Middle Ground Books: After Hours

A dead author’s unfinished book. Children forced into someone else’s plan. An ancient soul weighing. A flock of sheep solving a murder. Megan, Debra, and Lance talk about the stories people leave behind, who gets control of them, and why scotch may or may not count as soup.Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.Physical books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.Print and ebooks https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooksAudiobooks https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooksIf you’re near Emporia, Kansas, visit Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS to browse in person, meet the team, and find your next great read.You can also explore upcoming events, book clubs, and everything happening at https://www.middlegroundbooks.comFollow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.📅 Store Events and News🎉 Middle Ground Books 2nd Anniversary Celebration (Father’s Day in June at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, Kansas)🎬 Page to Screen Book Club (Launching in June, led by Kai)📚 Family Story Time (Every Saturday at 11 AM)🧢 Research Mode Hats Now In Stock (Green Middle Ground Books hats with the shop logo and the listener favorite “Research Mode” detail)📖 The Covered PagesThe Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke Heirs by Faridah Àbíké Íyímídé The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin Dad Brain by Darby Saxbe, PhD The Egyptian Book of the Dead, Papyrus Ani, compiled by E. A. Wallis Budge Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann Big Bad Wolf by Leonie SwannMiddle Ground Books After Hours is produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. If you’re working on a podcast, business media, or creative project and need audio, video, or media assets, learn more at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com

June is packed, and so is this episode. Megan, Debra, and Lance break down the biggest new releases hitting the shelves, including Ann Patchett’s quietly unsettling Whistler, Melissa Albert’s dark fairy tale adult fiction The Children, Isabel J. Kim’s buzzy sci fi thriller Sublimation, and Marion, a feminist Psycho retelling where this time, the knife is in her hands.Then a customer asks for fantasy novels without romance, and the shelf gets complicated fast. Project Hail Mary, Murderbot, Discworld, Piranesi, gothic fiction, Miss Marple, self defense, Harlequins, and Lance’s possible 500 subscriber romance punishment all end up inside the no mance debate.Can you recommend great books without romance, especially in fantasy?Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are!Physical books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.Print and ebookshttps://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooksAudiobookshttps://libro.fm/middlegroundbooksIf you’re near Emporia, Kansas, visit Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS to browse in person, meet the team, and find your next great read.You can also explore upcoming events, book clubs, and everything happening at https://www.middlegroundbooks.comFollow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.📖 The Covered PagesBooks by Melissa AlbertThe ChildrenThe Hazel Wood duology and companionBooks by Terry PratchettMortHogfatherGuards! Guards!Books by Susanna ClarkePiranesiJonathan Strange & Mr. NorrellBooks by Ann PatchettWhistlerBooks by Isabel J. KimSublimationBooks by Katherine ArdenThe Unicorn HuntersBooks by Maggie O’FarrellLandBooks by Lisa SeeDaughters of the Sun and MoonBooks by Leah RowanMarionBooks by Jennifer N. BrownThe Last Book of Elizabeth BartonBooks by John ScalziStarter VillainBooks by Martha WellsMurderbot DiariesBooks by CzajkowskiGreen City WarsBooks by Alex MichaelidesThe Silent PatientBooks by J. R. R. TolkienLord of the RingsBooks by Stephen KingMiseryBooks by Edwin AbbottFlatlandMiddle Ground Books After Hours is produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. If you’re working on a podcast, business media, or creative project and need audio, video, or media assets, learn more at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com ( ⁨@CosmicAtomSounds⁩)

Summer reads, childhood memories, and a whole lot of books. Megan, Debra, and Lance talk public pools, farm work, county fairs, and the stories they snuck in after dark. Plus June book club picks, a store birthday, discounts, and what is on their reading lists for the season.What childhood book still feels tied to summer in your memory?Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.Physical books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.Print and ebooks https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooksAudiobooks https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooksIf you’re near Emporia, Kansas, visit Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS to browse in person, meet the team, and find your next great read.You can also explore upcoming events, book clubs, and everything happening at https://www.middlegroundbooks.comFollow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.📖 The Covered PagesEscape to Witch Mountain by Alexander Key The Trouble With Miss Switch by Barbara Brooks Wallace The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clark The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins The Close Encounters Man by Mark O’Connell The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe The Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst A Far Flung Life by M. L. Stedman The Light Between Oceans by M. L. StedmanMiddle Ground Books After Hours is produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. If you’re working on a podcast, business media, or creative project and need audio, video, or media assets, learn more at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com ( @CosmicAtomSounds⁩)

Megan, Debra, and Lance celebrate crossing 100 YouTube subscribers with viewer shoutouts, comment responses, and a little appreciation for the people helping the podcast grow. Then science fiction takes over the shop, asking how much of the genre belongs to real science, how much belongs to imagination, and how much comes from the fears people are carrying at the time. H. G. Wells’ The Invisible Man, Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, the French comic Valerian, and Olivia Waite’s Murder by Memory shape a conversation about invisibility, alien communication, poppycock science, dystopian fiction, and climate anxiety. Some science holds up. Some really doesn’t.How much bad science are you willing to forgive if the story works?Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.Physical books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.Print and ebookshttps://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooksAudiobookshttps://libro.fm/middlegroundbooksIf you’re near Emporia, Kansas, visit Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS to browse in person, meet the team, and find your next great read.You can also explore upcoming events, book clubs, and everything happening at https://www.middlegroundbooks.comFollow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.📖 The Covered PagesThe Invisible Man by H. G. WellsThe Time Machine by H. G. WellsFlatland by Edwin A. AbbottRelativity The Special and the General Theory by Albert EinsteinThe Space Trilogy by C. S. LewisProject Hail Mary by Andy WeirValérian and Laureline by Jean Claude Mezieres and Pierre ChristinThe Fifth Element by Luc BessonOperation Bounce House by Matt DinnimanDungeon Crawler Carl by Matt DinnimanAfter the Fall by Edward AshtonThe Danger of Small Things by Carol LewisMurder by Memory by Olivia WaiteNobody’s Baby by Olivia WaiteAnd Another Thing by Eoin ColferThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas AdamsThe Hunger Games by Suzanne CollinsDivergent by Veronica RothThe Maze Runner by James DashnerSilvercloak by L. K. StevenStrange Buildings by UketsuMiddle Ground Books After Hours is produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. If you’re working on a podcast, business media, or creative project and need audio, video, or media assets, learn more at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com

