Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Parade of Horribles

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.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Science Fiction Show

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 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 The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells The Time Machine by H. G. Wells Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott Relativity The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Valérian and Laureline by Jean Claude Mezieres and Pierre Christin The Fifth Element by Luc Besson Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman After the Fall by Edward Ashton The Danger of Small Things by Carol Lewis Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite And Another Thing by Eoin Colfer The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Divergent by Veronica Roth The Maze Runner by James Dashner Silvercloak by L. K. Steven Strange Buildings by Uketsu 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 Twenty-Eight: From You, 142 Days Ago

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 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 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin Stripped for Murder by Richard S. Prather Embers by Sandor Marai The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis 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 Twenty-Seven: A Parade of Horribles

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 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 Strange 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 Cixin 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.