Hello Friends,

As the year wraps up, I would love to hear your thoughts about what could make our community even better next year. If you haven't yet, please complete the Bindery member feedback survey

I'm planning on doing more giveaways in the next year, if you have a moment, please make sure you update your Bindery User Name. (I have 50 members with the name Bindery User!) Let's get to know each other!

Are you a paid member? Update your profile with your address and I will send you a holiday card sometime between now and the end of January! (The French do say Happy New Year all month!)

If you're not doing 75 booked, you're not on a Book Buying Ban! I've lowered prices and am clearing out these books on Pango. Check them out. Buy a few!

If you're like, what the heck is 75 booked and how do I join? Great Question. It's a 75 day challenge we are doing together:

• 2 reading sessions per day, one not in bed

• 1 bottle of water per reading session

• no book buying, we are reading our TBRs, going to the library, etc

• write down everything you're reading

I've customized my own to include 3 walks! You can jump in any time (Join the community Discord). Some people have started over and many are customizing to fit their needs.

Not for you? Don't worry! I've got another challenge announcing very soon (like this weekend! I've actually got 3 or 4 lined up!)

Hey, have you added the first book we are publishing together on Goodreads yet? Cover is coming VERY, VERY SOON!

The next post after this....MIGHT....be a giveaway? (it is) Want a hint?

Our book club picks are in for January - March of 2026! Thank you to everyone who joined up and voted. Our groups picks were:

• January: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

• February: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

• March: Malice by John Gwynne

It is free to join us, and never a commitment - read a month, skip a month, read at your own pace! If you want to be in on the book club, all you have to do is join our Discord, and be ready to talk books! Discord will be set up with chapter channels and spoiler alerts so you can talk details to your heart's content, and we will have an optional video call at the end of each month for anyone that wants to chat.

If you want to purchase these, you can click on the books tagged below and have the option for Amazon and Bookshop.org. Also, if you go to my links, I have a Bookshop.org affiliate page if you want, and a coupon for Pango Books if you prefer a used book. You can, of course, use these any time and it supports what I do a bit (thank you if you do!).

Thanks to everyone who signed up and voted, and I would love to see more of you join up and read with us. More details will be shared this month on the specifics of the book club, rules, and more. We will be picking books for the next quarter in February. See you in the club!

I owe you a post, more like I owe you a lot of posts. If you can't tell, November kind of passed me by in a whirlwind and I need to do a better job of figuring out how to stay on top of things because I feel like I have forgotten about y'all more than once. I actually came on her to say that I am working my way through ten before the end, which is more like 20 before the end because I'm a mood reader and I also read fast so I have a stack of like 35 books and I'm hoping at least 10 of them will work for me.

So far I have finished Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer (4 stars), All Superheroes Need Photo Ops by Elizabeth Stephens (5 stars), Savage Blooms by St. Gibson (5 stars), Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris (5 stars), and Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi (4 stars). I NRN'd (not right now) Arcana Academy by Elise Kova. I'm currently reading Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri. This is my first Tasha Suri book and five chapters in and I can tell I will need to be reading her backlist.

My thoughts so far: WPA was my first Kemmerer book and I liked her writing style, I was hooked and kept turning pages because I wanted to know what happened. I don't know if I would love her YA stuff as much because I really enjoyed the forbidden aspect of this MMF romance and the secrecy. I can't wait of book 2. Elizabeth Stephens wrote her FREAKNASTIEST book yet, and in her patreon she said blame it on her pregnancy hormones, but Darius said crawl and I almost got on my own damn knees. I think I've never given St. Gibson less than a perfect 5 star and this was no different. It gave me all the vibes of Thornchapel, my fave Sierra Simone series but damn it left us on quite a cliffy. Also super gay, we love. Say a Little Prayer was my book club pick this month and for all the religious trauma girlies, this one is going to be for you. It's YA and the FMC really is very teenagery. Also the titles of the chapters, honestly the writing style in general was so funny! Let but not least, this was Emezi's spiciest book yet, and it's an MFM that evolves into and MMF and I love that for us. I was hoping to have the same deconstruction vibes I got when I read The Fall That Saved Us, which is one of my favorite books of all time, but it just didn't hit as good, I think there could have been more explored in terms of Galilee's identity, I still loved it, I just wanted more, hence the 4 stars.