An episode recorded near Christmas 2025, sent forward like a bookstore time capsule. Megan, Debra, and Lance have a conversation that somehow involves a naked detective over Los Angeles, imprisoned gods, betrayal, lost Narnia doors, and food comparisons that we have now grown accustomed to.Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.Physical books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.Print and ebookshttps://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooksAudiobookshttps://libro.fm/middlegroundbooksIf you’re near Emporia, Kansas, visit Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS to browse in person, meet the team, and find your next great read.You can also explore upcoming events, book clubs, and everything happening at https://www.middlegroundbooks.comFollow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.📖 The Covered PagesThe Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. JemisinStripped for Murder by Richard S. PratherEmbers by Sandor MaraiThe Lost Story by Meg ShafferThe Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. LewisMiddle Ground Books After Hours is produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. If you’re working on a podcast, business media, or creative project and need audio, video, or media assets, learn more at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com

Lit RPG takes over the shop as Megan, Debra, and Lance dig into Dungeon Crawler Carl, A Parade of Horribles, and the strange pull of stories built around game mechanics, monsters, and impossible odds. The conversation branches into isekai, Aethon Books, sci-fi versus fantasy, Reddit reactions, and why Matt Dinniman’s series hits harder than its premise suggests.Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.Physical books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.Print and ebookshttps://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooksAudiobookshttps://libro.fm/middlegroundbooksIf you’re near Emporia, Kansas, visit Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS to browse in person, meet the team, and find your next great read.You can also explore upcoming events, book clubs, and everything happening at https://www.middlegroundbooks.comFollow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.📖 The Covered PagesStrange Buildings by Uketsu Silvercloak by L. K. Steven The Close Encounters Man by Mark O'Connell The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman (Book 8 of Dungeon Crawler Carl) Delvers LLC by Blaise Corvin He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon The Primal Hunter by Zogarth Hell Difficulty Tutorial by Cerim The Martian by Andy Weir Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir The Three Body Problem by Liu CixinMiddle Ground Books After Hours is produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. If you’re working on a podcast, business media, or creative project and need audio, video, or media assets, learn more at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com

Debra, Megan, and Lance settle in after a long week for a looser, after-hours recording. The conversation drifts through Emporia Kansas events, Comic Con memories, merchandise ideas, and the podcast’s unexpected international reach, with side tangents that stretch from Bob Ross to Scooby-Doo. Another chance to spend time with the hosts outside the usual book talk. Well…for the most part.Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.Physical books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.Print and ebookshttps://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooksAudiobookshttps://libro.fm/middlegroundbooksIf you’re near Emporia, Kansas, visit Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS to browse in person, meet the team, and find your next great read.You can also explore upcoming events, book clubs, and everything happening at https://www.middlegroundbooks.comFollow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.📖 The Covered PagesAmerican Fantasy by Emma StraubThe Egyptian Book of the Dead by E. A. Wallis BudgeProject Hail Mary by Andy WeirAbsent by Brendan P. BellacourtOh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. SeussWill the Pigeon Graduate by Mo WillemsYou’re On Your Way by Melanie WattMarcie and the Giraffe by Kim Gregory12 Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. BeaulieuThe Dragons of Deepwood Fen by Bradley P. BeaulieuA Veil of Spears by Bradley P. BeaulieuMiddle Ground Books After Hours is produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. If you’re working on a podcast, business media, or creative project and need audio, video, or media assets, learn more at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com

Independent Bookstore Day is almost here, so the shop is in prep mode. There are plans for a costume event for kids, raffle prizes, local authors coming through, and a couple golden tickets hidden somewhere in the store. In between all the planning, the trio still finds time to give the rundown.When a bookstore turns an event into something interactive, does it bring people in or just add to the noise around it?Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.Physical books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.Print and ebookshttps://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooksAudiobookshttps://libro.fm/middlegroundbooksIf you’re near Emporia, Kansas, visit Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS to browse in person, meet the team, and find your next great read.You can also explore upcoming events, book clubs, and everything happening at https://www.middlegroundbooks.comFollow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.This chapter centers on Independent Bookstore Day at Middle Ground Books, with plans for a costume event, raffle prizes, local authors, and a couple golden tickets hidden somewhere in the store. Megan, Lance, and Debra talk through what’s coming together, what’s already in motion, and what they’ve been reading in the middle of it all, from mystery and horror to a few unexpected standouts.📖 The Covered PagesThe Wishing Game by Meg ShafferThe Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. HarrowA Song to Drown Rivers by Ann LiangMy Husband’s Wife by Alice FeeneyKingdom of Ash by Sarah J. MaasVicious by V. E. SchwabProject Hail Mary by Andy WeirDante’s Inferno by Dante AlighieriDelvers LLC by Blaise CorvinDungeon Crawler Carl: The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt DinnimanThe Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey HartmanShroud by Adrian TchaikovskyWhat Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher