If You’re Weird, You’re Family
I wanted to build a book club for peculiar people with weird interests. And then the authors turned up, too.
It began as a joke. Why, I asked, isn’t their an Oprah-style book club, by for Morticia Addams types? The old adage is true: don’t ask a question (on Twitter) if you don’t want an answer. There isn’t a peculiar book club, I was told. But there should be.
I am non-normative, a bit on the gothy side, into nerdery, and a lover of weird science and freaky facts. I’m hardly alone in that, and there are books out there in plenty to satisfy my desire for the edgy side of non-fiction. The trouble is, there isn’t much in the way of community. Most of the book groups I have encountered are more the Traveling Pants variety. All well and good, of course, but no one was sending out (black-trimmed, skull printed) invites to join them in discussions of the strange and true.
So what would a “peculiar” book club look like? It’s hard when you’re not like the other kids. If you’re into grave yards, Black Plague, ant-zombie-fungus, and vampire bats instead of the latest shows and bands, you get made fun of a lot. And when we find it hard to trust, we insulate. The perfect book club, I realized, must therefore be a sort of “found family.” Your interests would be safe from ridicule. The vibe would be open, accepting, accessible. And the BEST book club would go a step further. It wouldn’t just invite you to talk about your favorite books, it would invite you to speak directly with the authors.
Sounds like an impossible ask, doesn’t it? And yet, the emails came pouring in. Mary Roach was the first to answer. She is the author of NYT bestselling books like Stiff and Bonk (and new release Fuzz). Then Lindsey Fitzharris wrote; she authored the break-out best seller The Butchering Art. Soon, I’d heard from Deborah Blum and Judy Melineck, too, (famous authors of Poisoner’s Handbook and Working Stiff, respectively). Then Carl Zimmer, Sam Keane, Wendy Moore — and some more surprising folks like sci-fi and TV writer Chuck Wendig and producer Frank Spotnitz (X-files, Man in the High Castle). In the end, I had guests enough to do two shows a month for an entire year — and the Peculiar Book Club was born.
Each event has a registration on Eventbrite (by donation only, so no one is prohibited by cost). The live stream allows you to ask questions in the chat — and I put them right up on the screen with your name and avatar. Your authors, answering your questions… with chances to win signed copies and other swag; the first shows have been shockingly popular. But that isn’t even the best part. Within the chat, attendees are making connections. They are becoming friends, planning chat rooms to continue discussions that then spill out onto other social media platforms. Names and faces are becoming familiar to me. We are turning into Twitter-mates, DMing and sharing.
And the authors are sharing, too. That’s right; they sign up and attend each other’s shows — you, in the audience, with your favorite authors, watching their favorite authors. (And if you miss one, you can subscribe to our YouTube and watch them later). It’s gothy. It’s peculiar. It’s possibly the best thing I’ve ever done. And I hope you will join us sometime, because at the Peculiar Book Club, if you’re weird, you’re family.
