJ Leede about her new horror novel Headlights ! Listen to hear about: How CJ originally planned to become a medieval historian, but after a professor helped her discover storytelling was what she wanted to pursue. How Headlights began with the idea of people waking up on the side of a highway wearing the skin of strangers, and evolved into a story about grief, mortality, fa...

This week, Emma West joins and shares her reading journey, her favorite genres, and how she ended up the Inventory Manager at Wild Geese Books. Listen to hear about: Emma's reading journey beginning as a substitute for formal education, and how she approached books as a way to keep learning and expanding her worldview. How both of us gravitate toward layered, "mind-bending" stories that require ac...

In this episode, I talk with Isabel J. Kim about her debut speculative fiction, Sublimation!   Listen to hear about: How Isabel J. Kim's inspiration for Sublimation came from her own experience growing up between Korea and the United States and wondering how different her life might have been if she had stayed in Korea permanently. Why "instancing" (where you split into two people when you cross a...

MacKenzie Green is back, and she's now the Global Head of Social for Audible! Listen to hear about: How MacKenzie grew up dyslexic, relied heavily on audiobooks to keep up in school, and never imagined she would one day become Head of Global Social at Audible. Why people should read what they actually enjoy, DNF books that aren't working, and use whatever format—audio, ebook, or print—helps them e...

In this episode, I talk with Promise Backlund about her book Gospel of Lies!  She shares her experience growing up in evangelical Christianity, examining how fear, purity culture, certainty, and religious identity shaped her childhood and adult life. We dive into deconstruction, religious trauma, politics, sexuality, pleasure, and the complicated process of rebuilding meaning, identity, and awe ou...

This week, Erin Ashley is back, and we dive into all our thoughts and reactions to Patmenna Sabit's stunning debut novel Good People !  THIS IS A SPOILER EPISODE. Check Out Author Social Media Packages Check out the Bookwild Community on Patreon Check Out My Stories Are My Religion Substack Get Bookwild Merch Follow @imbookwild on Instagram Other Co-hosts On Instagram: Gare Billings @gareindeedrea...

This week, I talk with Sara Hamdan about her journey from finance and journalism into fiction, and how writing What Will People Think became a way to explore identity, belonging, family history, and the freedom to define yourself outside of expectations. Through conversations about comedy, Palestinian representation, women’s choices, historical memory, and the many forms of love, the episode explo...

This week, I talk with return guest Karen E. Osborne about her newest mystery Justice for Emerson! Listen to hear about: How Karen approached a dual-timeline mystery that blends a present-day murder investigation with the long emotional aftermath of the Vietnam War, addiction, race, and trauma.   How Karen’s research process is deeply people-centered—drawing from her husband’s Vietnam experiences,...

This week, I talk with Aimee Poktwatka about her hew horror book Accumulation ! Listen to hear about: Aimee's unconventional path to becoming an author—from anthropology and veterinary work to creative writing—and how curiosity has shaped her storytelling.   How Accumulation was inspired by Aimee’s real 18th-century home, a creepy doll her husband found in the yard, and her fascination with haunte...

This week, you get to meet the book girlies who I haven't been able to stop talking about!  Kara Confer and Emily Hone are the event team at Wild Geese Bookshop , and they are bringing some incredible authors to Indiana.  Hear about how they have evolved into their current positions, some book event BTS, starting their podcast Fill Your Cup , and books that define their reading tastes! Books Kara...

This week, I talk with repeat guest and friend Elizabeth Rose Quinn about her new, somewhat locked room thriller Payback! Listen to hear us discuss: Payback ’s fascinating “weekend prison” premise and how it critiques privilege within the carceral system Balancing social commentary with a genuinely fun, propulsive thriller Crafting a large cast of distinct, memorable characters The psychological i...

This week, MacKenzie Green and I talk with Bridget Howard about her new Romantasy Lovers' Journal. Listen to hear about: Bridget’s journey from book blogger to Bookstagram creator to marketing professional for publishers and authors How romantasy evolved from YA and paranormal roots into today’s booming genre Why romantasy, fantasy, and romance deserve the same literary analysis and cultural respe...

This week, Gare and I talk about books we think deserve adaptations ASAP!  Gare also brought a messy icebreaker to the episode. Books We Talked About Good People by Patmeena Sabit The Anniversary by Alex Finlay Judge Stone by Viola Davis and James Patterson Secret Lives of Murderers Wives by Elizabeth Arnott Into the Blue by Emma Brodie Night Watcher by Stephanie Woolsoncroft She Drinks the Light...

This week, I talk with Priya Parmar about The Original , her fictionalized portrait of Katharine Hepburn’s early life and Hollywood reinvention, diving into how academic rigor, obsessive research, and creative intuition shaped the book. We discuss: Priya’s transition from academic and PhD research into fiction writing—and how scholarship still shapes her creative process The accidental Google rabb...