Like with past Discover Pods audio drama genre lists, I wanted to give newcomers to the genre and fans a few current horror audio dramas covering the wide range of what horror can be. There’s emotional, comedic, romantic, and supernatural. Not to mention monsters, murder, and mayhem—spooks, splatter, and something that goes bump in the night. Really, there’s just a horror audio drama for everyone on this list … if you dare read on.

Keep in mind that these are all serialized (with one noted exception), so they should all be started from the beginning. This list isn’t arranged in any particular order; it’s just a collection of some of my favorites.

Wrong Station

I’ve written about The Wrong Station a couple of times in the past. If you’ve never listened to this horror audio drama anthology, you’re missing out. The show was initially modeled after radio dramas of yesteryear, but as the years have gone on, The Wrong Station has become something wholly its own. The Wrong Station delivers animated and well-acted storytelling along with heavy themes and storylines that push past simple ghost stories. Each episode is raw and rough and packs an emotional punch. Since The Wrong Station often deals with heavy topics, I want to let listeners know they should check the content warnings on the episodes before diving in if they are curious about what territories and experiences the episode will cover. I’m a fan of the earlier seasons for the way they pull the listener into the story by adding a secondary POV character of ‘you.’ But the newer seasons have more nuanced and original episodes. The Wrong Station is perfect for The Black Tapes and The NoSleep Podcast fans.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts

Carrier

Carrier is an older horror sci-fi audio drama released in 2019 from QCODE. While there aren’t any more episodes airing, the whole story has already been released, so there’s no worry of an unresolved ending. The horror audio drama follows a truck driver transporting a mysterious cargo that turns out worse than anything she could have imagined. When I first listened to Carrier, it filled that want in me for more stories like Alien and Stranger Things. The bonus of Carrier is that unlike both of those stories, Carrier has a Black woman lead. So, moments and scenes throughout the show connect with my experiences, making the audio drama relatable despite its supernatural horror element. Like a few other horror podcasts on this list, Carrier is perfect for listeners who love Alice Isn’t Dead and Homecoming. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

The Slaughterhouse Stories Podcasts

The Slaughterhouse Stories Podcast is a creepypasta, horror anthology, poetry, and short fiction podcast featuring stories from across the web. That means, while the stories aren’t always the best, there is a lot to choose from. More often than not, you’ll find a new type of story like the types you’d find on Reddit or Tumblr. Each episode is dark and offers that bit of found fiction vibe that makes the stories feel more like Internet folklore. The host reads each story with nice creepy musical undertones that makes up for the less than scary stories featured on The Slaughterhouse Stories Podcast. There is usually more than one story featured on each episode, so if you don’t like the first one, give it a couple of minutes, and a new story or poem will start. While listening to a few of the episodes, I got The Wrong Station and Knifepoint Horror vibes. So, if you like either of those two horror audio dramas, you’ll love The Slaughterhouse Stories Podcast.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

Pseudopod

Pseudopod is a horror podcast part of the Escape Artist podcast group, including Escape Pod, Podcastle, and Cast of Wonders. Pseudopod releases the best short horror audio fiction up there with Nightmare Magazine Horror Podcast and NIGHTLIGHT Horror Podcast. With episodes dating back to 2016, Pseudopod has an extensive back catalog of all types of horror ranging from classic vampire and werewolf stories to more literary and original tales featuring creatures, characters, and situations that are both terrifying and thoughtful. There are no cheap thrills or screams on Pseudopod. And that’s what I like about the horror podcast. Unlike a lot of horror anthology shows that tend to become one trick or have a wide range of writing levels, Pseudopod delivers well-written and entirely fascinating horror stories about people you feel for every time. A few episodes have brought both chills and tears to me. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts

Believer: A Paranormal Mystery

A new podcast to me was the horror mystery Believer: A Paranormal Mystery. When a fake psychic’s ex-girlfriend goes missing in her strange hometown, the psychic packs up and heads out to find her or at least offer some help. And there’s a solid romance plot to tug at your heartstrings as you quiver in fear. Believer: A Paranormal Mystery is the queer comedy-horror audio drama I didn’t know I was missing in my life. There is a lot of sound production—so make sure to pop those headphones on or in—and the horror is layered and paired well with the humor; that way, both are equally heightened. Sometimes the sound production gets too much, and I had to turn down the volume when there was a bit of sound for something as simple as a shirt ruffling. Believer: A Paranormal Mystery is perfect for listeners of horror audio dramas like Unwell and Less is Morgue.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts 

The Cellar Letters

If you’re into horror with a fair amount of mystery alongside its scares, then The Cellar Letters is going to be your next great listen. After uprooting and moving into a new home, a young man begins to experience strange and unusual happenings in his home. Even though there’s a single narrator, the audio production gives The Cellar Letters a fuller feeling. I loved the story and slow unfolding of the mystery, unraveling new and horrifying experiences for the character. I did find myself guessing what was going to happen next, but it was still satisfying to hear it happen. And a big part of that had to do with the audio production. I couldn’t wait to hear how they brought certain elements and events in the story to life. The Cellar Letters is a great horror audio drama for Malevolent and The Night Post fans. 

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The Way We Haunt Now

The Way We Haunt Now was the most unique and interesting horror audio drama podcast I found while compiling this list. Unlike a few others that felt a bit predictable, though exciting in their own right, The Way We Haunt Now felt specific. Like a lot of the podcasts on this list, The Way We Haunt Now uses humor to lull listeners into false states of security so that they can scare the crap out of you. There were also soft and emotional elements that made me want to know more about the story the horror audio drama was creating. And I only have 13 more episodes until I’m fully caught up. With the emotional and original horror storytelling that The Way We Haunt Now has, I think it’d be a great listen for fans of Palimpsest and Limetown.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | Website | RSS | Transcripts

13 Days of Halloween

13 Days of Halloween initially aired in 2020 during Halloween as a bit of a one-off horror audio drama from a big production company—Blumhouse. But then, last year, they released an all-new season featuring new characters, new storylines, and a whole new spooky setting. Instead of being set at the Hawthorne Manor, listeners are invited to visit the eerie New England village of Direbrook in the second season, ‘The Sea.’ While the first season of 13 Days of Halloween had a great blend of humor and horror, the newer season feels more emotional and steeped in darkness. The latest season of 13 Days of Halloween is a great horror audio drama podcast for fans of Boston Harbor Horror and Deadly Manners. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

The Other Stories

The Other Stories is a horror audio drama podcast aimed at delivering listeners a mix of stories from emerging or struggling writers and experienced professionals. Like The Wrong Station, The Other Stories is an anthology horror podcast. One thing it does different, though, is offer listeners a wide range of horror genres like Pseudopod. Also, like Pseudopod, The Other Stories accepts listener-submitted short stories that they choose from for their episodes. For listeners interested in contributing to the show, check The Other Stories submission guidelines. With fantastic audio production and sound effects accompanying every episode, The Other Stories crafts new experiences for listeners each week. I like that there are characters that show up throughout The Other Stories long back catalog of episodes. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

Come Join Us by the Fire

Tor Nightfire is the new horror imprint of Tom Doherty Associates that’s been releasing seasons of their horror anthology podcast, Come Join Us by the Fire, since 2020. The second season ran last year in March—and I hope there’s a new season coming out this spring, too! Listeners can dive into original stories from horror writers like Nibedita Sen, Cassandra Khaw, and more. Like other horror anthology audio dramas on this roundup, Come Join Us by the Fire allows listeners a comprehensive sampling of horror stories outside the typical horror tropes. With 18 episodes, horror listeners are sure to find a tale or two to keep them up at night. Come Join Us by the Fire is similar to horror podcasts like NIGHTLIGHT: A Horror Fiction Podcast and The Wrong Station. (Disclaimer: I write for Tor Nightfire’s blog.)

