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Uncle Mike's Book Club discusses chapters 11-13 of Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs from the Mercy Thompson book series. 

Apologies for the delay getting this out— we forgot this was 2-3x our usual episode length because we recorded on a Saturday and had time to record until the toddler woke up from a nap. (Cameo in the outtake.) Also, I was reworking the episode posting workflow to streamline it in the future.

What happens: 
* Recap Guy from the previous chapter of Blood Bound: the Zillow search request for Cory Asmodeus Littleton and the four-bedroom single-wide
* Mercy goes to visit Stefan's menagerie and we learn about the attempt for the politically correct vampire "a little light necking"
* If Stefan's dead, the menagerie gets sold for parts — like Mercy’s Rabbit parts car
* AFK (away from keyboard)
* Mercy realizes the crying man is Daniel's ghost, gets accused of trolling for "pretending" to see Daniel; "which non-living person are you okay with existing?!" Rachel does the math, joins Team Ghosts Are Real, and flees the scene
* Silence of the Lambs reference (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silence_of_the_Lambs_(film) )
* We finally get the vampire org chart and discover that Bernard and Estelle are disgruntled middle management
* rolling for initiative (D&D reference) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_and_Dragons)
* Days of our lives for vampires, set up by Marsilia's slipping grip on the Seethe and Bernard and Estelle working against her (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Our_Lives)
* Ford's dramatic, main-character-syndrome entrance insisting Stefan is dead, and his weird claim about the threshold
* Mercy goes back to Adam's house to check on Warren's healing, which is the least-motivated drive of the day but at least it's forward motion
* More jokes about the size of Mercy's single wide trailer, plus the destroyed bathrooms, the library, and the wine cellar (too soon)
* Need conspiracy theory yarn to map Mercy's drive over the Tri-Cities today
* Axe Throwing by the magical bookstore and Spudnuts (Kelly gives another little tour of the Tri-Cities and where thinogs are)
* Darryl is cranky and Warren isn't healing and Kyle wasn't asked so didn't tell…
* Kyle drops plot exposition like hand grenades — the "Ackbar" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Ackbar) / "nudge" bit
* Warren manages to get out two words: trap and church
* Darryl says ghosts avoid evil
* Mercy talks to Mrs. Hanna about why she had to change her route
* We wax poetic about archaic physical yellow pages / phone books
* Mrs. Hanna says Joe the janitor warned her the route was unsafe — and we get a Joe and a Joey back to back, both of whom we'll never hear about again
* Brittany hypothesizes about how ghosts get together and hang out: Is there a ghost happy hour at Uncle Mike's? Ghost turf wars?
* Mercy calls Gabriel's preteen sister about Tri-Cities ghost legends — she tells the janitor's ghost story like it's what happened at recess. (We never actually say out loud that the ghost-lore expert IS Gabriel's sister, so this bullet is doing some heavy lifting.)
* Andre answers the phone, which means the vampires are already up and Mercy has lost her edge
* Very deep reference: Kelly jokes that the combo to Mercy's safe is 867-5309, which, in addition to the song (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/867-5309/Jenny), was also a code used by the director of a research facility run by the DOD in a SciFi show called Eureka (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_(2006_TV_series) that we love watching together 
* Mercy leaves Bran a giant voicemail and a letter in the safe so nobody spends 48 hours looking for her
    * Would Mercy have survived (after saving the day from Littleton) if she hadn't arranged for Bran to show up?
* We make dial-up internet sounds to accompany Mercy checking her email
* Mercy meets Andre and we wonder why he might be any help at all
* Littleton learned neither the lessons from James Bond villains, nor Star Wars's Emperor Palpatine ("The shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive") (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_the_Jedi)
* Littleton brags that Andre's been a bug/baby monitor this whole time
* Andre and Ben go full WWF SmackDown / WrestleMania for the demon's entertainment
* The Jedi Mind trick: "You don't need to see his identification"
* Feelin' like a Vanagon on a 20º incline 
* Vampire blood is a hell of a drug — the Charlie Murphy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Murphy_(actor) ) / Rick James couch tangent
* Littleton is whiny that Andre almost killed Ben, which sure seems like what he asked for — does he have a little Skywalker blood?
* Littleton's one-man-show villain monologue while feeding Andre: "blood is the life and the death"
* MacGyver (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGyver) tangent: engineer an elaborate stake-driving contraption vs. just picking up the car battery
* Andre grabs her arm — "no disassemble" — because Marsilia needs Littleton to cow the others (Short Circuit) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Circuit_(1986_film) )
* A possible pause for a Littleton-killing musical number (Let It Go, Head Games, or Roll With It)
* Mercy finishes the decapitation and confirms it's worse. Zero stars, would not recommend
* Bran, Charles, and Darryl burst in; Bran gives out scritches so the wolves can change back to human
* Bran takes one look at Mercy and tells Samuel he's got a patient; Mercy focuses on not bazooka barfing
* Mercy reveals Andre made Littleton, and Andre tries to flee the scene, but he would have gotten away with it, if not for that meddling walker… (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooby-Doo)
* And then we get interrupted by a toddler waking up from a nap, so Kelly wraps our longest episode

