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SO YOU WANT TO FIND A NEW PODCAST OBSESSION?
In which I recommend many podcasts to you, because oh god I need someone to talk about them with.
Note: Narrative podcasters are generally good about listing their content warnings in their episode descriptions. If you have subjects that you’re sensitive to, be sure to check those before listening to these stories, especially if they’re in the horror category.
My Top Ten Favorites:
- Wolf 359
- The Pasithea Powder
- The Silt Verses
- Janus Descending
- Girl in Space
- The Magnus Archives
- The White Vault
- Tides
- Zero Hours
- Second Star to the Left
HORROR
Janus Descending
Link: https://janusdescending.libsyn.com/
Summary: Two xenoarcheologists find themselves on a small world orbiting a binary star. But what starts off as an expedition to survey the planet and the remains of a lost alien civilization, turns into a monstrous game of cat and mouse, as the two scientists are left to face the creatures that killed the planet in the first place....
My Thoughts: This was the podcast that really started my love affair with narrative podcasts, along with Wolf 359. The story is told non-linearly, with Chel’s side of the story moving from the beginning of the mission to the end of it, while Peter’s is told from the end to the beginning. This allows the mystery of what happened to the dying world and to them to unfold slowly, and places the emotional climax of the story exactly where it needs to be to have the most impact. Also, I will someday write an essay on why what killed the planet is not the scariest part of this story. I also enjoy listening to the full narrative supercut for this one, in part because then you don’t have to sit through the entry and outro music or worry about getting the episode order wrong. If you do listen to each episode, make sure to listen to them in publication order, rather than by Entry #. The flow doesn’t work as well if you listen by chronological order, though it's fun to try after your first listen. That said, the supercut doesn’t have the content warnings listed, so bear that in mind before diving in.
I am in Eskew
Link: https://www.iamineskew.com/
Summary: I Am In Eskew is a single-narrator audio-drama, with one foot in horror and another in weird fiction/fantasy. Our narrator is David Ward, a man apparently trapped in the bizarre and ever-changing city of Eskew. Every episode, he explores some new element of the city - or finds himself trapped by a new horror, no matter how hard he’s trying to escape. Over time, we begin to hear from Riyo, an investigator in London who’s been hired to search for David - and finds herself drawn into the weird orbit of Eskew. Influences include Thomas Ligotti and Junji Ito; the show has also been compared tonally with the works of HP Lovecraft and China Mieville.
My Thoughts: This is the most surreal podcast on this list and I’m only about halfway through it. It has a mind-bending setting and really hones in on the feelings of loneliness that the characters experience. Think of it as a story about a haunted house, except it's to the scale of a city.
Old Gods of Appalachia
Link: https://www.oldgodsofappalachia.com/
Summary: In the mountains of central Appalachia, blood runs as deep as these hollers and just as dark. Since before our kind knew these hills, hearts of unknowable hunger and madness have slumbered beneath them. These are the oldest mountains in the world. How dare we think we can break the skin of a god and dig out its heart without bringing forth blood and darkness? Old Gods of Appalachia is a horror-anthology podcast set in the shadows of an Alternate Appalachia, a place where digging too deep into the mines was just the first mistake.
My Thoughts: This is another one of the podcasts that ranks high on internationally acclaimed horror podcasts lists. I’m only halfway through this one, but I really like the worldbuilding and how the writing weaves in the paranormal with historical disasters in the Appalachian region. Plus, the creators of the podcast are all from Appalachia, so it gives the stories a very personal touch. Also, their accents are a treat to listen to.
The Culling
Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-culling/id1479723447
Summary: On a remote planet, a team of researchers creates a long-range transmitter. It works, but what else listens to the signal that calls into the darkness of deep space?
My Thoughts: This podcast is actually a Choose You Own Adventure story! The transitions don’t always happen smoothly (though I can’t say that I followed all of the branches the way I was supposed to), but it was a fun ride, even if most of the endings are grim. Still, if you liked Goosebumps as a kid, you’ll have a good time with this.
The Magnus Archives
Link: https://rustyquill.com/the-magnus-archives/
Summary: “Make your statement, face your fear.” The Magnus Archives is a weekly horror fiction anthology podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organization dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join new head archivist Jonathan Sims as he attempts to bring a seemingly neglected collection of supernatural statements up to date, converting them to audio and supplementing them with follow-up work from his small but dedicated team. Individually, they are unsettling. Together they begin to form a picture that is truly horrifying because as they look into the depths of the archives, something starts to look back….