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Libro.fm | Website

Vampires of White Chapel

Vampires of White Chapel is a full-cast horror audio drama about a group of vampires and their evil pursuits. Season three recently started in October 2021 with The Blood Reaper Chronicles. For fans of the original seasons, the newer one focuses on the vampire clan Blood Reapers. I’m a long-time vampire lover and fan, and I found Vampires of White Chapel to be a great vampire audio drama that clung close to many vampire conventions while still presenting an interesting story reminiscent of Vampire the Masquerade and Vampire High. With only one episode out of the new season, I’m curious to see where the vampire audio drama goes in the new year and how they wrap in the new bit of information given in the first episode. Vampires of White Chapel would be great for horror audio drama fans of Victoria’s Lift and We’re Alive.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS | Transcripts

Boston Harbor Horror

Boston Harbor Horror is a full cast eldritch horror and weird fiction audio drama about a coast guard investigating an emergency on an island in Boston Harbor. It’s got atmosphere, character, and monsters all set in a location that feels like something straight out of a Stephen King novel. Season three started in December 2021, with nearly 50 episodes for new listeners to catch up on. I’m not always a fan of eldritch or Lovecraftian horror, but I really like how Boston Harbor Horror unfolds, developing new mysteries and uncovering horrors. And as a coastal baby, I enjoy the sea theme and connection to water horrors. Fans of The Leviathan Chronicles and Archive 81 will enjoy the storytelling and horror featured on Boston Harbor Horror.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

The Town Whispers

Out of all the horror audio drama podcasts on this list, The Town Whispers has my favorite opening song. It’s beautiful and perfectly sets the vibe for the narrative horror audio drama. Along with the narrative storytelling, sound effects and music accompany each episode, giving it that audio drama lure. The Town Whispers delivers stories about the fictional town, The Fort, and its occupants. Some of the stories are directly related; others simply happen within the town, but no matter what, the stories are creepy and packed with dark events that plague the town and the folks who live there. While being an audio drama, I loved that it also felt like an anthology horror podcast. Fans of Old Gods of Appalachia and Welcome to Nightvale will enjoy the darkness of The Town Whispers.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

America After Midnight

I was on the fence about adding this horror audio drama to the list, but then I figured even though it was too much for me, there are a lot of listeners who would love this type of horror. America After Midnight is a revenge horror anthology audio drama, so there are trigger warnings for each episode because there is a lot of racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, and other offensive types of characters and situations at the beginning of the episodes, but by the end those people get what’s coming to them, whether or not it makes up for the opening moments, you’ll have to judge for yourself. It can be entertaining and cathartic for some, but use caution when going into the episodes and stories. American After Midnight is the first revenge horror audio drama podcast I’ve ever listened to. Still, it did remind me of horror audio dramas like Campfire Radio Theater and The NoSleep Podcast. 

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | RSS 

A Voice from Darkness

I’ve been searching for A Voice from Darkness for months! The first time I heard it, I was working on an article on podcasts for stoners and listened to it on another person’s account. I attributed my forgetfulness to the content I was writing about and tried to find the horror audio drama with no luck for months. Until now! A Voice from Darkness is part supernatural call-in and part American spooky folklore. I instantly fell in love with the creepy storytelling, strange events, and the way A Voice from Darkness tries to bridge a dark path into our world. There are national warnings, folktales, scary stories, and more all happening around the United States. It made it seem like the perfect blend of Welcome to Night Vale and The Town Whispers.

Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Stitcher | Website | RSS

Whether you’re looking for humorous horror, remakes, anthology shows, or any of the other horror audio drama subgenres, hopefully you’re able to find one new podcast to fill your ears. Keep the fright alive by considering going beyond listening to these horror audio dramas and supporting them by sharing, pledging, and reviewing them.

Haunted House Flippers

Haunted House Flippers is a hilarious audio drama that blends horror and comedy with an unlikely theme. That theme being a couple inheriting an old haunted house and deciding to flip it. The husband is one of those “YouTube ghost hunters” with a spotty grasp on reality and a real lack of self-preservation. The couple is cringe-worthy and adds another layer of tension to the story with their constant bickering and passive-aggressive communication style. It would be like if Paranormal Activity were a comedy and audio drama. Haunted House Flippers is perfect for the listener who doesn’t like a lot of gore, scares, and other intense materials but still wants a good ghost and monster mystery. Its first season is currently airing with nine episodes out, so now is a perfect time to hop on the fan wagon. 

Eastmouth

Eastmouth is packed with spooky and strange audio effects that make the audio drama really stick in your ear. The show follows a broadcaster stationed in a town with lots of secrets and hidden passages and a town council that’s been up to more than community services. The first time I listened to this horror audio drama podcast was while playing a horror survival game. If you like to game and listen to their podcasts, I super recommend this one to heighten scary games. Eastmouth puts out a new episode every month or so with episode 14 scheduled for a late July release. Another great thing about Eastmouth is that while it reminded me of other horror audio drama podcasts like Malevolent, it didn’t feel derivative or like I had experienced the story before.

Death by Dying

Do you like your horror with a bit of humor? Think Haunted House Flippers meets the TV show Bored to Death with a hint of Ian’s Gone Postal. An obituary writer goes above and beyond his duty and investigates the odd deaths in his town, leading him down a road of bizarre and sometimes supernatural involvement. Each episode dives into new mysteries that connect the main character and the mysterious town of Crestfall, Idaho. Originally aired in 2018, the dark comedy horror audio drama Death By Dying is written with a noir style, heightening both the mystery and humor. So far, there is only one season out, but the second is fully funded and on its way. New listeners can check out the first ten episodes and a few bonus ones while they wait for the drop of the new season, though.

Unwell, A Midwestern Gothic Mystery

Unwell is a horror audio drama following a young woman as she moves back to her small-town home in Ohio to look after her estranged mother. While there, she lives in her family’s boarding house that’s filled with ghosts lurking in the shadows and mystery around every bend. The full cast audio drama has aired since 2019 and is towards the end of its third season now, which means there are over 30 episodes for new listeners to catch up on as this season comes to a close. I think this horror audio drama is perfect for listeners who like Palimpsest and The Bright Sessions. There’s enough intrigue to make the scary seem tempting. Just listening to the show makes me feel haunted. 