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercyverse: shorts, the Mercy Thompson book series, AND the Alpha and Omega book series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). It's okay if you aren't caught up, as long as you're okay with spoilers for books you haven't read yet. 

Links:
* Check out our "linktree" website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co 
* Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659 
* Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at 9am Pacific, 12pm Eastern Time): https://youtube.com/@shewhowrenches?si=6qcLv2fWYvSJXQwf
* Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro Song
00:01:09 Recap Guy
00:03:45 Start Discussing Chapter 11 of Blood Bound
00:28:39 Mercy realizes Mrs. Hanna might have been avoiding Littleton
00:29:56 Chapter 12 and the Yellow Pages Tangent 1
00:32:45 Back to Mercy finding Mrs. Hanna
00:35:16 The secret social lives of ghosts
00:38:26 Mercy calls Gabriel's sister for 411 on Tri-Cities ghost legends
00:40:11 Mercy calls Andre to meet up, but covers her bases
00:42:33 Mercy preps for Andre's Arrival/Discovers his secret
00:42:51 Email from Beckworth about Littleton and Andre
00:47:47 Why does Andre think he can take Littleton?
00:48:44 They enter Littleton's church
00:58:20 Littleton takes the party upstairs
01:01:13 Chapter 13: Hit off of Stefan's blood
01:14:04 Bran bursts through the door

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Uncle Mike’s Book Club discusses Chapter 10 of Blood Bound, the second novel in Patricia Briggs’ bestselling Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series.

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercy Thompson Universe (Mercyverse): shorts, the Mercy Thompson book series, AND the Alpha and Omega book series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). It’s okay if you aren’t caught up, as long as you’re okay with spoilers for books you haven’t read yet.


Links:
* Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
* Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
* Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at 9am Eastern, 12pm Pacific Time): https://youtube.com/@shewhowrenches?si=sFTpkrCeu1EgQRA
* Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

Chapters:

00:00 Intro  
00:02 Recap Guy 
01:38 Start Chapter 10 of Blood Bound  
05:31 Social media when the book was released (2007)
06:18 Gabriel knows about vampires?!?  
07:30 Mercy-Adjacent Media (Scooby-Doo, Shadow of the Vampire)  
13:28 Back to Gabriel and Vampire Chat  
14:17 Zee and the Vampire-Hunting Kit  
17:41 Bran tells Mercy not to hunt the vampire/sorcerer  
20:15 Werewolf Drama, BRB (Is Darryl more dominant than Warren?)  
28:13 Elizavetta's Experience with Evil  
29:54 Mercy goes to the police station  
31:31 Mercy reviews what she knows about vampires  
32:33 Mercy leaves to take Vampire 201 from Stefan's people  
33:54 Outtake: How much of this book and the last book have we covered?


