It's time for a genre deep dive on Historical Fiction. We define it, discuss when it shines, when it gets it wrong, which time periods we need less of, and which timelines we want to visit more. Finally, we highlight the historical fiction novels we recommend everyone add to their TBR. 

We camp out with all our pet peeves when reading non-fiction books. This includes self-help, memoirs, religion, cookbooks, true crime, business, and more. We share ours and we share AND judge many of yours. 

We're taking it back to the characters we met in our youth who served as our literary spring awakening, those first tingles of romantic love. We share ours - YOU ARE NOT READY FOR KNOX'S - and we share many of yours. Which character got your motor running for the first time? Your heart race? Your blood boil (complimentary)?

In this episode series, Odd Reader Out, one or two of your Shelf Respect hosts will take a literary concept the other host or hosts are unfamiliar with and attempt to entice them into jumping on the bandwagon. In this installment, Knox is walking Erin and Jamie through one of his favorite reading experiences: short stories.

• Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates (text in full)

Spring has sprung and we're tackling all the new books coming out in April, May, and June of 2026. Get your TBRs ready.

• Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Five stars, please and thank you. (Even if that's not where you listen. No rules, just right.)
• Our List of Snake Draft Picks on Bookshop.org (this isn't just to get your money. It's so you're not spoiled in the show notes)

What's your spring reading vibe? What's the best first kiss you've read in a book? Which new books do you have your eye on?

We draw for spots and snake draft the worst (OR BEST) toxic fictional romances. These are love stories where suffering is marketed as soulmates.

• Our Bookshop Shop: https://bookshop.org/shop/shelfrespect

We collected spicy takes from readers on Instagram and we decide whether those opinions will be burned or blurbed.

Join 3,300+ Hardbacks on Patreon. Those readers get exclusive episodes like our Shelf Reflections series where we talk about what we've been reading, Building a Literary Villain, Odd Reader Out where two of us explain an unfamiliar concept to the third. Plus, our 2025 Book Superlatives and much more. Two exclusive episodes added every month.

Use code BATEDBREATH now through March 6 to save 90% on your first month of Hardbacks. That's only $0.70 at patreon.com/shelfrespect.

• The Popcast Flavor Town: Book Edition

Welcome to the first public episode of Shelf Respect. We've been doing this for six months over on Patreon and now it's time to have the best of both worlds. We'll have new free episodes twice monthly.

This is a Snake Draft episode where the three of us slither through all the words and phrases we'd like to remove from all future books.

All our book lists are always found on Bookshop.org. Support indie shops!

• Our Patreon: Shelf Respect

This is a an example of our premium content you can find on our Shelf Respect Patreon. *originaly published in October, 2025

We asked our Hardbacks to air their grievances about fiction and they answered. LOUDLY AND WITH FEELING. They shared the details, big and small, they despise in a novel. In this episode, we feature some of their complaints, as well as share a few of our own. And there's a kerfuffle about short stories.

Mentions:

• A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

• Alchemised by Senlinyu

• Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

• The Four Engagement Rings of Sybil Rain by Hannah Brown

• Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

• The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore

• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty

• The Bookshelf in Thomasville, GA

• The Compound by Aisling Rawe

• Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

• Annihilation movie streaming on Paramount+

• Inception movie streaming on HBO Max

• 50 Times Male Authors Proved They Know Next To Nothing About Women

• The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder

• Colton Gentry's Third Act by Jeff Zentner

• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

• It by Stephen King

• Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

• The New York Times Bestseller list wiki

• Publishers Weekly Bestseller List

• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

• Our Patreon: Shelf Respect

Join us as we unpack why we launched another podcast, who we are as readers, which books define us, and what to expect at Shelf Respect. *originally published in September, 2025

• Knox McCoy

• Jamie Golden

• Erin Moon (Elizabethe Montgomery)

• Shelf Respect on Instagram

• readwithshelfrespect.com

• The Popcast with Knox and Jamie

• Faith Adjacent

• Is Pierce Brown hot?

• Is our beloved Annie B. Jones a friend of this show?

• Raindrop app

• The Books That Defined Us On Bookshop.org

• Our Free Little Library on Patreon