Bookwild

By Kate Hergott, Bookwild Collective

On Tuesdays, Kate Hergott talks with authors about their books and writing processes.

On Fridays, Kate talks with different co-host Bookstagrammers and BookTubers about a variety of bookish topics.... more

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FAQs about Bookwild:

How many episodes does Bookwild have?

The podcast currently has 422 episodes available.

Bookwild episodes:

September 11, 2026 Horror We Are Excited to Read with Kayla Hardy
This week, Kayla Hardy - screenwriter, reader, and author of The Quarter Queen - and I talk about horror books we are excited to read this year!
Kate’s Upcoming Reads
The Unhaunting — Micaiah Johnson
Nightjars — Michael Wehunt
Incarnate — Alma Katsu

Kayla’s Upcoming Reads
Runner — Ashley M. Lattimore
Horror Movie — Paul Tremblay
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter — Stephen Graham Jones

Other Books We Discussed
The Quarter Queen — Kayla Hardy
The Night and the Moth — Rachel Gillig
Between Two Fires — Christopher Buehlman
Blood Slaves — Markus Redmond
Blood Rising — Markus Redmond
Ring Shout — P. Djèlí Clark
Black Leopard, Red Wolf — Marlon James
The Reformatory — Tananarive Due
Fiend — Alma Katsu
Perfect Victims — Mohammed El-Kurd
Our Cut of Salt — Dana Helm
The Disappearers — Marlon James
The Hunter’s Daughter — Nicola Solvinic
The Sleeping Sisters — Jennifer Givhan
Salt Bones — Jennifer Givhan
Blood Sisters — Vanessa Lillie
Truth to Power — S.A. Cosby

All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

...more
1h 7min
September 09, 2026Female Friendship, Identity and Motherhood: Amy Chozick's With Friends Like You
This week, Gare and I talk with Amy Chozick about her suspenseful literary debut With Friends Like You!
Short Synopsis
Emily, an exhausted new mother in Manhattan, becomes obsessed with finding her long-lost college roommate Daisy, whose mysterious disappearance has haunted her for years. When Daisy suddenly reappears and pulls Emily into a seductive new world of friendship and community, their reunion begins to crack, forcing Emily to question whether Daisy is saving her—or unraveling her life.
Listen to hear about:
The real-life experiences that inspired With Friends Like You — including Amy Chozick’s journalism career, new motherhood, and the college roommate who helped inspire Daisy’s story.
Why female friendship is really the heart of the novel, from intense, almost romantic bonds to codependency, friendship breakups, and those friends you never completely stop thinking about.
Motherhood, identity, and the pressure to rediscover yourself during the major transitions that can make you wonder who you are now.
The book’s sharp critique of capitalism and the motherhood industry, including why all those over-the-top baby product names were a deliberate commentary on consumerism and the loss of community.
How Amy crafted the book’s voice, twists, and upcoming screen adaptation — including her “if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it” philosophy and how adapting the novel actually influenced the finished book.
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
...more
56min
September 01, 2026Class, Race, Jazz and Crime: Andre Hardy's Fresh Take on Noir Fiction
This week, I talk with Andre Hardy about his fresh take on noir in his debut novel Tear the City Down!
Listen to hear about:
How Andre Hardy’s debut novel, Tear the City Down, grew from his lifelong love of noir—particularly Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress, which showed him a fully realized Black protagonist in a genre he already loved.

The ways Hardy uses San Diego’s stark dualities—tourist paradise versus underserved neighborhoods, enormous wealth versus systemic oppression—as the foundation for Coltrane's story and the novel’s larger questions about social mobility, morality, and what happens when you actually reach the top.

Why Hardy shied away from a traditional stoic noir hero, and created Coltrane to be masculine, dangerous, and deeply vulnerable.

How the mystery expands from one missing girl into something far larger, illustrating Hardy’s belief that seemingly isolated injustices often lead back to systems of power and exploitation.

How Hardy drew on his own NFL experience, love of jazz, reading, and upbringing in San Diego to give the novel its texture.
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
...more
1h 2min
August 26, 2026Sci-Fi, Philip K. Dick & the Birth of Pink Beam Press
This week, I talk with Keith Giles, David Agranoff, Brian Evenson, Gordon Bonnet, and Andrew Turck about Pink Beam Press, a new speculative-fiction imprint inspired by Philip K. Dick and the strange, reality-bending possibilities of science fiction.
Listen to hear about:
The origins of Pink Beam Press and how Philip K. Dick’s legendary “pink beam” experience helped inspire its identity and mission.

Why speculative fiction is such a powerful way to explore reality, consciousness, identity, technology, privacy, and other big philosophical questions.

How the authors behind Pink Beam’s novellas transform wildly different concepts—from digital replicas and mind reading to cyberpunk technology and artificial realities—into deeply human stories.

Why writing shorter doesn’t necessarily mean easier, and how the novella forces writers to crystallize their ideas while still leaving room for complex characters and themes.

How research, personal experiences, literary influences, and unexpected discoveries during the writing process shape stories—and why sometimes the best fiction teaches the writer something, too.
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
...more
1h 12min
August 21, 2026 Fall Hopefuls on Our TBRs with Gare
This week, Gare and I share fall book releases we are excited about!
Kate’s Books
The Occidental Book of the Dead by T. Geronimo Johnson
Have You Seen Romit? By Chital Mehta
It Looks Like You in the Dark by Mathilda Zeller
The Turning of Sally Mae by Nuzo Onoh
Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe
Gare’s Books
The Little Red House Liv Andersson
Killing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar
The Witch by Freida McFadden
This B Just Won’t Die by Tanya Pell
All the Little Secrets by May Cobb
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

...more
57min
August 18, 2026The Multi-Hyphenate Marie Laveau: Kayla Hardy's The Quarter Queen
This week, I talk with Kayla Hardy about her dark fantasy The Quarter Queen!
How The Quarter Queen began as a television pilot.
Kayla Hardy’s screenwriting background shaped the novel’s cinematic pacing, visual set pieces, ensemble cast, and meticulous plotting.