Recording Date: 2026-04-17


What we talk about:
Chapter 10

* “You’re welcome!” (The beloved Toddler song from Moana)
* Beckworth checks in after Bran warns him away from the Tri-Cities
* Mercy’s relatable reflexive “I don’t need help” impulse, before she asked Beckworth to look into Cory Littleton
* Archaeology tangent about what social media was available in 2007: Facebook vs. MySpace vs. Friendster
* Gabriel suspects this is a vampire problem despite Mercy’s “from a certain point of view” (Star Wars) skirting around the existence of vampires 
* Our recent Mercy-related media: Shadow of the Vampire, Nosferatu (complete with Bram Stoker copyright history), and Scooby-Doo 
    * What are the Scooby-Doo catchphrases and Fred doesn’t have one
    * loathing for a Nicolas Cage production
* Zee delivers Mercy’s unofficially official anti-vampire care package:
    * Kelly’s ongoing Swiss Army Wife reputation even though she only carries a Leatherman 
* Bran tells Mercy not to confront Littleton… 
    * …why did he think that would work???
* Bran accidentally provides useful information while trying to talk Mercy out of her plan— why do vampires avoid walkers?
* Kyle’s emergency call sends Mercy racing to Adam’s house
* Mercy somehow thinks she can solve “werewolf drama” and commute to Finley, then to Richland in about an hour
* Warren has been faking it (as in being less dominant than Darryl)
* Mercy accidentally discovers that Adam’s mate claim came with real magical authority that Warren listens to
* Kyle casually reveals Warren’s wolf has never hurt him, and everyone else immediately realizes Warren’s wolf considers Kyle his mate 
* Elizavetta had to dodge town so the demon didn’t jump to her— she must’ve experienced evil already. So… how much evil can a gray witch partake in before she’s a black witch? 
* Tony saw pics and asks whether Mercy’s trailer is… still standing. And how much destruction happened to the wine cellar?? They had a tasting scheduled!
* Mercy realizes they need to map out the incidents that happened in the day to pinpoint where the demon vampire is living
* Mercy realizes Marsilia’s story doesn’t completely add up and heads back for Vampires 201 from Stefan’s people

YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/UjQybHNXz4s

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Uncle Mike's Book Club dissect chapters 8-9 of Blood Bound from the Mercy Thompson book series. Join us and share your own tangents!


They cover:

From the End of Chapter 8

* Mercy Thompson meets Marsilia and Andre at Uncle Mike’s Tavern to get assigned hunting the demon-possessed vampire Littleton via a Trello card
* White vampire fashion versus Dumb and Dumber suits
* Mercy’s backwards-chair Riker Maneuver from Star Trek: The Next Generation
* Why Mercy Thompson is the only one who can hunt Littleton: “Something-something, walkers. Something-something ghosts… Go!”
* “I am no man.” (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope,” and several increasingly questionable Star Wars impressions
* Mercy will hunt Littleton with Andre in the worst college group project assignment ever
* Mercy Thompson’s greatest superpower might just be knowing her own strengths: choosing exactly the right Christmas carol in a hostile Fae bar via malicious compliance
* Bran, Uncle Mike, Welsh music lessons, and how much those ancient old schemers probably know about each other
* Eric gets kicked out of the pack (again)
* Is Mercy Thompson competency porn?

Chapter 9

* Mercy refuses to carpool with Andre (“Never carpool with vampires.”)
* Naomi, Rachel, and Vampire 101: how Stefan tried for the most ethical vampire flock in the Mercyverse
* Stefan tries to make vampires more politically correct. But apparently abandons the idea
* “A dead vampire is ashes”…until Blind Date with a Werewolf
* Could Andre have warned Mercy about Littleton—or did he not know his own vampire could listen through him?
* Littleton visits Mercy’s trailer and rips the siding off, along with a bunch more jokes about the improbable size of Mercy’s single-wide trailer
* Creepy low-light dreams where you can’t turn on the light, ventriloquist vampires, and why this chapter is nightmare fuel
* comparing Warren’s injuries to the 80’s movie Short Circuit: “No disassemble! Johnny 5 is alive!”
* Why didn’t Littleton just tow the trailer?
* The East Wing, West Wing, basement, upstairs, guest room, sleeping closets, and expanding floor plan of Mercy Thompson’s apparently TARDIS-sized single-wide
* RE: Eric’s jokes: “You have your moments. Not many, but you do have them.” (Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back)
* Mercy Thompson calls everyone she knows, leaves a trail of answering-machine messages, and demonstrates her legendary hatred of paperwork
* Sleep deprivation, answering machines, pagers, and racing all over the Tri-Cities the clock to find Littleton before sunset
* Mrs. Hannah, Adam, and why Mercy decides to tell everyone where she’s going


As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercyverse: shorts, the Mercy Thompson book series, AND the Alpha and Omega book series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). It’s okay if you aren’t caught up, as long as you’re okay with spoilers for books you haven’t read yet.

