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:

* Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
* Podcast RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2566095.rss
* Check out our for-now website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co
* Patricia Briggs’ official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/
* Stories in timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html
* Follow 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

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:
* Message us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social 
* Check out our for-now website: https://shewhowrenches.carrd.co 
* Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
* Podcast RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2566095.rss

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: 

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”/for-now website: shewhowrenches.carrd.co 
* Follow and message us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social 
* Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
* Podcast RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2566095.rss
* Patricia Briggs' official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/ 
* Stories in timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html


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

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:
* Follow us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/shewhowrenches.bsky.social 
* Check out our for-now website: shewhowrenches.carrd.co 
* YouTube Channel: SheWhoWrenches
* Podcast subscribe link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2566095/episodes/18525659
* Other Mercy Thompson book resources:
    * Patricia Briggs' official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/
    * Stories in the timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html

Recording Date: 2026-01-23

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

Uncle Mike's Book Club Discusses chapters 14-15 of Moon Called. We go to the warehouse to rescue Adam and Jesse and witness a plan so convoluted, Sheev Palpatine could have thought it up. We discuss Jesse’s relationship to the werewolves, ALL the gun information and video game guns, using a wire coat hanger to get into your car with the keys locked inside, Tad’s offscreen appearances, the Rube Goldberg plan of Gerry’s, a tangent about women choosing to be werewolves and comparing becoming a werewolf to choosing a golf course, sexism in time travel, and why Kelly didn’t love Doc Carter Wallace’s closing scene. 

Random things mentioned: Lots of songs I can’t keep track of. Acme Products from the old Warner Bros. cartoons, Star Trek where people in Red Shirts die on away missions, “Bad Wolf” from Doctor Who, “It’s super effective!” from Pokémon, Star Wars Prequels, The Goonies, OK Go videos, Pokémon, using wire coat hangers to get locked keys out of the car (ask your parents), The original Star Wars movie (“That’s a presence I haven’t felt since…”), Girl from Ipanema.

Recording note: We’re all pretty sick with colds in this episode. And Brittany was so busy trying to get Eric lined up to the mic that she kept missing it herself. Whoops. We do (slowly) make quality progress over the various episodes, I promise!

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:
* Our Bluesky account: SheWhoWrenches.bsky.social
* Patricia Briggs' official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/
* Stories in timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html

Recording Date: 1/16/2026

Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro  
00:00:28 Recap Guy for Moon Called
00:03:44 Start covering the climax at the warehouse 
00:13:19 Guard wants to keep dosing Adam & Knee Cap Guy  
00:13:39 Adam getting coherent  
00:14:02 David Christiansen’s Mole Comes In  
00:14:21 Adam Sweating Silver  
00:14:39 Tour of Weaponry & Video Game Guns  
00:17:10 David's guy shoots the other Mercenary  
00:17:42 Pirate Game and Tad Adelbertsmiter’s introduction tangent  
00:18:26 Getting out of the warehouse full of werewolf mercenaries  
00:19:49 Mercy Thompson sensing witchcraft magic  
00:22:44 Calling Gerry with wolves
00:24:19 Gerry's Plan  
00:25:30 The take on Gerry’s plan from Bone Crossed  
00:27:54 Bran "takes care" of Doc Carter Wallace and the fallout in Aspen Creek  
00:30:45 Women and The Change to Werewolf  
00:33:51 Are super old werewolves actually less sexist/homophobic than medium-ones?  
00:34:34 Healing / germ immunity advantages of being a werewolf  
00:34:55 Wrap up the episode  

In this Episode, Uncle Mike's Book Club Discuss Chapters 11-13 of Moon Called, this time all recording from the same room! (Apologies for resultant echos from microphones kind of near each other during conversation overlap.) 