Why Marie Laveau is both historical inspiration and a personal connection.
Hardy draws on her Louisiana Creole roots, academic background in African American literature and folklore, and fascination with Marie to humanize a woman often reduced to legend.

Crafting the mother-daughter relationship is the emotional heart of the novel.
Marie and Ree represent different sides of the same coin, allowing Hardy to explore generational pain, privilege, protection, and what happens when the past refuses to stay buried.

How fantasy becomes a way to confront real American history.
The book explores conflicting approaches to oppression and liberation while using Southern Gothic and supernatural elements to make the consequences of historical violence impossible to ignore.

How Hardy reclaims Black and Creole folklore from pop-culture mythology,
Through Voodoo and zonbi, Hardy grounds the supernatural elements in traditions that have often been appropriated or stripped of their origins.
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
...more
1h 2min
August 14, 2026ARCs We Are Excited About with Emma West
In this episode, Emma West and I share ARCs we are excited about!
Kate's Books
Hive Mind — Allison Gunn

Accidents Never Happened — Penny Zang

Scream City — Hannah Morrissey

Our Cut of Salt — Dina Nayeri Helm

The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman — Deesha Philyaw
Emama's Books
Kiss Slay Replay — Rachel Harrison

She’s a Doll — Barbara Truglove

Public Access Afterworld — Jane Schoenbrun

Mother Dearest — Claire Bird

Bad Words - Rioghnach Robinson
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
...more
1h
August 11, 2026Friendship, Grief and Second (and Third, and Fourth) Chances: Paige Harbison's Destination Funeral
In this episode, I talk with Paige Harbison about her new time loop novel Destination Funeral!
Listen to our whole conversation to hear about:
How Destination Funeral uses being literally stuck in time to explore being emotionally stuck. The characters are trapped with unresolved relationships, old resentments, and versions of themselves they haven’t fully escaped.

Why “What if?” is Paige’s favorite starting point for storytelling. Rather than setting out to write magical realism or a particular genre, she follows a compelling premise and lets the story dictate where it needs to go.

How grief and humor can exist in the exact same moment. Paige explains that the combination of heartbreak and comedy in her books isn’t a carefully calculated tonal balance—it reflects the way she experiences real life, where devastating and hilarious moments often coexist.

Why writers sometimes discover what their books are about only after writing them. Paige talks about allowing characters, themes, and even her own unresolved feelings to emerge unconsciously rather than trying to engineer every meaning from the beginning.

Why friendship breakups deserve the same emotional weight as romantic ones. Paige talks about how friendships can be some of our longest and most defining relationships—yet we have almost no cultural roadmap for grieving them when they end.
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor
...more
1h 4min
August 07, 2026 The Best & Rest of Summer Books with Gare Billings
This week, Gare and I share some of our best reads of the summer, and forecast ones we think we will love for the rest of summer!
Kate’s Best of Summer
Killer Vibes by Jack Friday
Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim
The Great Game by Arvind Ethan David
Kate’s Rest of Summer
Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm
Mazywood by Tananarive Due
The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw
Gare’s Best of Summer
Heather by Caitlin Mullen
The Shark by Emma Styles
Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier
Gare’s Rest of Summer
Saint Delilah by Isabelle Spotts
The Crying Killer by Jess Lourey
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

...more
56min
August 04, 2026 Manifestation, Murder, and the Cults of the 1920s: Olesya Lyuzna's Liars in Paradise
In this episode, I talk with Olesya Lyuzna about the second book in her Ginny Dugan series Liars in Paradise.
Listen to hear all about:
The roots of modern self-help, manifestation, and MLM-style thinking stretch back to the 1920s. Olesya shares how historical figures like Napoleon Hill and the era's get-rich-quick culture inspired the novel's sinister organization, Echelon.
Sometimes throwing away an entire draft is the best writing decision. Olesya discusses scrapping a nearly finished manuscript, rebuilding the story from the ground up, and how the rewrite created a much stronger mystery centered on Jack being framed.
Historical fiction can feel incredibly relevant because human behavior doesn't change. We discuss how periods of uncertainty—after war, during economic booms, or amid social upheaval—create fertile ground for cults, scams, conspiracy thinking, and charismatic leaders.
Real places often make the best fictional settings. Olesya shares how a supposedly haunted Long Island mansion, Winfield Hall, became the inspiration for Echelon's headquarters, complete with strange history, ghost stories, and Gilded Age excess.
Great mystery series let their characters carry emotional scars. Rather than resetting Ginny after each case, Olesya discusses intentionally letting previous losses and evolving relationships shape every investigation, making the series feel more emotionally authentic.
All the Bookwild Links:
Check Out the Bookwild Substack
Subscribe to Bookwild on YouTube
Get Bookwild Merch
Follow @imbookwild on Instagram
Check Out Author Social Media Packages

Follow Co-hosts On Instagram:
Gare Billings @gareindeedreads
Steph Lauer @books.in.badgerland
Halley Sutton @halleysutton25
Brian Watson @readingwithbrian
MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba
Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

...more
39min

FAQs about Bookwild:

How many episodes does Bookwild have?

The podcast currently has 422 episodes available.

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