Links:

• Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
• Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
• Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at noon Pacific Time): SheWhoWrenches
• Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:34 Recap Guy
00:01:01 Start Blood Bound Chapters 8–9
00:01:06 2 Vampires and a Walker Walk into a Fae Bar
00:05:31 Mercy’s Forfeit Song at Uncle Mike’s & Mercy’s Strengths
00:08:34 Eric Gets Kicked Out of the Pack
00:09:06 Wrapping Up Uncle Mike’s & Heading to Stefan’s House
00:11:03 Start Chapter 9 of Blood Bound
00:12:56 Mercy and Andre Visit Stefan’s Sheep
00:14:06 Mercy Gets the Vampire Crash Course
00:20:58 The Sorcerer Vampire Visits Mercy’s Trailer
00:28:37 Mercy Can’t Sleep After Littleton Leaves
00:34:58 Mercy Goes Looking for Littleton (Everywhere)



Recording Date: 2026-04-10

YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/VAyUlageM4Y

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Uncle Mike’s Book Club discusses Chapters 7–8 of Blood Bound from the Mercy Thompson series.

They discuss de facto rank changes in Adam’s pack over the years (and how that relates to Pokémon), a theoretical Pride Parade in the Tri-Cities, the origins of Uncle Mike’s Tavern, leaving a message on an answering machine, and, once again, how large Mercy’s single-wide trailer apparently is. After checking out Warren’s condition, Mercy gets a call from Marsilia to help defeat the sorcerer, and we finally meet Uncle Mike and learn how bad everything really is.

Random things mentioned: Pokémon (okay, a lot of Pokémon), Star Wars Rebels, Arrested Development (with Star Wars, somehow?), Out and About in Pasco (https://www.facebook.com/ClubOutAndAbout/), Police Academy and the Blue Oyster, Benson Bubblers in Portland (https://www.portland.gov/water/about-portlands-water-system/bubblers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benson_Bubbler), old-style answering machine tapes, bounced cheques, a theoretical South Park crossover with Mercy Thompson, Star Wars Rebels and how boring Kanan Jarrus is (spoilers!), then crossing that over with Arrested Development just because we’re us, back to Pokémon, AFK (away from keyboard), Pokémon again and how sorcerers are super effective against werewolves… how Uncle Mike exists to answer all the readers’ “what about…?” questions, “Ask Uncle Mike if Effluvia Is Right for You,”

Listener question:

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every book published in the Mercy-verse: the short stories, the Mercy Thompson series, and the Alpha and Omega series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). It’s okay if you aren’t caught up, as long as you’re okay with spoilers for books you haven’t read yet.

Links:

• Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
• Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
• Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at noon Pacific Time): SheWhoWrenches
• Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

Recording Date: 2026-03-20

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:34 Recap Guy
00:02:33 Actually Start on Chapter 7: After Lunch with Tony
00:10:55 Is Kyle the Whole Tri-Cities Pride Parade?
00:11:50 The Actual Building That Inspired Uncle Mike’s
00:13:37 Benson Bubblers
00:16:26 Back at Adam’s with a Very Injured Warren
00:18:14 Answering Machines with Tapes
00:18:54 Is Stefan in the Spacious East Wing of the Single-Wide Trailer?
00:29:25 Back to Warren Again, and Cory’s Profile (Start Chapter 8 with Uncle Mike)

YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/eDtOs3X3kNU

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Uncle Mike’s Book Club discusses chapters 6–7 of Blood Bound from the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.