My Thoughts: This is the top horror podcast in Europe and for good reason. It begins as a series of spooky ghost stories which, by the back half of season one, start to form an overarching plot. It’s probably the easiest of the podcasts in this list to sink into and has some very vivid characters, who go through a lot of growth over the course of the series. Overall, it’s fun and is complete at 5 seasons (200 episodes, each around 20 minutes).
The Silt Verses
Link: https://www.thesiltverses.com/
Summary: Carpenter and Faulkner, two worshippers of an outlawed god, travel up the length of their deity’s great black river, searching for holy revelations amongst the reeds and the wetlands. As their pilgrimage lengthens and the river’s mysteries deepen, the two acolytes find themselves under threat from a police manhunt, but also come into conflict with the weirder gods that have flourished in these forgotten rural territories. This is a world where divine intervention takes place through prayer-markings scratched into stumping-posts, and offerings are left squirming to die in the flats of the delta. This is a world of ritual, and hidden language, and sacrifice. This is folk horror, and fantasy, and a dark road trip into the depths of unusual faith.
My Thoughts: This is made by the same creators as I am in Eskew, and while I haven’t finished Eskew, The Silt Verses is a huge step up for them. The setting is filled with strange and terrible gods, many of them corporately-designed. The emotional core of the story is in how the main characters relate to their faith—Carpenter having conflicted feelings towards her god, Faulkner being a zealot, and Paige being disillusioned with the gods in general—and how they relate to each other. I like this one for how distinct all of the gods feel and how creepy the cults are, and I also adore Carpenter, who is heavily implied to be ace and aromatic.
The White Vault
Link: https://thewhitevault.com/
Summary: Explore the far reaches of the world’s horrors. Follow the collected records of a repair team sent to a remote arctic outpost and unravel what lies waiting in the ice below. The White Vault is a horror fiction audio drama podcast that features languages and voices from around the globe. It often showcases the found footage format, accurate depictions of modern archaeology, and isolation horror, brought to life by a full cast and detailed soundscape.
My Thoughts: This podcast employs voice actors from around the world, which means that some of them have English as their second language. This, for the first 2-3 episodes, gives the listener the initial impression that the acting is stilted. This is not actually the case, as becomes glaringly apparent once the plot kicks in. And once it kicks in, it’s a ride that will keep you up late at night listening to it, with the sound mixing and the monsters giving you spine-tingling chills. The worldbuilding also struck me as different from what you usually find in horror settings, with a more archaeological approach.
SCIENCE FICTION
Among the Stars and Bones
Link: http://www.amongthestarsandbones.com/episodes/
Summary: It’s 2211 and humanity has left Earth and colonized new worlds and explored and exploited many places within thirty or so light years of our home planet.
On Proxima Centauri B. about 40 years ago, the first ever evidence of intelligent extra-terrestrial life was found in the form of a wrecked scouting ship that had crashed there sometime around the year 900 AD (a date used as a yardstick to measure other finds against, referred to as First Discovery). The media dubbed the aliens The Proximans, and since there was nothing to tell where the aliens came from, the name stuck.
Since then there have been a half dozen other discoveries of Proximan sites on other worlds, spawning the fields of xenoarchaeology, xenobiology, xenolinguistics and xenoanthropology, as well as creating much interest in exploiting the technology of the more advanced aliens for humanity’s (corporate) benefit.
This led to the formation of The Eudoxus Initiative, a joint corporate-military-academic entity that combines the resources and expertise of all three fields to make exploration and exploitation of alien finds all the more efficient. The initiative has several taskforces that make regular expeditions and digs across known space.
These expeditions take place weeks, sometimes months of travel away from populated sectors of space, and real-time communication is not possible. However powerful stellarcast generators can send out information packets about once every two days that get documentation, recordings and other data back to headquarters in mere hours. As part of these stellarcasts, all department heads are required to include a summary audio report to the off-site project manager of their mission to update on progress and areas of focus for the mission. It is these reports that form the episodes of Among the Stars and Bones.
My Thoughts: I enjoyed this one, though I think the finale suffers from needing to provide too much exposition to the listeners, after what was excellent pacing beforehand. That said, the characters are solid, with a refreshing amount of sensitivity and openness from the male characters. One of them has a speech about his daughter that will stay with you afterwards, even as the other details fade. I also thought the twist was well-done.