They covers Samuel post-vampire enthrallment a d the junior high gossip machine that is the Colombian Basin werewolf pack, through Thanksgiving with the mercenaries. They rag on Vanagon's yet again... and again later. Other references touched: Star Wars, Lord Of the Rings, WWE (Werewolf Wrestling Entertainment), Mark Gurman and the iPhone Rumor machine, Pulp Fiction, Keebler Elves…

And wrap up taunting the listener by eating Mercy Brownies... sort of. 

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). So if you aren’t caught up, maybe join us when you are?

Chapters:

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:31 Recap Guy
00:03:08 End Recap Guy
00:04:52 Workflow proposal to help audiobook readers pronounce names
00:06:27 Ragging on Vanagons again
00:08:15 Back to Samuel trying to come out of it and the call from Warren
00:17:29 After the wolves tell Mercy they'll handle it...
00:19:23 Kelly's Thanksgiving Rant
00:20:04 At the Garage on Thanksgiving
00:23:54 Mercy and the Mercenaries
00:34:45 Troll Tangent
00:35:19 Story continues: What the witches want
00:37:33 Snack time!
00:38:53 Goblins Gossip Corner (Mailbag)
00:40:08 Wrap up
00:40:59 Outtake


Links:
* Patricia Briggs' official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/
* Stories in the timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html


Date Recorded: 1/11/2026

In this Episode, Uncle Mike's Book Club Discuss chapters 7-10 of Moon Called. Mercy is leaving Aspen Creek with the bonus of a Samuel to make things extra awkward. We talked about how creators (not Patricia Briggs!) still need to be checked on things, and how refreshing that isn't in Mercy Thompson. We also speculated what is involved in werewolf dominance hashing out that we never witness? And maybe never should? 

How many werewolf packs have dominant wolves that aren’t in line to be the alpha?? Kelly and Brittany gush about how much they love Kyle and Warren, we get a deeper look at the Fae and then wonder at the Vampire Org Chart, and how do all the vampires *after* this know to take away her lamb??


**Listener question:** What slogan would give the Aspen Creek Chamber of Commerce? (Or Tourism Board— we misspoke)

Random things mentioned: Brittany keeps finding excuses to rag on the Star Wars Prequels, Tolkien and typewriters, What The Lone Gunmen from X-Files, Boba Fett, and Joey from Friends have in common, Apocalypse Now, Enchanted Forrest, Grocery Outlet Bargain Market… (Actually, they stayed amazingly mostly on topic this time.)


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). So if you aren’t caught up, maybe join us when you are?


Links:
* Patricia Briggs' official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/
* Stories in the timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html


Date Recorded: 12/19/2025

In this Episode, Uncle Mike's Book Club Discuss chapters 5-7 of Moon Called from the Mercy Thompson Series. Sure, we discuss Mercy's awkward reunion to Aspen Creek, but we also spend a good chunk of time discussing the towing capacity of a Vanagon uphill in the snow, the march of caller ID technology since Moon Called was written, a very Gen X nostalgia trip about pagers (kids, ask your parents), going back to small home towns, *that* motel we’ve all driven past…, bad password choices, very *very* old flames, have a good laugh about Parkinson's Disease and would a werewolf or vampire be a better cure? (In mostly good taste, promise.) And: what makes for a day-walking vampire? 


Listener question: What slogan would give the Aspen Creek Chamber of Commerce? (Or Tourism Board)


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). So if you aren’t caught up, maybe join us when you are?As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published (through Blind Date with a Werewolf). So if you aren’t caught up, maybe join us when you are?


Links:
* Patricia Briggs' official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/
* Stories in the timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html

Recording Date: 12/12/2025

Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro  
00:00:40 Tri-Cities reference in Mercy Thompson books  
00:01:52 Can you really haul a werewolf in a Vanagon???  
00:12:40 Tech rant about pagers and caller ID  
00:23:26 Called on the "real number" repeat  
00:24:38 Mercy just ACTS  
00:27:06 Samuel yells about not setting Adam's leg  
00:28:01 Werewolves are always cranky  
00:29:16 Listener Q: What slogan for Aspen Creek Tourism Board?