As far as Arcana Academy, I was bored. But I'm going to give it another try later because I really enjoyed the other books by Kova I've read.

Also we raised approximately $7,500 for foodbanks across the US during our Read to Feed auction and read-a-thon. If you participated, thank you so much! I am working on a more realistic posting schedule and more tuned on content for next year. I hope you all stick with me.

Hey, everyone! As you know, we read Cry, Voidbringer together last month! I don't know about you, but I had a great time revisiting the book. And to end the month, I reached out to Elaine and asked if she'd be open to joining us for a special bookclub meeting. AND SHE SAID YES!!!

If you are free this upcoming Monday (December 8th) at 7pm CST, come join us for a fun dive into Cry, Voidbringer with the author.

Here is the invite link for those of you who are available and able to join!

https://us05web.zoom.us/j/87221470022?pwd=ks91no7CE9FG96cy4FNk5AYwakZLns.1

Feel free to invite a friend. I would love for events like this to be an opportunity for us to introduce more people to the incredible community we've built here! Thanks, y'all!!!

Welcome back to another author interview! Today, I'm featuring an amazing horror writer that may be flying under your radar! Viggy Parr Hampton is the author of three published novels--with number four releasing in January.

Hampton's books are A Cold Night For Alligators (Outbreak, Urban exploration, Abandoned amusement park), Much Too Vulgar (Dark Academia, Unhinged female, Dark humor), The Rotting Room (Nuns, Possession, Historical), and her book releasing in January, A Veritable Household Pet (Sisterhood, Lobotomies, Loss of autonomy).

Let's dive into the interview!

1. Use this first question as an introduction. Tell us a little about you and your books. 

I’m Viggy Parr Hampton, and I’m an epidemiologist, host of the podcast “Horror Humor Hunger,” and the author of four horror novels: A Cold Night for Alligators, Much Too Vulgar, The Rotting Room, and A Veritable Household Pet. I’m drawn to stories where the characters—especially the villains—have a lot of depth and moral ambiguity, and I definitely don’t shy away from some medical and body horror!

2. You're the author of four books now (with A Veritable Household Pet coming out in January). What has been your favorite part of your writing journey? The hardest part?

My favorite part—which is also the hardest part—has been finding my voice as an author. When I was first starting out, I spent a lot of time writing short stories and practicing. It took me a few years to find my unique voice, instead of trying to write in anybody else’s style. As I continue to practice and hone my skills, I’m finding it easier and easier to tell the stories I want to tell in a way that feels most authentic to me.

3. I absolutely love how different each of your books are. What have been some of the biggest inspirations for your novels?

So many of my books have been inspired by real history or my own personal experience. For example, A Cold Night for Alligators was borne out of my experience as a student research epidemiologist at the CDC; Much Too Vulgar came from my time as an undergraduate at Georgetown University; The Rotting Room was inspired by an actual room called a ‘putridarium’ from the 17th century; A Veritable Household Pet is all about the very real—and very horrifying—practice of transorbital lobotomy. I love when I can weave in as much truth as possible into a book—it makes it that much more real, and that much more terrifying!

4.While I'm not asking you to pick favorites, has there been one novel that you've written that resonated with you more?

Until recently, I would have said Much Too Vulgar, simply because my main character, Keely, is a mouthpiece for all of the nasty thoughts I’ve ever had (but never acted upon!). Now, I would have to say A Veritable Household Pet, because the process of researching and writing that narrative was so surreal, so urgent, and so heavy. The subject matter is dark, but the characters are so multi-faceted that I couldn’t stop—and still can’t stop—thinking about them.

5.Do you have any writing routines or rituals that help you get in the zone?