The Dark Tome

The Dark Tome is a dark fantasy or speculative fiction audio fiction podcast that uses voice acting and sound effects to create a rounder experience for the reader. The horror audio drama uses a framing device wonderfully to make an audio fiction show within an audio drama, an audio drama within an audio fiction podcast. A teen finds The Dark Tome, a magical dark book that transports her to other worlds and stories, and the podcast unfolds from that premise. Each episode is a horror or dark fantasy story from classic horror writers like Edgar Allan Poe and contemporary writers like Catherynne M. Valente, Tananarive Due, and Martin Cahill. A full-cast production brings to life each story, truly creating another world for the listener to fall into alongside the character as she flips through the pages of The Dark Tome. With three seasons, there are over 30 episodes of The Dark Tome for fresh listeners to horrify and amaze themselves with. This horror audio drama podcast is perfect for listeners who enjoy horror anthology shows but want them to be more attached and connected. 

Old Gods of Appalachia

Similar to The Dark Tome, Old Gods of Appalachia is a cross between an audio drama and an audio fiction podcast. There’s a common setting and characters that crop up throughout the horror anthology podcast that makes this more than just a string of horror stories unrelated. Since its airing back in 2019, Old Gods of Appalachia has amassed a large and loyal following along with a lot of respect in the horror and audio drama world. It conjures a sense of place, heavy and thick, bringing readers to the southern reach of Appalachia, where ghosts, monsters, and other dark beasts wreak havoc in the woods. With 30 episodes and more on the way, this is a great horror anthology podcast for listeners interested in modern southern gothic tales. 

Read more: Old Gods of Appalachia Creates An All-American Horror

A Horror Borealis

Begun as bonus content for The Cryptid Keeper, A Horror Borealis has grown into its own audio drama show. Following three women in 1996 Revenant, Alaska, as they bond over the horrors of their life and town, A Horror Borealis is an emotional horror audio drama podcast great for listeners hungry for mystery, friendship, and monsters. The original series has over 60 episodes for new-time listeners to check out while the spinoffs or bonus stories, A Horror Borealis ’76 and LOSERS, add another few episodes and history onto the town of Revenant. Currently, the audio drama is doing a remix of Stephen King’s IT in an actual play retelling using the one-shot mystery Back to Derry by Christine Prevas. It’s AWESOME. 

The White Vault

An audio drama in collected records that sounds like found video footage for the ears, The White Vault follows the mystery surrounding an outpost in the artic. This horror audio drama podcast stands out because The White Vault features diverse voices and languages. Using such a range of a cast creates a story with greater depth and emotions. We can hear how each odd and horrific occurrence affects a greater population. The White Vault is perfect for people who love an excellent artic horror like The Thing and piecing together a mystery from various recordings and accounts. Lots of subtext and intrigue mixed with the horror! First aired in 2017, The White Vault celebrated six years and is still growing strong with a loyal fan base and over 60 episodes. 

The Grey Rooms

The Grey Rooms follows a man cursed with living someone else’s death every day, only to wake up and have it happen all over again. To say this show has lots of death would be an understatement. But death a protagonist that dies every episode isn’t the coolest feature of this horror audio drama. It’s the mystery surrounding why the character is dying over and over again like some rancid dark Groundhog Day. Started in 2018, The Grey Rooms is on its third season of scaring and terrifying listeners. The finale aired back in April, but there are several bonus episodes and other content. 

Victoria’s Lift

I actually found Victoria’s Lift through The Grey Rooms. There was a bonus episode recently released that promoted the show and offered a taste of the supernatural horror audio drama. Victoria’s Lift is about a girl who uses a mysterious elevator to help people reach their ‘transformations’. Emotional and creepy, Victoria’s Lift has over 50 episodes of travels through dark and meaningful realms. Victoria reminds me of the evil AI little girl in the 2002 Resident Evil movie. Don’t let the fact that a little girl is the protagonist of Victoria’s Lift fool you; this is not a show for young listeners. But it is perfect for fans of anthology horror audio dramas like Old Gods of Appalachia and The Dark Tome.

What’s the Frequency

What’s the Frequency has been described by creator James Oliva as “psychedelic noir” and only “horror-adjacent,” both of which are true–but this strange, innovative, form-breaking audio drama is known for sending chills down listeners’ spines. What’s the Frequency follows several stories, but primarily that of Troubles, a PI, and Whitney, his assistant, as they try to find a missing radio play writer whose work is the only thing playing on the radio stations. This podcast is riveting and throws the listener directly into the actions with gorgeous, unsettling sound design and very little explanation. It’s an intense listen that demands paying close attention but always rewards listeners with how strange, immersive, terrifying, and often funny it is.

Palimpsest

An often-overlooked genre in horror are the creeping, contemplative, psychological stories–think, for instance, of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (or even the Netflix show based on it, as different as those two are). Palimpsest takes this tone and mindset, giving the listener a slow-building, creeping terror instead of jump scares. The horror here isn’t just in the ghost story, both with the protagonist’s new house or the ghost of her sister, which she keeps asserting she’s seen. The horror is also in trying to find out whether the protagonist is an unreliable narrator or not. It’s a podcast that plays with your mind more than with just loud noises or gore, and weaves a gorgeous, delectably literary story along the way. The second season of Palimpsest is a completely different story–one of a circus, a family, and the fae. Make sure to read our interview with its creators for more insight on what makes Palimpsest tick.

Station Blue

Station Blue follows protagonist Matthew Leads as he accepts the position of caretaker for an Antarctic research facility and quickly finds he’s bit off more than he can chew. This audio drama is masterful in its command over atmosphere. Between its minimalist score, its unobtrusive sound design, and its downright visceral foley sound effect work, Station Bluetransports the listener to the station, filling the listener with as much dread as Matthew feels. Station Blue dabbles in gore more successfully than just about any audio drama I’ve ever heard, but its real horror focus is the feeling of sheer isolation it evokes. The loneliness in Station Blue is tangible, and so are its effect, slowly wearing away at the protagonist while the stakes get higher and the worries get deeper.

The Magnus Archives

Initially, The Magnus Archives feels like a collection of spooky short stories, some of which land harder than others. The production quality is lo-fi and performed by a single, unflinchingly dry narrator. The framing device here is that the narrator is tasked with turning the paper archives of a paranormal investigation business into audio files–and it isn’t long before this task starts to gain its own over-arching plot. Each episode of The Magnus Archive plays on different fears, making them more vivid and effective than expected. You’ll go into an episode about a scary doll, for instance, thinking, “Oh, this is silly”–but by the time the episode’s ended, you’ll be avoiding the toy aisle next time you hit up Target.

Janus Descending

Janus Descending is podcasting’s answer to the Alien franchise–or, at least, you know, the good movies in that franchise. Told from the perspectives of two explorers on an alien planet, Peter and Chel, the listener hears the story unfold from opposite ends of the timeline. Chel’s story progresses linearly, while Peter’s perspective is told in reverse, starting with his last audio log moving back to his first. Janus Descending is about love–the love Peter and Chel have for each other, but also the love of exploration, the love of knowledge, and the love of who we think we know. A terrifying tragedy, Janus Descending is one you won’t soon forget.

