Chapter Thirty: School’s Out for Summer

Chapter Thirty-Four: AI Blues

Megan, Debra, and Lance talk Cory Doctorow’s The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI, the AI bubble, copyright, data centers, customer service dead ends, and the uneasy and frustrating feeling that technology is getting better at using people than helping them. 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 [https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks] Audiobooks https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks [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 [https://www.middlegroundbooks.com] Follow and subscribe to @middlegroundbooks on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to stay connected with the shop and the reading community. 📅 Store Events and News 📚 Upcoming Store Events (Check middlegroundbooks.com for current dates, times, and details) 📖 The Covered Pages The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 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 [https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com] ( ⁨@CosmicAtomSounds⁩) ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Accidentally on Purpose

Megan, Debra, and Lance sit down for a casual get-to-know-us episode about the choices, accidents, and small acts of welcome that helped shape Middle Ground Books into more than just a shop over the past two years. In this chapter, the hosts celebrate two years of Middle Ground Books and the unexpected moments in their lives that have stuck with them to this day. They talk small business, community, and upcoming book clubs, all while painting a portrait of the people behind the counter. There’s also a surprise guest and a story about Africa that you wouldn’t expect. 📚 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 [https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks] 🎧 Audiobooks https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks [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 [https://www.middlegroundbooks.com/] 📱 Follow 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 weekend at 606 Commercial Street, Emporia, Kansas) ✍️ Meadowlark Writing Workshop (June 18th at Middle Ground Books) 📚 Fantasy Book Club (Discussing The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins on June 25th) 🛸 UFO Book Club (Reading The Close Encounters Man by Mark O’Connell) 📚 Family Story Time (Every Saturday at 11 AM) 📖 The Covered Pages The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins The Close Encounters Man by Mark O’Connell Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Build Better AI by Cory Doctorow Starting a Business QuickStart Guide by Ken Colwell, PhD, MBA How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You by The Oatmeal Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson 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 [https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com/] (@CosmicAtomSounds) ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Page Turners Pt. 5

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/middlegroundbooks [https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks] Audiobooks https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks [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 [https://www.middlegroundbooks.com] Follow 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 Pages The 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 Swann 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 [https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Chapter Thirty-One: No-Mance Land

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 ebooks https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks [https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks] Audiobooks https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks [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 [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 Books by Melissa Albert The Children The Hazel Wood duology and companion Books by Terry Pratchett Mort Hogfather Guards! Guards! Books by Susanna Clarke Piranesi Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell Books by Ann Patchett Whistler Books by Isabel J. Kim Sublimation Books by Katherine Arden The Unicorn Hunters Books by Maggie O’Farrell Land Books by Lisa See Daughters of the Sun and Moon Books by Leah Rowan Marion Books by Jennifer N. Brown The Last Book of Elizabeth Barton Books by John Scalzi Starter Villain Books by Martha Wells Murderbot Diaries Books by Czajkowski Green City Wars Books by Alex Michaelides The Silent Patient Books by J. R. R. Tolkien Lord of the Rings Books by Stephen King Misery Books by Edwin Abbott Flatland 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 [https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com] ( ⁨@CosmicAtomSounds⁩) ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Chapter Thirty: School’s Out for Summer

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/middlegroundbooks [https://bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks] Audiobooks https://libro.fm/middlegroundbooks [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 [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 Escape 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. Stedman 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 [https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com] ( @CosmicAtomSounds⁩) ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.