I love to listen to ASMR videos while I’m writing! Something about those ambient background noises really helps me focus.

6. 2025 has been a big year for horror. What have been some of your favorites this year? 

This is such a hard question! If I had to name a few, I’d say When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy, The Lamb by Lucy Rose, The Artist of Blackberry Grange by Paulette Kennedy, and This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud (I read this as an ARC, so it doesn’t actually come out until 2026!). 

7. Any novels you're eager to read in 2026?

So many! The Fourth Wife by Linda Hamilton, Headlights by CJ Leede, Play Nice by Rachel Harrison, Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang, and Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby.

8. If any of your books got adapted into a film, which one would you love to see on the screen? Do you have a dream cast?

I would love to see Much Too Vulgar adapted for the screen! I think Mia Goth would make an excellent Keely, Brooke Shields would be a great Ellen Rexroth (Keely’s mother), Hailee Steinfeld could be Erica, Steve Buscemi would be Father O’Meara, and Lili Reinhart would be a great Airhead Ani! 

9. Are you working on any other projects at the moment? 

Yes! My fifth novel, Ripped Up the Middle in Two, will be published in the fall of 2026. It’s a sort of motherhood creature feature about a postpartum mom who starts to wonder if there’s an evil fairy living in the woods that wants her baby, or if it’s all in her head.

10. Out of your four novels, which character did you connect the most with?

Definitely Keely from Much Too Vulgar. But I promise I’m not nearly as mean as her!

Anything you'd like to add? Drop it down here. I can't thank you enough for agreeing to this!

I also have a podcast called “Horror Humor Hunger,” which is about all things horror. Each season revolves around a short story or novel of mine, and the finale is a recipe inspired by that story! I've interviewed everybody from bestselling authors and psychics to exorcists, filmmakers, jelly artists, and tabletop game developers. 

I’m also part of the Purgatory Media team, and I have a segment on our YouTube channel called “Tag Team Tales of Terror,” where I challenge fellow authors to create a story with me in 30-second increments based on a prompt I pull out of a hat. Here’s a recent one with Rachel Harrison! https://youtu.be/wvwJ2JhowCI

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

The History Sickos Book Club Selection for December

Genre(s): Nonfiction, History

Release: 4/18/2023

Format/Length: Paperback/368 pages

What historical periods are covered?

~1740-1743 during the War of Jenkins' Ear (a conflict between Britian and Spain, a precursor to the Seven Years' War)

Book summary excerpt...

"... a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on The Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain..."

My smooth-brained thoughts...

Hey you know what sucked? Being on a boat in the 18th century. And scurvy, which was also bad. Additionally, being stranded on a desolate island, I can only assume, is the drizzling shits.

Even before we leave port this adventure has all the signs of a shitshow. Like imagine being a sailor coming back from some arduously long, lice-ridden journey, going to the bar to get a little loose, and suddenly a press gang spots your checkered shirt and tarred fingers and decides to force you on this doomed exercise in imperial babytown frolics. That's how The Wager kicks off, well kinda, they can barely get this thing repaired enough to be seaworthy and have a devil of a time getting on their way. This was doomed from the start and it only gets progressively worse.

Grann spins this yarn in a way that's gripping and compulsively readable. You can really feel the wet misery and the salt sores on your ass. And all the while you're trying to figure out who is full of it and who has the right of it (if anybody), as the crew splinters into quarrelling factions. Grann does what he can with the conflicting accounts and stitches all this together with dogged research. The pacing, combined with the suspense, is relentless. I devoured this over the course of three days. It's supremely un-put-downable.

My qualms are minor. Yes, this could've been longer and more detailed. I get why it's not and I'm happy it's not. The only issue that arises from that brisk pace is the attempts at historical reframing suffer. This is at times meant to be an indictment of empire and the imperial myth, which I'm on board for, but the summary statements featuring those criticisms don't feel earned or backed up enough.

