Lance, Megan, and Deborah reflect on Black History Month, sharing personal experiences, reading insights, and the authors and stories that have shaped how they think about the month. The conversation moves between books, culture, and lived experience, creating space for thoughtful discussion rather than tidy conclusions.

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 

American Nations by Colin Woodard

Personal Everest by Renée Watson

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

A Sword and a Sea by Vanessa Riley

The Second Daughters of DePree by Nekesha Williams

Evicted by Matthew Desmond

All the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson

Will’s Race for Home by Jules Parker

(Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner)

Erasure by Percival Everett

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 Page Turners series continues as the group settles in to talk through what they’ve been reading lately. The conversation bounces between time travel, romance, bookish love, and the usual side paths that come with a table full of readers. Along the way, they share what’s been happening around the shop and invite anyone in the Emporia area to stop by, hang out, and find their next favorite read.

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.

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 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

George Falls Through Time by Ryan Collette

Galentine’s Day by Rebecca Anderson

Once Upon a Tome by Oliver Darkshire

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 group revisits a conversation with Tiffany Killoren, talking through her move from practicing law into writing fiction, what it cost to walk away from one profession, and how that decision slowly opened the door to a writing career that found readers far beyond where it began.

Stay connected with Middle Ground Books After Hours by following the store on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The team shares new arrivals, staff picks, community updates, and behind the counter moments.

Explore upcoming events, book recommendations, and new releases at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

If you are near Emporia Kansas, stop by Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street to shop local, meet the hosts, and find your next great read.

If you cannot visit in person, you can support the store through their Bookshop page at https://www.bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks.

Every purchase through Bookshop helps keep the shelves full and the community growing. You can also browse expanded reading lists curated by each host.

Middle Ground Books After Hours is remotely produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. Learn more about creative audio, music production, and media services at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com.

Follow @CosmicAtomSounds on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. If you have a podcast or creative idea waiting to be heard, Cosmic Atom Sound Studios helps bring your vision to life and make it sound. Let us come together and build something new.

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

A January episode with a little something sweet in the air, offering a happy early birthday nod to A. A. Milne.

The group spends the episode in the Hundred Acre Wood, talking all things Winnie-the-Pooh and the world Milne wrote into being.

Stay connected with Middle Ground Books After Hours by following the store on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The team shares new arrivals, staff picks, community updates, and behind the counter moments.

Explore upcoming events, book recommendations, and new releases at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

If you are near Emporia Kansas, stop by Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street to shop local, meet the hosts, and find your next great read.

If you cannot visit in person, you can support the store through their Bookshop page at https://www.bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks.

Every purchase through Bookshop helps keep the shelves full and the community growing. You can also browse expanded reading lists curated by each host.

Middle Ground Books After Hours is remotely produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. Learn more about creative audio, music production, and media services at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com.

Follow @CosmicAtomSounds on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. If you have a podcast or creative idea waiting to be heard, Cosmic Atom Sound Studios helps bring your vision to life and make it sound. Let us come together and build something new.

📖 The Covered Pages

The Bookbinder’s Secret by A. D. Bell

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliott

Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear by Daniel Bernstrom

The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne

Halfway Down by A. A. Milne

Waiting at the Window by A. A. Milne

If this caught your ears, you can find it through the links in the section above.

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

A special tribute episode in celebration of the belated "Tolkien day" based on Tolkien’s January 3 birthday.

The group talks about J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, touching on their personal histories, their books, friendships, and all that helped shape their writing.

Stay connected with Middle Ground Books After Hours by following the store on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The team shares new arrivals, staff picks, community updates, and behind the counter moments.

Explore upcoming events, book recommendations, and new releases at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

If you are near Emporia Kansas, stop by Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street to shop local, meet the hosts, and find your next great read.

If you cannot visit in person, you can support the store through their Bookshop page at https://www.bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks.

Every purchase through Bookshop helps keep the shelves full and the community growing. You can also browse expanded reading lists curated by each host.

Middle Ground Books After Hours is remotely produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. Learn more about creative audio, music production, and media services at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com.