A World Where

What makes fiction anthology podcast A World Where terrifying isn’t just its sci-fi setups, pulling inspiration from works like Black Mirror. It’s how easily it can trap you in those setups, both by how narratively close to home they hit and by its stunning binaural sound design. With each episode, you’re trapped both in concept and in audio, existing fully in the scene. Whether it’s an even more nightmarish version of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or an absurdist, darkly comedic take on Chopped, A World Where is stunning, upsetting, and existentially horrific.

The post Our Favorite Horror Audio Drama Podcasts appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

It took quite a bit of research to uncover a good amount of these as I often try not to merely cater to the Spotify top ten and I’d like to extend some much given thanks to the audio drama subreddit for their excellent recommendations.

With a bit of assistance, I’ve found the new, the obscure, the scary, the silly, and the weird combinations of both. Here we have fifteen audio dramas that have caught my attention as of late all coming in a variety of tones, lengths, and genres spanning meaty, long-form mysteries, science fiction anthologies, or a short and sweet miniseries from the likes of newcomers and experienced vets.

As a note, all of these podcasts should be listened to from the beginning unless otherwise stated. Almost all of these podcasts are serialized stories with continuous narratives.

The Best Audio Drama Podcasts

Audio drama is certainly a subjective subject. What one person likes, another will hate. But we’ve gone to great lengths to ensure our picks for the best audio drama podcasts employ excellent storytelling, character development, and have the requisite plot twists that will keep you hooked.

So let’s look at the best audio drama podcasts the medium has to offer. At the end of the post we’ve included some bonus audio dramas that didn’t quite make the list of “best,” but are still pretty damned good and worth your time.

Without further adieu.

The Fourth Ambit

A slightly newer podcast debuting last spring of 2021, The Fourth Ambit is already a solid few hours in the length of their episodes and has got me hooked like malware on a hard drive. 

The Fourth Ambit is a dark, intelligently written sci-fi that weaves a fascinating futuristic landscape where the merging of advanced technology and the human condition take center stage. You won’t want to miss any of Gilles’ misadventures between virtual reality and reality-both of which seem to be equally dangerous.

Give Me Away

Give Me Away focuses on a crashed spaceship titled “The Ghosthouse” for the constant presence of ghastly screams from doomed extraterrestrial life trapped in its mainframe. The only way to end such eternal torment is to transfer their minds into willing human participants-permanently. 

This audio drama comes from the writers behind such favorites of The Message, Life/After, and Steal the Stars which ensures Give Me Away will be a gripping, methodical mystery built from the ground up on atmosphere and chilling discoveries.

It makes for a piece of amazing science fiction with a psychological core, dabbling into complex themes of identity and self worth. You’ll be deeply enamored with the journey of protagonist Graham Shapiro and an exploration into the value of one’s life, be it his own and those around him.

If you do like science fiction do check out some of the paranormal podcasts we’ve reviewed recently. Are they fact or fiction? Or a blend of audio drama?

The Program Audio Series

Joining my collection of favorite anthology series besides The Long Hallway and Theatre of Tomorrow is The Program Audio Series where we’re transported to a universe where Money, State, and God form into one entity governing over a future society. The Program Audio Series lets us into the lives of multiple strangers-some innocent, some not so much, all of them somehow affected by the might gonglamorith of technology. 

The Program audio series is an unapologetically cruel but undeniably creative collection of short stories about a terrifyingly possible future and a rapidly changing present.

PLEASURE MACHINE

It all starts when African American sound artist H gets a job offer from tech cooperation Librate–a once in a lifetime opportunity that wroughts on a number of personal conflicts. That’s the base plot of Colt Coeur’s PLEASURE MACHINE, a nine episode long thrill ride that’s a blend of Dear White People and Sorry to Bother You.

PLEASURE MACHINE’S writing is deeply provocative and smart yet simple in execution with its neat editing tricks, and atmospheric sound design that packs so much into so little time. Many struggling under the stress of freelance, social constructs, and societal pressures will adore this miniseries, these all being topics that PLEASURE MACHINE provides with a complex, adult perspective.

Margaret’s Garden

The Bloody Disgusting Podcast Network has carefully crafted the quaint American suburb of Everton, a picturesque suburban brimming with all-American charm, modern appliances, and opportunity…seventy years ago, that is. 

The American Dream becomes the American Nightmare in their show Margaret’s Garden, a suspenseful suburban audio drama fresh from the oven as of the fall of 2020. Margaret’s Garden is a nice blend of Greener Grass and 1989’s Parents, setting itself up as a piece of truly memorable and macabre Americana.

Greenhouse

Put your flower shop AU’s to bed because Atypical Artists’ Greenhouse is the kind of blooming romance you won’t want to miss. Cute, cozy, and awkwardly sweet, Greenhouse is To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before with deeper roots than your favorite Wattpad fic.

Watch from the shrubs as two wallflowers learn to overcome their fears and open up to each other one letter at a time. Our leads Abigail and Rose are as socially anxious as they are adorable and you’ll be ready for their love story to grow from the first “dear”.

Donald August Versus the Land of Flowers

Babysitting and bad gardening merge in this short audio drama comedy that packs plenty of personality (and pollen) in just under an hour. In this unlikely summer tale in Southern Florida we join twelve-year-old Donnie and his nanny Lex as they investigate the presence of a mysterious palm plant when their game of detective turns into a legitimate investigation.

At a brief five episode length, Donald August Versus the Land of Flowers is a simple, charming story with just the right amount of childhood innocence and the kind of summer fun that will lighten up any dreary day. 

Jack of All Trades

In search of work and a place to live, young and spry Jaclyn Seeglay, often known as Jack, gets hired at Fidus Achates as their new repairwoman, even if her own resume could use some tweaking in the truth department. 

Little to her knowledge, she’s signed up to be the company’s new paranormal hunter who must determine if the creaky floors and leaky faucets are the results of poor house planning or a poltergeist. 

Though I”m sold on the absolute disaster lesbian of a protagonist and her hilarious coworkers, Jack of All Trades comes with some surprisingly strong lore and unique takes on supernatural creatures that give its world immaculate depth.

What Can I Get Started For You?

What Can I Get Started For You? is a slice-of-life comedy mini-series that tells the story of four New York baristas passing by work days with hilarious banter and curating the perfect Spotify cue to survive the next lunch rush. 

Lucky Doll Productions has crafted the ultimate coffee shop story complete with seductive health inspector checkups and talent shows.

What Can I Get Started For You? gets by on the strength of its snappy writing, fun characters, and unique stage play framing that gives it the vibe of watching sitcom misadventures. Don’t even bother adding sugar to your coffee this morning, this show’s good vibes should be enough.

PodCube

No need to adjust your settings, PodCube is just as odd as it seems and the kind of alien experience you might be looking for if you have a taste for a weird workplace comedy. PodCube seems to be a semi-improvisation project though it might be the actors’ natural comedic flow with each other that’s got me recalling the Interdimensional Cable segments from Rick and Morty.

Despite its inherent weirdness, PodCube is a weirdly grounded look into the chaos of mainstream marketing and working under capitalistic restrictions. Between fake movie trailers and awkward press conferences, PodCube never once tries to explain itself. You should have been listening to this yesterday.