Random, Choice Highlights (spoiler'ish? all from part 1)

• "He had seven children with his first wife, and, after she died, he had six more with his second, among them David. In 1705, the year that David celebrated his eighth birthday, his father stepped out to fetch some goat's milk and dropped dead"

• "Sailors who got snatched up were transported in the holds of small ships known as tenders, which resembled floating jails, with gratings bolted over the hatchways and marines standing guard with muskets and bayonets."

• "An admiral described one bunch of recruits as being 'full of the pox, itch, lame, King's evil, and all other distempers, from the hospitals at London, and will serve only to breed an infection in the ships; for the rest, most of them are thieves, house breakers, Newgate [Prison] birds, and the very filth of London.'"

• "Cheap watched the incoming invalids, many of them so weak they had to be lifted onto the ships on stretchers."

Rating & Recommendation...

A high-end 4.5 stars, verging on 4.75. This is the perfect type of narrative book for non-nonfiction readers to dip their toe into that genre. It's also going to be a re-read for me one day, it's that damn good and wild. If you want in on the action, the discussion forums in the Discord are still active for this.

Similar Recommendations

A Night to Remember by Walter Lord

Born to Be Hanged by Keith Thomson

Endurance by Alfred Lansing

Enemy of All Mankind by Steven Johnson

Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen

Cozy Gaming Giveaway: Twinkleby

Have you heard of the game: Twinkleby? As you guys know, I've been in a gaming slump but I've been playing more idle games like decoration games since October while listening to my audiobooks as part of my audio rehab that I'm doing with my hearing aids.

Here's a description of it:

Twinkleby is a cozy decoration game where you map out an archipelago of floating islands and build dioramas for a society of spacefaring Neighbours. Expand your collection, discover antique secrets, decorate, and when you change your mind – evict everyone and throw their furniture into space!

More about the Giveaway:

Thanks to Twinkleby Developers (Might & Delight, which you guys can find their website here) we are hosting a 5 winners for our Twinkleby game on Discord, which you can join by going to the membership and subscribing here for free.

• Watch Twinkleby videos on Youtube

• Read more about Twinkleby on Steam

• Download Twinkleby Press Assets here

We'll keep the giveaway going till December 15th and the winners are selected randomly on discord. I can't wait to see what you guys think of the game!

2026 is going to be a great horror (and horror adjacent) year. I've been compiling a list over the last few weeks and it is LONG LONG LONG.

Here are 10 horror books I am looking forward to next year:

1. On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah Yah Scholfield, 1/27/26

   Southern Gothic, woods of Georgia, ghosts, haints and truths

2. Humboldt Cut by Allison Mick, 1/27/26

   Eco-horror about a Black woman returning home to the redwoods of Northern California (going there in two weeks! my favorite place) and unearthing monsters, environmental destruction, botanical and psychological horror

3. A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James, 1/20/26

   Siblings return to the house they fled 20 years ago. Return to a familiar setting in The Sundown Motel

4. This House Will Feed by Maria Tureaud, 1/27/26

   Ireland's Great Famine, a young woman is offered a position in a remote manor

5. This Is Not A Test by Courtney Summers, 1/13/26

   The Breakfast Club meets 28 Days Later , a traumatized woman has to survive the zombie apocalypse

6. Maria The Wanted by V. Castro, 2/10/26

   A would-be immigrant turned vampire in Mexico is wanted by the cartel, an Aztec trafficker and the Devil she can't resist

7. A Slow and Secret Poison by Carmella Lowkis, 2/10/26

   A young gardener at an English manor falls in love with her employer, deadly secrets, sapphic gothic

8. The Fall of Iris Henley by Jennifer Graham, 2/24/26

   A Texas Teen accused of murder, reddit, Veronica Mars Author

9. Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer, 2/10/26

   A trad wife influencer allows a demonic creature to impregnate her

10. Cruelty Free by Carolina Glenn, 2/3/26

    A disgraced movie star returns to Hollywood 10 years after the kidnapping of her young daughter to seek revenge, grief, womanhood, toxic beauty standards, satire