Ars Paradoxica
Link: https://arsparadoxica.com/
Summary: Dr. Sally Grissom is a brilliant, charismatic scientist from the future. After an accident with her Higgs Inhibitor Array in the year 20█, Sally finds herself in a world that is not her own: America, 1943. Highly opinionated and always ready to make a pop culture reference none of her pre-millennial friends would understand, Sally sticks out like a sore thumb in any group she’s in. Determined to solve time travel and save the world, Sally is the physicist trapped in the past that any of us would want to be.
ars PARADOXICA is a story about people searching for meaning in a universe that aggressively lacks one, and who occasionally find the next best thing in those around them. It's also about the way power corrupts. When you've got a time machine and the backing of the most powerful nation on Earth, you start to get the idea that you can always tilt the scales in your favor, but there is cost and consequence for every action. Above all, it's about science, America, and the deeply human desire to fix our mistakes.
My Thoughts: This is another podcast that frequently ranks high on the scifi list. I think its unflinching focus on the ugly reality of living in WW2 America and in the years afterwards gives this podcast a solid grounding, despite the high concept it’s dealing with. It almost feels literary, especially where the characters are concerned. That said, I didn’t end up finishing it, because I sometimes struggled to tell who was speaking, and I realized that I wasn’t attached to the characters. This is probably a matter of personal taste, though, as other people rave about this one. I do think that episode 17, “Plasticity,” is worth a listen to, even if you ignore everything else. It’s a tough one, given that it focuses on a group of children going through time-travel experiments, but is one of the strongest episodes in terms of emotional impact and can mostly stand on its own.
Girl in Space
Link: https://www.stitcher.com/show/girl-in-space
Summary: Nothing fancy here -- just the simple audio diary of a girl in space. Also, there’s this weird and potentially ominous light in the distance that seems to be growing steadily closer. Listen for science, guns, trust, anti-matter, truth, beauty, inner turmoil, and delicious cheeses. It’s all here. In space.
My Thoughts: This one has good, wholesome found family feels, alongside contempt for capitalism and some incredibly creepy refrains from the robot (“Would you like the live forever?”). I would classify it as science fantasy, since there seems to be some sort of magical weirdness going on. The cast of characters are all lovable and the mystery of what X’s parents were doing is very engaging, so I’m eagerly looking forward to what happens in season two.
HAVOC
Link: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/havoc-1033256
Summary: A sci-fi audio drama told in transmissions between Houston and NASA's abandoned High Altitude Venus Operational Carrier (HAVOC). When radio operator Noah Anderson receives a distress call from Dr. Avery Beck, the pair must unravel the mystery behind the ghost ship - before it unravels them.
My Thoughts: This one only has a few episodes, so I’m worried that it won’t complete its first season, but what is there is very creepy. Basically, there are space zombies and the characters aren’t sure what’s going on with that. I’m guessing there was something bad on Venus. Here’s hoping this picks up again so we get an answer to the mystery!
InCo
Link: https://incopodcast.com/
Summary: InCo is a sci-fi story about a disgruntled information courier, the boy she ends up fishing from the inky void of space, and a rudimentary health android. The job is dangerous, the boy is annoying, and the android is just trying her best. As they navigate a world that either cares too little, or too much about who and what they are, a tale begins to unfold. Welcome to the world of InCo. Remember, everything has its price.
My Thoughts: This is another one that I’m only halfway through, which I would mostly recommend on sheer technical and acting accomplishments alone—because it’s made by just one person. One. All of the voices are done by one person. As such, there is the occasional moment where you might be confused as to who is talking—I’d recommend reading the episode descriptions as you go along—but mostly I’d think there was a team producing this if I didn’t know better. The episodes are also very short, each less than ten minutes long, so the archive isn’t too daunting to get through.
Khôra
Link: https://redcircle.com/shows/khora-podcast
Summary: The women from the tale of Jason and the golden fleece face space monsters, reality TV stars, and the sometimes benevolent, mostly dangerous Olympus Corp as they take on the quest to return the Fleece to Colchis. It’s got pirates, it’s got sentient spaceships, and it’s All About The Ladies! It’s also very queer.
My Thoughts: I always find re-imaginings of myths fun. The Olympians are as terrible here as they were in the original stories, and the stories of these women are shifted to be less harrowing. Still, the crew goes through some tough things, and all of them are complicated, flawed characters, which is nice to see in a female cast.