The gang starts off the random references strong with quotes from Tommy Wiseau’s The Room (“How’s your sex life?” and “Hi doggie!”); Black/Beckworth corners Honey and Mercy to get the lowdown; Mercy’s been judging Honey, partially based on literal appearances; did Mercy start changing her mind about Honey because of the abuse, or because Honey sees herself as a monster?; puberty plus werewolf somehow isn’t a disaster??; sexist laws that persisted into the 1970s; what if Cara the teenage werewolf met Mercy; Teen Wolf-style van surfing on the Mystery Machine; how one might pronounce “Leah”; will Leah and Cara’s relationship change in the wake of the events in Wild Sign?; werewolves apparently get to fast-track their therapy; Mercy shows off Honey as the pretty side of werewolves; Mercy asks Bran not to show off his guessing powers while under threat; too many creepy alpha werewolves who would take advantage of a teen girl; Mercy’s lunch with Tony and the evolution of their relationship over the years; the Opel GT with the wrong-rotation engine; werewolves = Wookiees when they rip arms off?; Kelly says we all know what goes on Mercy’s tombstone: “Here lies Mercy—she tried to help”; and we’re totally not fake-sponsored by Lilly’s Piano Bar—you’ll be enthralled by every performance!

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercy-verse: shorts, the Mercy Thompson series, and the Alpha and Omega series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). It’s okay if you aren’t caught up, as long as you’re okay with spoilers for books you haven’t read yet.

Links:

• Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
• Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
• Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at noon Pacific Time): SheWhoWrenches
• Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

Recording Date: 2026-03-13


Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:34 Recap Guy
00:01:20 Reporter Tells Mercy and Honey About Teen Werewolf Daughter
00:17:34 Tony Asks Mercy About Preternaturals Over Lunch
00:26:26 Wrap Up
00:27:56 Outtake


YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/08c1ArGBsvA

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Uncle Mike's Book Club discusses chapters 5–6 of Blood Bound, the second book in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. Like, part of each chapter. 

They cover: which member of the metaphorical Scooby-Doo gang Stefan would be; the challenges of intimacy around a werewolf pack and the related logistical conundrums; "Denny likes to watch" and yet another reference to the terrible movie The Room (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Room); why the Samuel-in-Texas scene makes us so uncomfortable; how surprisingly dark Blood Bound is compared to other Mercy books; more jokes about how much space there is in Mercy's single-wide trailer; True Blood's vampire-stashing places; where Stefan usually spends the day; Vampire HR; The Simpsons (including the Treehouse of Horror episode where Homer's horoscope predicts his death); the distinctive sound of pre-digital phone calls breaking up; sending Gabriel out for parts before Black shows up for a scene above his pay grade; Brittany's extremely obscure complaints about The Mandalorian's second- and third-season writing choices; and how Recap Guy really needs to improve his notes.

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercy-verse: shorts, the Mercy Thompson book series, AND the Alpha and Omega book series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, at least). It’s okay if you aren’t caught up, as long as you’re okay with spoilers for books you haven’t read yet.

Links:

• Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
• Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
• Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at noon Pacific Time): SheWhoWrenches
• Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:54 Recap Guy
00:03:13 Which Scooby-Doo Character Do the Demon Hunters Represent?
00:06:31 Start the Book, Immediate Tangent to Adam and Mercy’s Relationship
00:11:26 Samuel’s Texas Backstory
00:19:17 Mercy Calls Bran About Samuel
00:20:44 Phone Crackle & Call Drops
00:22:37 Honey as a Bodyguard, Gabriel GTFO



Recording Date: 2026-02-27

YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/l2QbpkxyWek

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In this episode, Uncle Mike’s Book Club discusses chapters 4–5 of Blood Bound from the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.

They discuss supernatural coping mechanisms; whether the Fae can listen to heavy metal like Iron Maiden (https://www.ironmaiden.com), Mötley Crüe (https://motley.com), and Led Zeppelin (https://www.ledzeppelin.com); comparing the vampire seethe court to various TV judges and discussing how vampire courts work; how strange Wulfe is and his similarities to Coach Beard from Ted Lasso (https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy); speculating about a DoorDash or Uber Eats service for vampires; a What We Do in the Shadows reference (“It’s not hygienic!”) (https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/what-we-do-in-the-shadows); the vampires’ “tell the truth chair,” how to speak “chair,” and Stefan and Mercy testifying while seated in it; “must acquit” references from the O.J. trial; Mercy’s amazing ability to think before she speaks; wrapping up vampire night court; Warren and Ben joining Stefan to hunt vampires; Mercy complaining about her bodyguards, which are apparently as hard to cancel as AOL in the early 2000s; and how much Mercy loves sparring at full speed with Adam.

