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 ebooks

https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks

Audiobooks

https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks

If 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.com

Follow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.

📖 The Covered Pages

American Fantasy by Emma Straub

The Egyptian Book of the Dead by E. A. Wallis Budge

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Absent by Brendan P. Bellacourt

Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss

Will the Pigeon Graduate by Mo Willems

You’re On Your Way by Melanie Watt

Marcie and the Giraffe by Kim Gregory

12 Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu

The Dragons of Deepwood Fen by Bradley P. Beaulieu

A Veil of Spears by Bradley P. Beaulieu

Middle 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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 ebooks

https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks

Audiobooks

https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks

If 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.com

Follow 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 Pages

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

Vicious by V. E. Schwab

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Delvers LLC by Blaise Corvin

Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman

The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman

Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Megan, Debra, and Lance open with a Comic-Con recap before moving into a National Poetry Month reading. They explore haiku from Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki, selections from Shel Silverstein, slam pieces by Taylor Mali and Mike McGee, and Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est.” The conversation also includes original Midwestern poetry from Kerry Moyer and a reading of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Bed in Summer.” This special episode releases after the Comic-Con video production timeline, with the full convention footage now available on YouTube.

Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.

📖 Physical books and ebooks through the shop’s Bookshop page

https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks

Audiobooks

https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks

If 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 the shop at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

Follow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.

📖 The Covered Pages

Haiku (Amber Books illustrated collection) by Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa, Masaoka Shiki

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Haiku Kaiju Achu by George McClements

“Labeling Keys” by Taylor Mali

“Open Letter to Neil Armstrong” by Mike McGee

“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen

“Bed in Summer” by Robert Louis Stevenson

Poems by Kerry Moyer

Middle 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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Middle Ground Books After Hours steps onto the Comiccon floor. Along the way, you’ll meet Jeffrey Winkler, who founded Cate’s Concepts and works across both design and hands-on building, Stephanie Hasen, a literary agent working with authors and publishers in children’s and young adult literature, Basi, owner of Senciil Studios, a Midwest-based Black comic book company, Kyle Strahm, known for his work on comics like"Twig", and Chris Grine, an American cartoonist, writer, and illustrator adapting Animorphs into a graphic novel series.

This chapter looks at the people who helped make Comic Con what it is, and shows how those same paths are still open to the ones working toward them.

Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.

📖 Physical books and ebooks through the shop’s Bookshop page

https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks

Audiobooks

https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks

If 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 the shop at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

Follow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.

Middle 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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The bookstore trio scrambles to finish Comicon costumes while celebrating their surprising connection to Wishbone, the beloved literary dog. Lance reads gruesome passages from Dante's Inferno, sparking debate about whether it's profound literature or medieval fanfic. Inspired by a book about magical libraries that relocate people into classic novels, they debate which public domain book they'd escape into, from Winnie the Pooh to Pride and Prejudice.

If any of these books caught your ear, you can get your copy through Middle Ground Books, wherever you are. Print books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.

Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.

📖 Physical books and ebooks through the shop’s Bookshop page

https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks

Audiobooks

https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks

If 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 the shop at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

Follow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.

📖 The Covered Pages

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn

The Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence

Middle Aged Man in a Trash Can by William Bryan Johnson

Hell to Pay by William Bryan Johnson

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins

Middle 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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Megan and Debra bring in their latest book club picks while Lance reads from a Terry Pratchett story, all of it sitting in the same space at once while they all get ready for Comicon.

Do you push through a book no matter what, question everything as you go, or stop the second something feels off?

If any of these books caught your ear, you can get your copy through Middle Ground Books, wherever you are. Print books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.

Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.

📖 Physical books and ebooks through the shop’s Bookshop page

https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks

Audiobooks

https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks

If 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 the shop at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

Follow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.

📖 The Covered Pages

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

His and Hers by Alice Feeney

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

Dragons at Crumbling Castle by Terry Pratchett

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

Middle 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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irish mystery fiction, St. Patrick’s Day folklore, and a focus on Caimh McDonnell’s Bunny McGarry series and its mix of humor and crime.

If any of these books caught your ear, you can get your copy through Middle Ground Books, wherever you are. Print books and ebooks are available worldwide through the shop’s Bookshop page, and audiobooks are available through the store as well.

Support Middle Ground Books wherever you are.

📖 Physical books and ebooks through the shop’s Bookshop page

https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks

Audiobooks

https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks

If 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 the shop at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

Follow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.

📖 The Covered Pages

Disaster Inc by Caimh McDonnell

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn

This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Super Nintendo The Inside Story of the Game Changing Console by Keza MacDonald

All About Allergies by Zachary Rubin

When Trees Testify by Beronda L. Montgomery

Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman

Middle 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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fantasy author T. Kingfisher has built a reputation for mixing humor, horror, and strange creatures in unforgettable ways. This episode looks at Nine Goblins and the unusual tone that defines her fantasy worlds.

When fantasy mixes humor with darker elements, does it make the story more memorable or does it pull you out of the world?

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/middlegroundbooks

Audiobooks

https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks

If 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.com

Follow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community.

This chapter centers on T. Kingfisher’s Nine Goblins while branching out into the tone and storytelling style that runs through much of her fantasy work. Megan, Lance, and Debra talk about the strange humor woven through the story, the unsettling moments hiding beneath the jokes, and the unusual characters that make Kingfisher’s books stand out in modern fantasy.

📖 The Covered Pages

Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

Middle 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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.