Limetown
Link: https://www.stitcher.com/show/limetown
Summary: Ten years ago, over three hundred men, women and children disappeared from a small town in Tennessee, never to be heard from again. In this podcast, American Public Radio reporter Lia Haddock asks the question once more, "What happened to the people of Limetown?"
My Thoughts: This is a very compelling, though also very dark mystery/hard scifi story. The weakest part of it is the narrator, who doesn’t have much of a personality. However, the unfolding story of the tragedy that befell the town makes up for it in spades. Also, while there is a season two, which does interesting things with the concepts introduced in season one, it’s not nearly as riveting as its predecessor. It’s probably better to think of season two as a side story, rather than a continuation of season one.
Marsfall
Link: https://marsfallpodcast.com/
Summary: Leaving Earth and its problems behind seemed ideal, but no one anticipated just how difficult colonizing Mars would be. Marsfall follows some of the earliest colonists to settle on Mars in the year 2047, and each episode continues the story from a different character’s perspective. Led by their fearless commander Jacki O’Rania, and assisted by the artificial intelligence unit ANDI, they strive to make a home on the Red Planet while exploring its deeper mysteries.
My Thoughts: I got a few episodes into this one and got distracted, but the setting is very pulpy, with strange, lush, alien forests and possibly monsters. The captain is charmingly nerdy and I’ve heard the AI unit is supposed to be one of the most interesting parts of the show. It’s another one many people are fond of.
Moonbase Theta, Out
Link: https://monkeymanproductions.com/moonbase-theta-out/
Summary: It is 2098. The Moonbase program has been determined unprofitable. The last base, Theta, is twenty weeks from being decommissioned. Most of the crew is in stasis awaiting retrieval. Five remain – Roger Bragado-Fischer, Nessa Cheong, Ashwini Ray, Michell L’Anglois, and Wilder. Join the crew of Moonbase Theta as they reach out to share the beauty, the isolation and frustration, the love and enmity, the humor, and the tragedy, as all count down to the operation’s end.
My Thoughts: The first season is narrated by the comms officer, Roger, with the second season retelling season one from the perspectives of the other people at the base. Season three picks up from there. Mostly I enjoyed the worldbuilding in this one—it seems like a way Earth could go—and how unabashedly in love Roger is with his husband, who is still on Earth. I’ve heard this show gets very emotional in its third season, so I do plan to finish it sometime, since I am a sucker for heart-wrenching storylines.
Primordial Deep
Link: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/primordial-deep-1481372
Summary: Primordial Deep is science fiction action/thriller, set in the expanded universe of Janus Descending. When a long extinct sea creature washes up on the shores of Coney Island, marine biologist Dr. Marella Morgan is contacted by a secret organization to investigate the origins of the creature’s sudden and unnatural resurgence. Soon, she and a team of explorers find themselves living on the research station The Tiamat, traveling along the abyssal plains as they search for answers far below the waves. But there are dangers in these ancient waters. Reawakened prehistoric monsters are rising from the deep -- jaws wide and waiting, and in the darkness, something is stirring.
My Thoughts: This has marine monsters in it, including dinosaurs. And things that probably weren’t dinosaurs, but did actually exist on Earth at one point. But now they're back and our team is trying to find out why! This ends up being soft scifi, with a big dollop of horror mixed in. If I had one qualm about it, it’s that Jordan Cobb’s writing style is better suited to novels than podcasts. There will be moments when the narrator goes into these beautiful, lengthy descriptions, and if you take a step back and consider what's happening in the scene, you realize that this undercuts the pacing of the action sequences. Still, this is a solid adventure story and the characters are a ton of fun.
Rabbits
Link: https://www.rabbitspodcast.com/episodes
Summary: When Carly Parker’s friend Yumiko goes missing under very mysterious circumstances, Carly’s search for her friend leads her headfirst into an ancient mysterious game known only as Rabbits. Soon Carly begins to suspect that Rabbits is much more than just a game, and that the key to understanding Rabbits, might be the key to the survival of our species, and the Universe, as we know it.
My Thoughts: Rabbits is, I think, the only Pacific Northwest Stories/PRA that’s worth a listen. That is because unlike their other shows, Rabbits has heart. Carly’s search for her friend is desperate and engaging, and the bits of horror and surrealism sprinkled into her journey will sear themselves into your brain. The eventual scope of the world, too, is a lot of fun.