The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society

Now this is unfortunately a late arrival as The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is on its third season as of this writing and as a fan of Barbie and The Three Musketeers I’m honestly a little sad no one told me about this sooner. 

Here we visit an alternate 20th century France in the seaside town of Massalia under the threat of brutal political corruption from a group that calls themselves The Six. It’ll take wits, cunning, and teamwork to fight the forces disturbing the peace and married lesbian couple Saffron and Zinnia are up for the challenge.

The Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society is my greatest feminist fantasies come true complete with sword fights, fiery debates, and frilly outfits. It not only makes for some excellent historical fiction but has such contagious charisma and charm, it’ll have you rallying alongside these dashing heroines.

Maxine Miles

The newest brainchild of The Bright Sessions’ Lauren Shippen is Maxine Miles, a Nancy Drew by way of Clue audio drama with a choose your own adventure twist. Taking place in the late nineties of Hastings, New Hampshire in the eve of autumn, we join Maxine’s team in uncovering the mysteries of her town after the disappearance of one of her classmates. 

The uber-intelligent and precocious Maxine definitely has the wits to crack the case but will the secrets that plague her New England home be too much for one girl to handle? 

Maxine Miles proves to be wholesome fun with a twinge of suspense and intrigue that’ll have you nostalgic over tweenage mystery novels. You definitely won’t need a magnifying glass to see why this one is a gem.

Death by Dying

The life of an obituary writer isn’t exactly thrilling but in a world where the most unlikely of deaths come attached to haunted bicycles, evil farmers, and cats with a deadly appetite, it’s just one of few misadventures in the life of a rookie occult investigator.

Death by Dying is darkly entertaining in its bold writing choices and macabre yet hilarious subject matter, making it an excellent blend of Wooden Overcoats and Less is Morgue. You’ll enjoy Death by Dying’s smooth narration, solid comedic timing, and intriguingly insane mysteries. It’s grim yet uplifting, discusses the dead and is yet filled with life in each episode.

Hannahpocalypse

It’s the end of the world as we know it and Hannah is doing weirdly fine. From Red Fathom Entertainment comes Hannahpocalypse, a comedy/horror audio drama from the perspective of the world’s last unliving girl who has (un)survived a zombie apocalypse merged with a Terminator-style apocalypse.

Hannahpocalypse is a smartly written, tongue-in-cheek take on post apocalyptic tropes told from the perspective of the titular monster. Hannahpocalypse has weaved a funny and insanely charming piece of self aware comedy that’s a refreshing take on the usual piece of glum and gritty apocalypse fiction.

Who Killed Avril Lavigne: A Time-Traveling Pop Punk Podcast

Local teen edgelord Derek Walker has his head up in space and himself back in time when his substitute teacher sends him back to Warp Tour to investigate the disappearance of pop punk princess Avril Lavinge. From that premise alone, the best damn thing might be Who Killed Avril Lavigne: A Time-Traveling Pop Punk Podcast, a love letter to rock and the early 2000’s that will resonate with millennials and the average music fan. 

Who Killed Avril Lavigne is a nostalgic yet strangely modern piece of time-travel comedy that blends crackpot conspiracies and punk rock edge seamlessly. No reason to make things so complicated, you won’t find many things this stylistically gorgeous, absurd, and unbelievably original.

Bonus audio drama podcasts

These audio drama podcasts come from versions of this article past. We still recommend them! They remain some of the greats in audio drama podcasting.

Life With LEO(h)

The androids that don’t dream of electric sheep or are probably dreaming of long walks on the beach. From the same studio that brought you podcast darling The Bright Sessions comes Life With LEO(h), a lighthearted sci-fi comedy about the bond between girl and machine. 

In true rom-com fashion, it focuses on strict and serious Jeanine Bell whose active work life as a robotics intelligence lawyer has majorly crippled her chances at an active love life.

Luckily for her, she’s getting a relationship reboot if she wants it or not once she comes across the adorably dysfunctional, and highly illegal android LEO, Loving, Empathetic, Optimistic, and (only sorta) helpful. This show will never have you doubting if robots could ever know love. When Leo is involved, romance is always part of the equation.

Read more: Life with LEO(h): Atypical’s New Fiction Podcast About Living With a Sexy Robot 

Less is Morgue

Meet your fellow monster in this excellent comedy with a horror twist, Less is Morgue. Taking place in a fantastical Tallahassee, Florida where the supernatural is the norm, a grumpy ghoul named Riley and giddy ghost Evelyn host their own podcast from the comfort of their basement.

But this duo proves that being dead doesn’t make their days any less lively. 

Less is Morgue is smartly written, weird, and wonderfully charming with a great cast of characters, quotable dialogue, and some very solid chemistry from the main undead duo that makes every scene hauntingly hilarious.

Where The Stars Fell

From the creator of Inkwyrm comes a supernatural mystery audio drama written by Newt Schottelkotte of the always experimental Caldera Studios. It follows the not so average life of Dr. Edison Tucker, A.K.A. Ed, whose search for the paranormal might have to start with herself.

Where The Stars Fell is a story of truly biblical proportions twinged with all things existential, violent, and downright weird. Honestly, it might be best to go in blind to truly get the full experience yourself. Be not afraid and check it out. 

When Angels Visit Armadillo

Conspiracies ahoy in Christin Campbell’s When Angels Visit Armadillo. Get to know Magnolia Waters as she tells all through interviews and phone calls about a mysterious disappearance back in ‘88.

When Angels Visit Armadillo is an excellent piece of Americana, a deeply intriguing mystery with Southern flair and a sapphic story at its core. It’s a pleasant mixing pot of Alice Isn’t Dead and the previously mentioned Where The Stars Fell, and despite its short runtime, it’s got a real grit to its presentation that I can’t help but respect.

Spirit Box Radio

Set your stereos to supernatural with Spirit Box Radio, a weekly horror audio drama from Hanging Sloth Studios. When the original host, Madame Marie of Spirit Box Radio‘s Advice and Community Segment goes missing, plucky newcomer Sam Enfield will have to take her place.

But hosting a mystical radio show isn’t exactly a walk in the graveyard when the studio itself is host to terrifying secrets and its own history of hauntings. Spirit Box, with its interesting premise and wiccan vibes, should be a fun listen for anyone seeking out some new, lighthearted horror.

Seen and Not Heard

Our lead in this excellent audio drama is Bet Kline, a woman who is now legally deaf and must navigate herself around such an unexpected curveball. Seen and not Heard is a brutally honest look into living with disability that doesn’t spare a good sense of humor to get its message across.

Those who have struggled with anything be it mental health or hospital stays will find a lot of catharsis in the show’s sincerity and delicate yet bold approach. (Discloure: Caroline Mincks has written for Discover Pods.)

Read more: Seen and Not Heard: On Hearing, On Listening

Ronstadt

Spooky yet weirdly sentimental, mystical yet down to earth, cool as ice and yet hot as hell-that’s one of many ways to describe Ronstadt, a severely undepreciated supernatural noir comedy taking place in an alternative Los Angeles. Meet Rhett McLaughlin, AKA Ronstadt, a snarky, dysfunctional phone jockey thrown headfirst into the dark underbelly of L.A., here known less for its sandy beaches and overpriced coffees and instead it’s otherworldly events.