We are a fan-based Mercy Thompson Universe (aka the Mercyverse) reread-along podcast. Just some friends who love Mercy Thompson (and a lot of other stuff) sharing fan theories, joking around, teasing each other, and making weird references to other fandoms and pop culture.

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercyverse: the short stories, the Mercy Thompson series, and the Alpha and Omega series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). So if you aren’t caught up, fair warning.

Links:

• Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
• Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
• Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at noon Pacific Time): SheWhoWrenches
• Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

Recording Date: 2026-02-06


Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:51 Recap Guy
00:06:13 Supernatural Coping Mechanisms
00:07:16 Night Court at the Vampire Seethe
00:12:33 We Meet Wulfe, the Creepy Teen-Looking Vampire
00:16:23 Vampire DoorDash
00:17:39 Back to the Vampire Court
00:25:42 Mercy Complains to Adam About Honey as a Bodyguard



YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/C7O7ZYYMGhY

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In this episode, Uncle Mike's Book Club discusses chapters 1-3 of Blood Bound.

This is the episode where you find out what terrible people we actually are. It also begins a new running joke: we start the ongoing way to bring us back from tangents, “Meanwhile, at the Airport Ramada…”
 
We discuss vampire lore across fandoms, vampires not letting go of the fashions from their human days, revisit what a single wide trailer doesn’t have room for, updates on Briggs’s vampire lore (and what would it REALLY take to destroy Wulfe?), if Blood Bound is the creepiest Mercy Thompson book, vampires can grow claws??, what level of naked is Mercy for her retelling of the events of the night with the sorcerer, how Mercy’s single wide trailer can apparently have a third bedroom AND the closets aren’t full and can fit a 6ft tall vampire, why Stefan can sometimes teleport and sometimes not—what are the limits??, if vampires in the Mercy-verse have mirror reflections, enriching your power-word word-power through unfiltered Ben swearing, which Chinese place do they get takeout from??, and speculation about Warren and Ben’s relationship.

Random things mentioned: Days of Our Lives, how the different Mercy-verse readers pronounce names differently, Skeleton Crew (and Disney Star Wars), the creepy Doctor Who episode “Blink,” Kelly’s Band and baby bats, Weekly World News, Coast To Coast AM (you can actually find it in podcast form, though it’s no longer hosted by Art Bell), Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell, the Chili’s theme song (by way of Austin Powers), parts of the USA where everyone has blankets draped over their couches, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Demon sweat live, Sorcerer’s code, Repo Man and repossessing demon and devolving into a Night at the Roxbury reference, The Room’s “Anyway, how’s your sex life?” which has theatrical showings where people throw plastic spoons and they play football in tuxedos…

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercy-verse: shorts, the Mercy Thompson book series, AND the Alpha and Omega book series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). It’s okay if you aren’t caught up, as long as you’re okay with spoilers for books you haven’t read yet.

Links:

• Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
• Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
• Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at noon Pacific Time): SheWhoWrenches
• Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social
  
  

Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:04 Recap Guy
00:05:06 Start talking about Blood Bound
00:09:40 More Vampire lore explored
00:11:50 Meeting the new vampire at the hotel
00:17:53 Goth Baby Bats, The Weekly World News, and Coast to Coast AM
00:21:04 Back at the Airport Ramada (Stefan is drooling and Cory is killing)
00:23:54 Mercy comes to with a vampire and a werewolf stare down
00:28:49 Daniel the baby vampire already met the sorcerer backstory
00:30:55 Stefan asks Mercy to testify in the Vampire Seethe Court
00:31:37 Stefan the vampire asks to "sleep" for the day in Mercy's Closet
00:33:39 Do vampires have reflections in the Mercy Thompson universe?
00:35:00 Mercy can't sleep with a dead vampire in her closet
00:36:53 Mercy's VW Rabbit has scars from the night with the vampires
00:38:48 Meet Mrs. Hanna's Ghost
00:39:55 Mercy goes to work fixing cars
00:42:15 Mercy asks Zee about Sorcerers
00:44:39 Mercy is approached by the reporter after hours
00:47:02 Ben and Warren come to watch Mercy/ take her for a nap
00:48:37 Mercy/Warren/Ben relationship hashing out
00:52:29 Wulfe ponderings and episode close
00:53:43 Outtake

Recording Date: 
2026-01-31

YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/UMZMKXeLTzQ

Message us (questions, comments, topics? Let us know!)