Second Star to the Left
Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/second-star-to-the-left/id1554560086
Summary: Scout-explorer Gwen Hartley has five years to explore and prepare her planet for settlement. With no aid but her robots and the anxious voice of her long-distance scout-minder Bell Summers in her ear, she's hoping to be ready for anything.
My Thoughts: The writer of this podcast is tumblr famous for her self-published stories, her fairy tale re-imaginings, and her Harry Potter AU fanfiction. The writing here is gorgeous and wistful, and the relationship between the main leads is engaging and eventually rather touching. There is also a twist in the middle of the season that turns everything you thought you knew about one of the leads on its head. I was crushed to discover that it would only be a single season. I want so many more adventures in this universe.
As an additional note, episode five is especially good, because it swoops in and re-contextualizes everything we thought we knew about one of the main characters, is very nearly a stand-alone horror story about a mysterious environmental disaster and corporate callousness towards human life, and you can just feel the stakes being raised. It’s so good!
The Hyacinth Disaster
Link: https://www.davidecarlson.net/episodes
Summary: AD 2151. 150 million resource-rich asteroids populate the void between colonized Mars and Jupiter; many more orbit in the gas giant's vast Lagrange regions. A dozen super-corporations compete beyond the reach of civilized law, all but warring for the incalculable resources. Beneath them, a thousand contract mining crews struggle to prosper despite the best efforts of their employers. Out here, life is harsh and lives are cheap. If one or two vessels fall victim to relentless corporate rivalry, what is that to the company?
My Thoughts: This is a hard scifi story that offers a scathing look at the consequences of corporate greed. It’s also, ultimately, a tragic story, but one where the pain that the characters go through does have meaning in the end. It’s gripping and the story about the pine tree in the center of it is poignant. My only complaint is the weird reveal at the end, which undercuts the hard scifi.
The Strange Case of Starship Iris
Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-strange-case-of-starship-iris/id1193720457
Summary: In 2189, Earth narrowly won a war against extraterrestrials, but at a tremendous price. Two years later, in a distant patch of space, a mysterious explosion kills nearly the entire crew of the science vessel Starship Iris. The only survivor is Violet Liu, an intrepid, sarcastic, terrified biologist. But as Violet struggles to readjust to life after the Iris, questions abound. Was that explosion really an accident? If not, just what is going on? And why does every answer seem to get more bizarre and more dangerous? If Violet and her newfound allies want to untangle the truth, they'll need courage, brilliance, and luck - and honestly, a couple of drinks.
My Thoughts: This one could be described as, “It’s like Firefly, but its queer and clean of the Joss Whedon slime.” It has a lovely found family in it, and there is a lot of gentleness where dealing with mental illness and trauma is concerned. It’s also ridiculously cute at points, even though the story also deals with dark subjects such as totalitarian regimes and child soldiers. You will also never get “There’s Whiskey in the Jar” out of your head after listening to this.
The Pasithea Powder
Link: https://www.pasitheapowder.com/
Summary: On a faraway world, Captain Sophie Green is recovering from a war that ripped her planet apart and left her personal relationships for dead. Among the many atrocities committed on both sides was the invention of Pasithea Powder, a drug with memory altering properties. Thankfully, the drug has been eradicated and only a handful of scientists—now political prisoners—know how to recreate it. When Sophie sees one of those scientists walking free, she has no choice but to turn to an estranged friend for help.
My Thoughts: Angsty bisexuals try to uncover a government conspiracy while dealing with their baggage with each other. Both of the characters have vivid personalities and are very fun to listen to, and their arguing gives you the sense that they’re bitter exes, even though they’re not (I briefly thought that they might have been part of a polycule that lost its third member, but alas, they were not). Something I appreciate about this podcast is just how these two press each other to communicate clearly and challenge each other ethically (in a good way—there are some difficult situations they’re trying to find the best way forward for). Their shared history is also a source of mystery—just what happened back when they were friends, and how has the titular technology shaped their current lives? Plus, did I mention they were angsty? There is a lot of delicious conflict between these two and their acting sells it perfectly.
The Penumbra Podcast
Link: https://www.thepenumbrapodcast.com/episodes
Summary: At the Penumbra, you might follow Juno Steel, a brooding, sharp-witted private eye on Mars, as he tangles with an elusive homme fatale, tracks dangerous artifacts of an ancient alien civilization, and faces his three greatest fears: heights, blood, and relationships. Or you might enter the world of the Second Citadel, where the merciless Sir Caroline must corral a team of emotionally distraught all-male knights to defend their city against mind-manipulating monsters...even the ones they’ve fallen in love with. These audio dramas and more await you in the Penumbra, dear traveler. We hope you enjoy your stay.