Combining the aesthetics of The Meat Blockade with the general, effortlessly cool vibe of a Juno Steel adventure, Ronstadt’s strong voice acting, crisp sound editing, and solid storytelling makes a great find for mystery and magic fans looking for that urban twist.

Only Sketches About Podcast

If you’re looking for a less linear podcast experience, you’ll definitely find it with the Only Sketches About Podcast, a grab bag of topics ranging from the mundane like camping trips and gift shops to the more abstract tales of UFO’s and clams. 

Only Sketches is always weird and always funny with a nice twinge of satire to boot. Regardless, Only Sketches is a delightfully unpredictable time with a small but strong cast delivering wonderfully weird stories in this collection of memorable skits.

The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte

Do you ever read the title of something and immediately be sold on its premise? Well, that was the case with picking up The Luchador: 1000 Fights of El Fuego Fuerte, and luckily a pretty solid adventure comedy podcast happened to be attached to it. 

El Fuego Fuerte is a thoroughly original, bombastic joy ride filled to the gills with combat and camp you probably can’t find anywhere else. Creator Daniel Valero Fletcher shows a real love and passion for the art of masked wrestling and the series is pure passion from start to finish.

Mars’ Best Brisket/Midnight Burger

From your local restaurant comes Mars Best Brisket, a short and snacky sitcom by Ponders Productions. Join this eclectic couple as they create the first ever vegan restaurant on Mars, navigating food critics and new hires. Mars Best Brisket is cute, homey, and lovably original with strong writing and the unmistakable wholesome center of visiting a family diner to support its short runtime. 

In fact, why don’t we sandwich a similar recommendation into this with a heaping helping of Midnight Burger, the story of a seemingly normal Phoenix diner that’s actually a time bending, dimension hopping restaurant. Check out either one of these or maybe develop a craving for both. Regardless, you’re bound to leave here smiling and satisfied.

Patient 33

The podcast where the protagonist is in a coma. To be completely honest, that premise alone has sold me on Patient 33, a splice of comedy and medical drama that deconstructs the very nature of podcasts with its clever use of dissecting listener agency with this unorthodox but very creative choice of perspective.

Patient 33 is genuinely engaging with its ongoing plot and dysfunctional cast of characters, making Hope’s Memorial Hospital the hospital that never sleeps.

OBSIDIAN

Ever since checking out Adventures in New America from Night Vale Presents, I’ve been on the prowl for more afrofuturism. Luckily, speculative fiction podcast OBSIDIAN has seriously been scratching that itch for me lately in this truly excellent sci-fi anthology collection. 

OBSIDIAN is delightfully bizarre and insanely smart with inspired settings and one of a kind world building that dabbles into ideas of space travel to simulations, making for an intense, psychological romp that may spark only a minor existential breakdown.

Beautifully constructed from the ground up, OBSIDIAN is an easy yet engaging listen for anyone who wants to get lost for a while.

Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services

Fans of Alba Salix, Royal Physician will probably get a kick out of this ongoing lost gem from 2018, Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services. In this modern take on witches navigating the working world, local witch Kalila Stormfire makes a living as a one-stop shop for fixing magical (magickal?) mishaps. 

You won’t just get tarot card readings and healing crystals here because Economical Magick Services is conjuring up astral projection and speaking to the dead all at an adorable price. And, luckily for you, you can check out this excellent audio drama free of charge. 

We Fix Space Junk

A long time favorite of mine, We Fix Space Junk specifically appeals to my favorite brand of science fiction: the down on their luck, ragtag working class variety like you find in shoes like Wolf 359. 

Here we join repairwoman Kilner and her A.I. partner in crime as they take on any variety of odd jobs while narrowly avoiding being blown into space dust. We Fix Space Junk is a hilariously written, tongue-in-cheek satire that cinches its story with some great acting chops and editing all while being an impassioned love letter to the genre.

If you’re a fan of quirky space comedies like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, you’re bound to enjoy this.

Community Cat News

Oh the things you’ll find if you dig just deep enough, and in this case, my journey concludes in the litter box. Community Cat News is exactly what it appears to be on the surface, an adorable glimpse into the minds of neighborhood cats and what makes them tick in their personal cuddly corner of the world. 

Composed entirely of short episodes, Community Cat News will make up only about five minutes or less of your day and with it sponsored by the prestigious Meow Meow Puffytail, Feline Rights Attorney, you know it’s bound to be a pur-fect entertainment for you and your own feline friend.

Brimstone Valley Mall

As a soda-chugging, pizza-munching, Twitter-account-owning degenerate who feels entitled to the kind of liveable wage a part time mall job simply can’t provide, a black comedy podcast about demons in a rock band working at a suburban shopping mall during the late nineties is a little too up my alley. 

Though my Goth phase is long past me, a show that encompasses Goth aesthetics is such a rare and incredibly welcomed facet to the considerably less Goth podcasts lying around. No time for prissy preps here, Brimstone Valley Mall is truly the epitome of what old people think rock music does to the youth-Satan worshipping and a sudden taste for leather included.

The Godshead Incidental

(Disclosure: Cole Burkhardt, who plays Lorem Ipsum, is a Discover Pods contributor.)

It usually doesn’t take much to impress me so The Godshead Incidental passing the test within a mere few seconds of its first episode is actually high praise. In this urban fantasy that’s a nice combination of The Wicked and The Divine and an episode of Parks and Recreation, comes one of the most unique takes on modernized mythology I’ve heard in years.

Get to know advice columnist Em as she tries to find her missing sister after a sudden run in with the God of Memory, throwing her into a risky partnership with the charmingly mysterious Lorem Ipsum. Witty dialogue, fantastic world building, and solid acting chops makes for a one of a kind experience. 

Read more: New Religion: “The Godshead Incidental” Review

The Magnus Archives 

As the kind of person who still gets startled by bread coming out of a toaster, I’m probably not the kind of person who should be getting personally invested in horror shows. Too bad The Magnus Archives has already sunk its teeth into me and hasn’t let go for the better half of last year. 

What starts as a loosely connected compilation of one-off horror stories becomes a densely personal psychological horror peppered with just the right amount of existential dread and body horror galore. If you can stomach what it has to offer, it’ll prove to be as satisfying as it is scary.

The Long Hallway

Perhaps blame my short attention span or growing fondness for Black Mirror, but there’s something I inevitably enjoy about anthologies. There’s definitely an art to be appreciated in the nature of a short story, how quickly we’re introduced to characters and ideas until we’re forced to jump to another one with the fate of our last gallery of heroes left completely abandoned. 

Anthology shows are in no short supply in audio drama but there’s just something about The Long Hallway that really caught my attention. Its methodical pace, its slightly eerie atmosphere, and its love for twists and subtle theming all packed in episodes that never go over eleven minutes makes it an excellent entry level podcast.

The Theatre of Tomorrow 

While still on the topic of anthologies, the first collection I found myself smitten by was easily 2017’s The Theatre of Tomorrow by Midnight Disease Productions. There’s just something so fun about shows that are wacky for wackiness sake and it takes a delicate hand to make these kinds of shows charming instead of obnoxious.