Follow @CosmicAtomSounds on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. If you have a podcast or creative idea waiting to be heard, Cosmic Atom Sound Studios helps bring your vision to life and make it sound. Let us come together and build something new.

📖 The Covered Pages

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis

Perelandra by C. S. Lewis

That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis

The Pilgrim’s Regress by C. S. Lewis

The Allegory of Love by C. S. Lewis

The War of the Ring by Christopher Tolkien

The Kalevala translated by Elias Lönnrot

Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus

The Aeneid by Virgil

The Iliad by Homer

The Odyssey by Homer

The Mythmakers by John Hendrix

The Rembrandt Heist by Anthony M. Amore

The Museum of the Missing by Alex George

The Book Haters’ Book Club by Gretchen Anthony

Read This If You Want to Be a Great Writer by Ross Raisin

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Dubliners by James Joyce

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

If this caught your ears, you can find it through the links in the section above.

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

Lance, Debra, and Megan look back at their favorite reads from 2025 and share what they’re excited to read in 2026. The episode touches on what’s ahead for the store, including new events and activities, and ways they’re hoping to make the shop an even more active place for readers to spend time together in the year ahead.

📖 The Covered Pages

Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss

The Everlasting by Alex E. Harrow

Whitewash by Carey Gillam

Poisoning the Well by Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin

The Call by Yannick Murphy

Fast Like a Girl by Mindy Pelz

The Menopause Reset by Mindy Pelz

Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil by Oliver Darkshire

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe

The Torchlight by Mura Bofini

Somewhere, a Boy and a Bear by Daniel Bernstrom

If this caught your ears, you can find it through the links in the section below.

Stay connected with Middle Ground Books After Hours by following the store on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The team shares new arrivals, staff picks, community updates, and behind the counter moments.

Explore upcoming events, book recommendations, and new releases at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

If you are near Emporia Kansas, stop by Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street to shop local, meet the hosts, and find your next great read.

If you cannot visit in person, you can support the store through their Bookshop page at https://www.bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks.

Every purchase through Bookshop helps keep the shelves full and the community growing. You can also browse expanded reading lists curated by each host.

Middle Ground Books After Hours is remotely produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. Learn more about creative audio, music production, and media services at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com.

Follow @CosmicAtomSounds on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. If you have a podcast or creative idea waiting to be heard, Cosmic Atom Sound Studios helps bring your vision to life and make it sound. Let us come together and build something new.

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

This is the final part in the Christmas Special trilogy, closing out the holiday season with a conversation about Dungeon Crawler Carl and how it can actually be attuned to Christmas, kind of like Die Hard.

📖 The Covered Pages

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

If this caught your ears, you can find it through the links in the section below.

Stay connected with Middle Ground Books After Hours by following the store on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The team shares new arrivals, staff picks, community updates, and behind the counter moments.

Explore upcoming events, book recommendations, and new releases at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

If you are near Emporia Kansas, stop by Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street to shop local, meet the hosts, and find your next great read.

If you cannot visit in person, you can support the store through their Bookshop page at https://www.bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks.

Every purchase through Bookshop helps keep the shelves full and the community growing. You can also browse expanded reading lists curated by each host.

Middle Ground Books After Hours is remotely produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. Learn more about creative audio, music production, and media services at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com.

Follow @CosmicAtomSounds on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. If you have a podcast or creative idea waiting to be heard, Cosmic Atom Sound Studios helps bring your vision to life and make it sound. Let us come together and build something new.

A Thank You to Listeners and Followers:

The cast of Middle Ground Books would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours, and to say thank you for joining them for the laughter and the in depth conversations about the books they have come to love and wanted to share with you, the listening audience, After Hours once the store is closed for the day. There is more to come, but in the meantime they wish you a safe closeout to the year and an even safer time bringing in the new year.

Cosmic Atom Sound Studios would also like to thank you, the listener, for the interaction and support, and hope you enjoy every moment of hearing these three voices come through your speakers, headphones, or even your TV. Here’s to many more episodes ahead and, one day, to you visiting their shop in Emporia.

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

Part two of the three part Christmas special finds the group talking through children’s Christmas books and how those stories land differently now than they did growing up.