My Thoughts: Another very popular podcast in the soft scifi vein. I’ve heard good things about it, though I’ve only listened to a couple of episodes. What I did listen to was pulpy, but a lot more queer-friendly than pulp usually is.
This Planet Needs a Name
Link: https://www.needsanamepod.com/
Summary: Imagine a handful of scientists and engineers setting out to terraform a planet - a world - for the frozen people they've got in tow. Just a few people, carefully chosen, who will live out their lives building something they'll never see. That's us. We're building a future.
My Thoughts: The episodes for this one update slowly, but there is a strong sense of conscientiousness with its writing, and the characters are, for the most part, very soft with each other. There are some tough subjects that are touched on, but mostly it’s a found family who are trying to figure out how to settle on an alien planet without destroying the life that’s already there.
Tides
Link: https://www.stitcher.com/show/tides
Summary: Tides is the story of Dr. Winifred Eurus, a xenobiologist trapped on an unfamiliar planet with hostile tidal forces. She must use her wits, sarcasm and intellectual curiosity to survive long enough to be rescued. But there might be more to life on this planet than she expected....
My Thoughts: Winifred is a delightfully snarky narrator and, for as brilliant as she is, she is also not genre savvy, which is hilarious. Her team is also desperately trying to rescue her, but there are stumbling blocks in their way. Overall, it’s fun to listen to, especially if you’re into biology.
Vast Horizon
Link: http://vasthorizonpodcast.com/
Summary: Dr. Nolira Eck doesn’t know why the Bifrost is empty. But the missing crew is the least of her current problems. The ship is falling apart around her and her new life is slowly fading from reach. Discover a new future, bright and dark. How far would you go for another chance?
My Thoughts: So this is a show I would tentatively call “emotional torture porn,” because good lord does Nolira go through a lot of trauma in this, and everyone hates her. Well, not everyone, but a lot of people. Honestly, if you're ever been through a period in your life where you've convinced everyone hates you, this can be weirdly cathartic and give you a nice, purging cry. This story also doesn’t flinch from the gruesomeness of war and war crimes, so it’s heavy to delve into, but the concept behind it is interesting.
Wolf 359
Link: https://www.wolf359.fm/
Summary: WOLF 359 is a radio drama in the tradition of Golden Age of Radio shows. Set on board the U.S.S. Hephaestus space station, the dysfunctional crew deals with daily life-or-death emergencies, while searching for signs of alien life and discovering there might be more to their mission than they thought. Tune into your home away from home...seven and a half light years away from Earth...
My Thoughts: The other podcast that is responsible for my love affair with narrative podcasts. This one is modeled on soft science fiction radio shows, complete with mutant plant monsters, shady corporations, and aliens! What also starts off as a zany and funny story eventually becomes a dramatic, emotional, and thought-provoking ride. What I love most about this show is how deeply the characters care for each other and the exploration of their identities. Who are you and who do you want to be? Also, this one is widely considered to be the best narrative podcast out there, complete at four seasons. It’s my ultimate comfort podcast, which I listen to several times a year. If there is only one podcast on this list you choose to listen to, make it this one.
URBAN FANTASY
Here Be Dragons
Link: https://www.stitcher.com/show/here-be-dragons-2
Summary: A bi-weekly radio play adventure, about four women and a submarine. Staying afloat is only half the battle. Sea monsters are only half the fun.
My Thoughts: This has a cute, mostly female cast, who go on submarine adventures and discover ocean-related monsters from myths. The show isn’t complete and I doubt it ever will be—the crew behind it seems to have had a falling out—but what is there is fun to listen to.
The Unseen
Link: https://www.unseen.show/episodes
Summary: In a world where magic is real but invisible to almost everyone, the few magical beings that do exist struggle, every day, just to be seen. Season one of UNSEEN will feature ten different stories of identity, connection, and personhood (and, of course, magic) in the modern world. Some of them will be thrilling adventures. Others may be sad and melancholic. Some may be creepy and unsettling. Each of them will feature a single performer, guiding the audience through a new, original modern fantasy landscape. Every week, a new story. A new voice. A new glimpse into the world of magic.