The Theatre of Tomorrow is silly but inspired by its love of retro, old-timey radio plays, granting it a sort of 1950’s aesthetic pleasantness. It’s random but never incoherent which is helped by some positively solid casting and editing, making it as hilarious as it is fabulously put together. Nothing quite tickles my fancy the way a good scripted comedy does and The Theatre of Tomorrow is a severely underappreciated relic.

Fuck Humans

Audio-fiction erotica is in itself quite a rare genre. Not that podcasts can’t talk about or include sex or sexually active charaters, but many of which can hardly call themselves legitimate smut. And for the lonely adults in the world in need of some more sizzly soundbytes comes Fuck Humans, a fantasy romance for the eighteen and older audience.

Fuck Humans manages the art of combining both smut and story and doing so with expert consistency. All around, it’s the kind of show you can enjoy with a bit of privacy…or out in the open if you’re into that sort of thing. What could have been a mere monster mash is a rather simple tale about overcoming prejudices with a sexy twist.

The Penumbra Podcast

Be it you’re tuning in for the suspenseful cyber noir of private eye Juno Steel or the medieval misadventures of many a dreamy knight at The Second Citadel, The Penumbra Podcast is one of the more popular selections to have come out in years but has certainly earned its position among the greats. Excellently crafted with great characters and even greater mysteries to uncover, any path you choose guarantees hours of wit, whimsy, and wonderful angst.

Read more: Plug in, Press Play: Reimagining Podcasts as Games

Dark Dice

I personally feel like I’m still barely toddling into the realm of DnD podcasts which is a shame given how incredibly popular they are. An easy format thanks to the improvised storytelling aspects and the wholesome company of good friends with wild imaginations, but it takes far more than just setting up some sound equipment in your mother’s basement to make a session podcast worthy.

That’s why I highly recommend Dark Dice, a grim fantasy adventure following a lovably flawed party banding together to find the missing children of a nearby village while being pursued by a shapeshifting monster. Fool and Scholar Productions creates a solid atmosphere with the kind of interesting creatures, mysterious lands, and high stakes you find in the likes of Thrilling Adventure Zone and Critical Role. So roll for initiative and check it out.

Rover Red: Alone in the Apocalypse 

As someone so hung up on their own nostalgia that they still have Adobe Flash installed on their computer purely out of spite, it’s no wonder I’m still not over Rover Red: Alone in the Apocalypse, a gloriously short-lived science fiction thriller that debuted in 2017 and, much like a sentient implant drilled into my ear canal, hasn’t left my mind since. 

In this rather intense show we follow the adventures of Leah as she navigates the ruined remains of a post-apocalyptic world with only an artificial intelligence and the motivation to find her brother pushing her through increasingly difficult trials that a mysterious council, i.e. listeners, were able to vote on.

Even if there’s only so few episodes to spare, it’s worth a peak regardless for its iron hard tension, excellent world building, and blend of psychological horror and science fiction adventure that makes Ender’s Game look like Little Einsteins.

THE INFINITE NOW

As far as non-linear, artsy shows go, THE INFINITE NOW  is a short and sweet but certainly fun little detour. To describe the show’s premise is a bit of a tall order as it’s more or less a random selection of spacy monologues narrated by the show’s creator Richard Penner. But if you have a taste for surrealism, existential horror, and some atmospheric music, it’s an excellent selection to backtrack your next blunt rotation with some close friends.

The Meat Blockade

High-brow surrealist comedy with singing pirate frogs and lamb scrotum isn’t the kind of thing you’d be bragging about in your next book club but somebody’s gotta break the ice, especially if you’re in the similar company of Kafka enthusiasts. 

The Meat Blockade by the Hennesy brothers is a thrillingly absurd look into the unlucky life of Karl Berenger as he desperately tries to crawl his way back home after one single choice lands him in the gaping maw of Nighttown. Gorgeously edited, fabulously acted, and never slacking in surprises, it’s a wonderfully bizarre romp that wears its inspiration on its sleeves.

SAYER

A favorite, always going to be a favorite, and is still a favorite to this day. SAYER is the science fiction horror audio drama debut of Adam Bash who has weaved a positively fascinating if terrifying futuristic dystopia. And it’s through the eyes of the titular SAYER, as well as a number of other equally dysfunctional artificial intelligences, that we learn about the dark secrets and darker tragedies befalling the citizens of Typhon.

Hadron Gospel Hour

Hadron Gospel Hour is the kind of show your dad would like, maybe even my dad would like, but that hasn’t stopped teenage me or adult me from being insanely fond of easily one of my favorite audio drama sci-fi comedies.

With its wacky dimension hopping, reality bending mishaps, and chaotic duo of a mad scientist and average joe, Hadron Gospel Hour was Rick and Morty before Rick and Morty was cool, so it’s worth a listen simply for that level of hipster street cred.

Return Home

Small towns with big secrets is common ground to tread for many fiction series with varying levels of success. There’s something just so oddly humble about the hidden secrets of an average community being brought to the forefront and it’s things like Return Home that reminds me of the potential they have to be fun, wonderfully bizarre experiences. 

Though it may not be for everyone, Return Home is one of those shows that has a little bit of everything: comedy, strange supernatural forces, and romance all wrapped up in a package that’s so unashamedly authentic.

With a loveable trio as the leads and an interesting slew of monsters to pick from, this long trip to Melancholy Falls is a nice blend of creative and campy.

Adventures in New America

Night Vale Presents is nothing short of a seal of quality around these parts so it’s no wonder that shows like Within the Wires and Alice Isn’t Dead are such beloved audio drama favorites that still have just the slightest DNA of our favorite desert town in its veins. And though those shows are darling to me, Adventures in New America feels like a truly unique entity.

Branching off from the more Americana-esque vibes of Night Vale Presents other works, this show decides to walk in the pond of political satire with a cyberpunk twist. In this “Afrofuturistic buddy comedy”, tag along with best friends IA and Simon Carr as they wind up in increasingly more absurd heist missions on the dangerous streets of New New York City for the deliberate goal of landing in jail for the benefit of free health insurance. 

Be it you’re in the mood for social commentary or foul mouthed and funny exchanges, you’re bound to be seeing things in neon after one listen.

Steal the Stars

Written by Mac Rogers, Steal the Stars is the story of Dakota “Dak” Prentiss, a government worker on a secret test site. She and her team are tasked with looking after Moss, the comatose body of an alien named for the moss-like substance growing on its body, and its baffling ship that emits deadly waves.

The project is so dangerous that Dak’s higher-ups have completely forbidden the team from becoming attached to each other. No friends. No confidants. And definitely no hookups–which becomes more difficult when the painfully attractive Matt Salem is hired. What starts as a pulpy romance slowly turns into a political intrigue thriller, a heist, and one of the most memorable final episodes in audio drama to date.

Harlem Queen

Audio drama is known for being heavy on the sci-fi and horror, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t great realistic fiction. Based on the true story of “Numbers Queen” Madame Stephanie St. Clair, mobster and gambler, Harlem Queen is a historical fiction podcast set during the Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Queen is jazzy, glamorous, and exciting–but it also doesn’t shy away from the realities of being black, and especially being a black woman, in the American 1920’s.