The Covered Pages

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss
• Jan Brett Christmas and winter titles: The Mitten, The Hat, The Christmas Sweater, Alice in Wonderland, The Nutcracker, Gingerbread Baby, and The Night Before Christmas
• How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney by Mac Barnett
• That Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen
• Elmore the Christmas Moose by Dev Petty and Mike Boldt
• Murray Christmas by E. G. Keller
• The Twelve Days of Christmas by Greg Pizzoli
• A Stickler Christmas by Lane Smith
• Let it Glow by Marissa Meyer
• The Christmas Murder Game series: The Christmas Cracker Killer by Alexandra Benedict
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
• A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles M. Schulz
• The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

If any of these caught your ears, you can find them through the links in the section below.

Stay connected with Middle Ground Books After Hours by following the store on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The team shares new arrivals, staff picks, community updates, and behind the counter moments.

Explore upcoming events, book recommendations, and new releases at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

If you are near Emporia Kansas, stop by Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street to shop local, meet the hosts, and find your next great read.

If you cannot visit in person, you can support the store through their Bookshop page at https://www.bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks.

Every purchase through Bookshop helps keep the shelves full and the community growing. You can also browse expanded reading lists curated by each host.

Middle Ground Books After Hours is remotely produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. Learn more about creative audio, music production, and media services at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com.

Follow @CosmicAtomSounds on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. If you have a podcast or creative idea waiting to be heard, Cosmic Atom Sound Studios helps bring your vision to life and make it sound. Let us come together and build something new.

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

The crew opens their first Christmas special by settling in with The Hogfather, the holiday tale they all read to get into the spirit of the season.

The Covered Pages

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

Mort by Terry Pratchett

The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett

If any of these caught your ears, you can find them through the links in the section below.

Stay connected with Middle Ground Books After Hours by following the store on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The team shares new arrivals, staff picks, community updates, and behind the counter moments.

Explore upcoming events, book recommendations, and new releases at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

If you are near Emporia Kansas, stop by Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street to shop local, meet the hosts, and find your next great read.

If you cannot visit in person, you can support the store through their Bookshop page at https://www.bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks.

Every purchase through Bookshop helps keep the shelves full and the community growing. You can also browse expanded reading lists curated by each host.

Middle Ground Books After Hours is remotely produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. Learn more about creative audio, music production, and media services at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com.

Follow @CosmicAtomSounds on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. If you have a podcast or creative idea waiting to be heard, Cosmic Atom Sound Studios helps bring your vision to life and make it sound. Let us come together and build something new.

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

The crew settles in to talk through the books they just finished reading, sharing first impressions, lingering thoughts, and the pieces of each story that stayed with them. They dig into how a book’s structure shapes the experience and how certain themes land once the final chapter closes. Also, Lance follows through on a promise he made in the last episode.

The Covered Pages:

“A Fire Endless” by Rebecca Ross

“The Spellshop” by Sarah Beth Durst

“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J. K. Rowling

“Treasury of the World’s Best Loved Poems”

"Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" by Blake Snyde

If any of these caught your ears, you can find them through the links in the section below.

Stay connected with Middle Ground Books After Hours by following the store on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The team shares new arrivals, staff picks, community updates, and behind the counter moments.

Explore upcoming events, book recommendations, and new releases at https://www.middlegroundbooks.com.

If you are near Emporia Kansas, stop by Middle Ground Books and Gifts at 606 Commercial Street to shop local, meet the hosts, and find your next great read.

If you cannot visit in person, you can support the store through their Bookshop page at https://www.bookshop.org/shop/middlegroundbooks.

Every purchase through Bookshop helps keep the shelves full and the community growing. You can also browse expanded reading lists curated by each host.

Middle Ground Books After Hours is remotely produced and audio engineered by Cosmic Atom Sound Studios. Learn more about creative audio, music production, and media services at https://www.cosmicatomsounds.com.

Follow CosmicAtomSounds on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. If you have a podcast or creative idea waiting to be heard, Cosmic Atom Sound Studios helps bring your vision to life and make it sound. Let us come together and build something new.

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