My Thoughts: Anything made by Gabriel Urbina is gold and this urban fantasy anthology is no exception. Some of the stories are funny and romantic, others are heart-wrenching tales about rough childhoods, and some are about trying to find your place in the world as an adult. Each episode has beautiful acting and music and memorable characters. I’m hoping season two moves into a more overarching story, but we’ll see!
OTHER
Greenhouse
Link: https://www.atypicalartists.co/greenhouse
Summary: Rose Green wants two things out of life: to watch movies and be left alone. She has one obstacle keeping her from those goals: an unusual clause in her famous father’s will that requires that she write regular letters to his favorite local florist. Abigail Adams also wants two things out of life: to arrange flowers and read books. If pressed, however, she may also admit to a third desire, which is someone to share those flowers and books with. So when she’s told about Mr. Green’s final request, her excitement is able to (mostly) drown out the sinking feeling in her chest that nobody would want to write to her in the first place. GREENHOUSE is their anxious audio love story as they learn letter by letter that the world is a whole lot brighter when you have someone to share your story with.
My Thoughts: This is a sweet little love story, with sensitivity for anxiety disorders of different kinds. There are some points where it feels like there are missing scenes, though, since the creators firmly stuck to the epistolary format, rather than breaking it for any active scenes. Still, if you want something gentle to pass the time, you could do worse than Greenhouse.
Me and AU
Link: https://www.spreaker.com/show/me-and-au
Summary: When Kate "ACunningPlan" Cunningham sparks up an online friendship with a fellow fanfiction writer it seems like the perfect distraction from a summer stuck in her hometown, not to mention the coming terrors of her final year of university and the Real Adult Future beyond. (Seriously, please don’t mention them.) After all, Hella--Enchanted is funny, smart and writes canon-divergent werewolf fic like no one else. She’s everything a fangirl could ask for. But...what if she’s everything Kate could ask for, too? Me and AU is a queer coming-of-age romance with a fandom twist.
My Thoughts: If you’ve spent any time in fandom, this captures the experience of having online friends and nerding out over TV shows and books perfectly. It’s also a super sweet romance story, with some sweet friendships on the side. This also deals with the anxiety of trying to figure out what to do after college, which is relatable. Also, Kate works in a coffee shop, and this is the rare story that gets the chaos of it right.
Zero Hours
Link: https://www.zerohourspodcast.com/
Summary: Zero Hours is an anthology series, where every story is a different take on the end of the world - or at least something that feels like the end of the world. Each episode is organized around a kind of apocalypse, whether the cataclysm is planetary or personal. The stories are also set in succeeding centuries, with 99-year intervals separating each episode. The show begins in the past, catches up to the present, and eventually overtakes it. Some installments are darkly comedic, others grimly contemplative, and others still thrillingly contentious. But they all explore the same question: how do we keep going when the world is crashing down around us? Again and again, issues of survival, trust, and personhood will plague our characters as they attempt to navigate dangerous, changing circumstances and figure out how to avert The End, or at least how to meet it.
My Thoughts: This podcast helped me handle 2020. Each episode stands alone (although they tie together, in the end), with the first one being blisteringly funny, the 2019 one hitting way too close to home, and “The Sky is Falling” being utterly haunting. My favorite, though, is the final episode, which has a touching speech about living in a world that’s ending, which I found very comforting.
TABLETOP ACTUAL PLAY
Critical Role
Link: https://critrole.com
Summary: What began in 2012 as a bunch of friends playing RPGs in each other's living rooms has evolved into a multi-platform entertainment sensation, attracting over half a million viewers every week. Now in its second campaign storyline, the show features seven popular voiceover actors diving into epic adventures, led by veteran game master Matthew Mercer.
My Thoughts: This is pure archive panic at this point, with two campaigns of over 100 episodes each, with each episode being a minimum of three hours long. However, if zany, emotional, improvised theatre sounds fun to you, this is an excellent version of that. It also shows you how Dungeons and Dragon works, but understand that this is a top tier production, so normal games would be nothing like this. It’s a lot of fun, though, and good if you need something movie-length to put on in the background. Mostly you can listen to it as a podcast, though watching the acting and seeing the battle-maps is a treat. Also, do note that if you try to get into this one, there are some bumpy patches until around the 20-episode mark of campaign 1, when one of the cast members leaves. The rest of the cast seems to hit their stride around then.