In this Episode, Uncle Mike's Book Club Discuss chapters 1-4 of Moon Called—the very first book in the Mercy Thompson universe! They talk generally about the book and world building, then get into the real story of Moon Called, when will Tony ask out Silvia again!?, Kelly’s Lost-like theory about Medea the cat, how long Mercy has known Stefan, Brittany’s weird family, Mercy’s brownie recipe, the half-hidden status of witches, maybe witches own 24 hour news channels and/or Facebook?, how do you get a 300lb werewolf into a vanagon?, communication technology changes (and reminiscing) since Moon Called was published, and Brittany’s theory about how technology moves so fast in Mercy’s world. 

Random things mentioned/referenced: Harry Potter, The Star Trek Experience (RIP), Space Balls, Facebook, Led Zeppelin

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). So if you aren’t caught up, maybe join us when you are?

Links:
* Patricia Briggs' official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/
* Stories in the timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html
* Link to Mercy brownie recipe: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3azuf7oz7v/?igsh=bmd5OXRsZmQ1amJm
Date Recorded: 11/21/2025



Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro  
00:03:04 Religion in Mercy Thompson  
00:05:33 Did Mercy Thompson Come Out of a Dare?  
00:10:18 Why It Pays to Pay Attention to the Books  
00:14:50 Kelly’s Medea Theory  
00:17:55 Stefan  
00:20:08 Brittany Slow on the Romantic Uptake  
00:22:07 All the (Magical) Creatures You’ll Meet  
00:22:48 Weird Happy Families Like on TV  
00:24:01 Mercy’s Brownie Recipe?  
00:25:51 The Status of Witches  
00:26:49 Brittany’s Witch Theory  
00:30:22 Mercy Not Deliberating Over Montana Trip  
00:32:11 Mercy Fled and Didn’t Debate Coming Back  
00:35:22 The Status of Phone Technology in Moon Called  
00:38:04 Brittany’s Tech Fae Theory

In this Episode, Uncle Mike's Book Club first talk about who they are, their relationship to the Mercy-verse books, and their favorite books (River Marked, Wild Sign, Storm Cursed). Then they do a fresh-reaction overview of Blind Date with a Werewolf, which had just come out. Including Sherwood Post reveals, how pretty Asil apparently is, and a debate over Asil’s future. 

Books we refer to by informal nicknames: the harp book (Winter Lost), the sickle book (Soul Taken), the horsey book (Dead Heat), the happy camp book (Wild Sign).

Random things mentioned: how we got into the Mercy Thompson books and our favorites, Percy Jackson (Apollo books), Chick-fil-a and witches,  

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published (through Blind Date with a Werewolf). So if you aren’t caught up, maybe join us when you are?

Oh, and the things we don't correct each other on- I promise we (mostly) know them. It just makes for lousy conversation to correct constantly on a side point. And I'm not making a directory of all the random things we call books when we blank on the titles. Someone else is welcome to.

Links:
* Patricia Briggs' official website with complete book list: https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/
* Stories in the timeline order (how they happen for Mercy): https://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/printabletimeline.html



Chapters: 

00:00:00 Intro  
00:00:16 How the Hosts All Got Into Mercy Thompson  
00:05:33 Our Favorite Mercy Thompson Books  
00:11:05 Fresh Takes on Blind Date with a Werewolf  
00:40:29 Outtake: Eric's Joke While We're Googling

In this Episode, Uncle Mike's Book Club discuss Patricia Briggs short story The Star of David. A Christmas Story about David Christiansen, the first werewolf to admit what he was publicly (even though this is before he does that). This was originally our test episode, but we figured we’d publish it anyway, so one can *hopefully* see improvement over time…

As always, there are potentially spoilers for every single book published. So if you aren’t caught up, maybe join us when you are.