Moon Called Cliff Notes is our wildly inaccurate recap of Moon Called, the first book in the Mercy Thompson series, by Patricia Briggs. It’s stitched together from all the Recap Guys in our coverage of Moon Called over multiple episodes.

Indulge the least responsible way to get caught up on Moon Called. (But you’ll probably enjoy it more if you’ve already read the books.)

If you’ve ever wanted the plot of Moon Called filtered through werewolf roofies, Vanagon slander, dated tech observations, mercenaries, vampire politics, and at least one truly unnecessary TPS report joke, congratulations: somehow this episode is just for you.

This bonus episode is a fast, chaotic sample of the vibe at Uncle Mike’s Book Club — a condensed retelling of the first Mercy Thompson book with jokes, tangents, and a level of accuracy best described as “spiritually adjacent.”

No spoilers here for later Mercy Thompson books — just Moon Called, badly summarized with enthusiasm.

In under eleven minutes, we speedrun Mercy meeting Mac, Adam getting kidnapped, Jesse getting rescued, vampire chaos, mercenary nonsense, Gabriel showing up to work eventually, and an absolutely unreasonable amount of commentary about Vanagons.

If this nonsense delights you, you can find our full Moon Called discussions and the rest of our Mercy Thompson coverage wherever you listen.




Links:

• Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
• Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
• Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at noon Pacific Time): SheWhoWrenches
• Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

We are a fan-based Mercy Thompson Universe (AKA Mercy-verse) reread-along podcast. Just some friends who love Mercy Thompson (and a lot of other stuff). We share personal fan theories, joke and tease and make weird references to other fandoms and pop culture. 


Chapters:
00:00:00 Moon Called Chapters 1-4
00:00:46 Moon Called Chapters 5-7
00:01:27 Moon Called Chapters 7-10
00:03:46 Moon Called Chapters 11-13
00:06:22 Moon Called Chapters 14-15
00:08:44 Moon Called Chapter 16

YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/7pnMdL20VFA

Message us (questions, comments, topics? Let us know!)

Uncle Mike’s Book Club Discusses Chapter 16 of Moon Called, where we finally meet Gabriel; discuss Tad being away at school and Zee’s concern (which later morphs into worry about Gabriel in Winter Lost); Jesse’s hair, Warren’s questionable gay cowboy hair-cutting ability, and how awful Jesse’s mom is; why “nudge” is not really a secret word, does not pass the op sec test, and absolutely should not be their password; why Ben isn’t guilty but is still pretty unpleasant (and whether Kelly can get the uncensored version of Ben); and how Mercy is sick and tired of adulting, changes into sweats, and leaves Sam and Adam to one-up each other while she goes to work on cars with Stefan.

Then we wrap up with our overall impressions of Moon Called, which veers into a little pet peeve about the depiction of single-wide trailers in Blood Bound. Even though we do not officially start covering Blood Bound until the next episode, it does become a powerful running gag.

Random things mentioned: pagers and Apple products; hating the Dursleys from Harry Potter (trigger warning!); Astro vans getting up hills; a reference to Lando’s flirtatious line from The Empire Strikes Back; the Star Wars prequels and how unrealistic and unbelievable the characters become over time (I’m looking at you, Padme Amidala); Urkel from Family Matters; the Star Wars show Skeleton Crew; The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and their confusing names; Game of Thrones; and six degrees of Kevin Bacon, but for Mercy Thompson characters.


As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published in the Mercy-verse: the short stories, the Mercy Thompson series, and the Alpha and Omega series (everything through Blind Date with a Werewolf, anyway). It’s okay if you aren’t caught up, as long as you’re okay with spoilers for books you haven’t read yet.

And we have social links now, and we’d love to hear from you! Please be patient with us getting back to you or reading/playing messages on air, since we pre-record episodes. As of the release of episode 8, we’ve actually recorded 15 episodes.

Links:

• Check out our “linktree” website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
• Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
• Follow on YouTube (including unedited livestream recordings *many* Fridays at noon Pacific Time): SheWhoWrenches
• Follow and message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social

Recording Date: 2026-01-23

YouTube version of this episode: https://youtu.be/c8TvdYLcDPI