Friends at the Table
Link: https://friendsatthetable.net/
Summary: Friends at the Table is an actual play podcast about critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends.
My Thoughts: Also some archive panic for this one, though they have a guide on their website for what you should start with. What I really appreciate about this one is how careful they are with the subjects they’re exploring in their work, and how they make sure that everyone at the table feels safe and comfortable with that material. The worldbuilding is really well done and the characters are interesting, though the acting isn’t as polished as in Critical Role. This gives you a more authentic look into how normal tabletop roleplaying goes, though, and explores a variety of gaming systems while doing so.
Forgotten Indigo
Link: https://stabbyness.com/series/forgotten-indigo
Summary: An eldritch intrigue-based game in a sprawling city with a vibrant cast using the Windrose system! It all begins with a one-eyed detective named Cassius waking up in his abandoned apartment after six long months of sleep….
My Thoughts: This is a wholesome story based on anime/manga and JRPG tropes, so if you grew up with Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Kingdom Hearts, and the like, you will adore this campaign. The characters all genuinely want to help the people of this strange, probably haunted town, and you get hints that some truly emotional, heart-wrenching stuff is in the works. The voice acting is also very good. This is more of a show than a podcast, but one that made me grin all the while.
NERDY MEDIA DISCUSSIONS
Apocalist Book Club
Link: https://apocalistbookclub.libsyn.com/
Summary: Welcome to the Apocalist Book Club! Your hosts Nella and Raven are reading all apocalyptic fiction in chronological order. Join the club--you have time now. Updated every 3rd Wednesday of the month.
My Thoughts: As a literature major, tracing the evolution of apocalypse fiction is fascinating, and these two are extremely funny as they discuss how ridiculous and often problematic the books they're reading are. The one about The Night Lands is especially entertaining, as Raven comes to the slow, horrified realization that she read the kinky, doorstop version of the story, while Nella got to read the cleaner novella version. Their research on the authors and the time periods is also thorough.
Battlestar Galacticast
Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/battlestar-galacticast/id1445475337
Summary: BSG star Tricia Helfer and TV writer/journalist Marc Bernardin do an episode-by-episode rewatch of Battlestar Galactica in its entirety, diving deep into the themes of the award-winning sci-fi classic and revealing behind the scenes details that only a true BSG insider like Tricia would know. In addition, the podcast will welcome members of BSG’s cast and crew into the airlock to share their memories of making the groundbreaking series.
My Thoughts: This is a retrospective on the hit TV series, with Helfer sharing behind the scenes stories of what the production of the show was like, and other guests telling their own stories about the production. They do share spoilers for the show constantly, but there is a ton of love for BSG here, which makes you remember why the show was so good, especially now that we’ve seen just how off the rails the writing of huge shows like GOT can go.
Fandalites
Link: https://www.fandalites.com/
Summary: Brent & Jenna’s weekly discussion of K. A. Applegate’s Animorphs series. New episodes every Friday!
My Thoughts: They provide humorous recaps of the books and their emotional reactions to them, which can be very fun to listen to.
Morph Club
Link: https://soundcloud.com/morphclubcast
Summary: Two friends revisit the Animorphs! Join us while we laugh and cry about sad morphing teens and the horrible aliens who hate them.
My Thoughts: These two friends clearly adored the series growing up, and give us their thoughts on the events in each book and the infamously terrible TV show. It's heartwarming how much they love the kid characters!
Radio Westeros
Link: https://radiowesteros.com/
Summary: We are Yolkboy and Lady Gwynhyfvar and we host podcasts about George RR Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novels. We feature literary analysis of the entire series, following character arcs or themes, and include theories alongside readings, pseudo adverts from Westeros, and guests from the fandom.
My Thoughts: These two, and their guests, analyze the A Song of Ice and Fire books with a breathtaking amount of precision and thoroughness, bringing up details that most readers completely miss and developing very convincing theories for how the books could go. The in-universe adverts are also charming.
Unabashed Book Snobbery
Link: https://player.fm/series/unabashed-book-snobbery
Summary: The A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones podcast where we gush about Martin's prose and complain about the atrocious adaptation of his finest work.
My Thoughts: This is mostly two friends ranting about how much they hate the Game of Thrones TV show compared to the books, well before the final season came out. It can be a bit much, but if you’re in the mood for ripping apart the adaptation and pointing out the flaws and unfortunate implications in it, this can be very cathartic.