Wolf 359

Wolf 359 was an audio drama space opera, set in a massive space station orbiting the eponymous red dwarf star. What starts out as a lighthearted story about the lackadaisical protagonist Doug Eiffel being bored in space eventually becomes an action-packed, dramatic, heart-wrenching story about the cost of the greater good, the path to redemption, what it means to be human, and overcoming trauma. Wolf 359 concluded its four-season run at the end of 2017, making it a perfect completed story to listen to without worrying about staying current.

The Big Loop

The Big Loop is a somewhat sci-fi, somewhat magical realism anthology series created by Paul Bae of the well-known horror fiction podcast The Black Tapes. Each episode of The Big Loop is a different story, meaning you can skip around and jump in whenever you’d like. Each episode also feels like a different genre: “The Studio” is a sort of ghost story, “YOU” is about an astronaut and her AI, and “All God’s Children” is somewhere between comedy and Lovecraftian horror. If you’re in for a supernatural story with some heavy emotional punches, though, “Goodbye Mr. Adams” is a great place to start.

CARAVAN

A product of audio drama cornerstone The Whisperforge, CARAVAN is a buckwild journey into a story about demons, vampires, banshees, and the caravans that slay them. Protagonist Samir is a play on a typical nerdy everyman genre fiction hero, with the important differences that he’s queer, Desi, and explicitly not thin. As Samir falls into an otherworldly, weird west canyon, he teams up with a traveling group of demon hunters but winds up seeing how he can change their ways to be more ethical. CARAVAN plays with genre, the hero’s journey, and eroticism in one big, unabashed, thrilling bundle.

36 Questions

If you’re looking for a realistic fiction story you can get through in an afternoon and you’re not against the idea of musicals, 36 Questions is a great first foray into audio drama podcasts. This 3-part limited series is a full musical about a husband and wife who are recently separated and their attempts to rekindle their romance–or snuff it out for good. The songs are gorgeous and catchy with lyrics that balance profoundness with authenticity. It’s a fiction podcast you won’t be able to get out of your head, whether because of the songs or the incredible characters singing them.

Alba Salix, Royal Physician

Alba Salix is a comedy audio drama about a royal physician in a fantastical realm, trying her hardest to make her patients understand common sense. It’s one part Scrubs, one part Monty Python, one part Robin Hood: Men in Tights. It’s an easy listen even with an overarching plot that delivers fast-paced jokes and ridiculous characters. If you want to get an introduction to audio drama podcasts but maybe without so much drama, Alba Salix is delightfully whimsical, light-hearted, and hilarious.

The Amelia Project

The Amelia Project is a comedy audio drama about a company that helps clients fake their deaths and start anew, complete with faked identities. Each episode is a consultation with the prospective client to find out why they want their death faked, how they want it do be faked, and how they want to come back. The comedy is absurd and twisted without ever being to gritty or macabre. The level of creativity in The Amelia Project is already enough to make it a great listen, but the acting and sound design are both just as impressive.

For more on The Amelia Project, make sure to read Morgan Hines’s interview with its creators.

Greater Boston

Greater Boston feels like the Mike Schur equivalent in the podcast world. Like Brooklyn 99 or Parks and Recreation, Greater Boston takes place in a hyperbolic version of a real place. Like The Good Place, that level of hyperbole is sometimes brought to bizarre high-concept episodes with an almost supernatural feel. Greater Boston takes place after the world’s most boring man dies on a roller coaster, and the podcast only gets more surprising, hilarious, and intriguing from there.

Fan Wars: The Empire Claps Back

Rom-coms are finally returning to popular culture, including in podcasts. Fan Wars: The Empire Claps Back is a romantic dramedy about two fans on the opposite sides of many debates in the Star Wars discourse. It’s a classic setup: two hot-headed opponents make assumptions about each other, expect the worst from each other, and then consistently surprise themselves when they find common ground and maybe even common attraction. Wrap the premise up in some cosplay and give it a lightsaber and you’re in for a great listen.

Limetown

Limetown is an audio drama that straddles the line between science fiction and horror. Framed like an investigated journalism podcast a la Serial, Limetown follows a reporter trying to find out what happened to a town where everyone suddenly went missing ten years ago. Limetown packs so much character development into its first season, with most episodes following a specific interviewee, but it balances character with one of the most riveting plots I’ve ever heard. After several years, Limetown is returning with its second season on October 31st–yes, Halloween–2018, as well as releasing a prequel novel set when Limetown was founded.

The Bright Sessions

The Bright Sessions is a character-driven audio drama about people with superpowers going to therapy. Don’t shy away if you’re not a fan of big superhero blockbusters, though–The Bright Sessions is much more Friday Night Lights than The Avengers. It’s a gorgeous character study, but it also has a plot that focuses on government conspiracies, well-researched discussions of mental health, and some beautiful love stories. The Bright Sessions is also being adapted as a TV show and three spinoff novels, so make sure to catch up first.

Marsfall

Marsfall is a newer addition to the audio drama world, but it’s already being regarded as one of the best in the scene. This science fiction audio drama follows a different character’s perspective each episode as they land on Mars for an expedition. The changing point of view adds depth to each part of its somewhat large cast while also complicating the ethics so often discussed in the plot. Marsfall also proves that large-scale action sequences are not only possible in audio, but can also be beautiful.

Station to Station

Station to Station is a horror audio drama that turns the audio medium on its head. Plenty of audio drama podcasts give a reason for their story to take place in audio, but Station to Station subverts this with internal monolgues and changing perspectives. This fiction podcast follows a researcher on a massive ship whose research partner never showed up for the voyage–but did leave the protagonist some audio recordings. Station to Station is an audio drama that you could listen to casually, but it’s best when given the time and attention one might give Lost or Westworld, and it merits just as much theorizing.

The post 15 Audio Drama Podcasts to Get You Hooked on Fiction appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

My relationship with horror is an odd one. I’m the kind of person who can recall the events of Harlan Ellison short stories and will pass a compliment to any cute girl I see in a Junji Ito sweatshirt while in the same breath admitting I couldn’t sit through SAW. 

One of my favorite books is House of Leaves and I’ve got a massive soft spot for Perfect Blue, Black Swan, and the 2018 remake of Susperia but even I still need to use my phone flashlight to walk to the bathroom at night. And it’s just not Halloween until I’ve had a back to back marathon of The Love Witch, The Craft, and Jennifer’s Body but throw Tusk in the mix and the night is ruined.

Horror is such a subjective topic with audiences often leaning one direction or the other on what they consider good, let alone scary so confronting someone with the question of what scares them can vary from the inevitability of death and the possible bleakness of the afterlife or being rampaged by skeleton pirates. 

As a fan of consuming multiple pieces of fictional media I can say I’ve never seen more ups and downs than I have with the horror genre and I can confirm the same goes for podcasts. 

The Usual Suspects

We’ve all heard it at least once: A crackly found audio occult study done by an ambitious twenty-something exploring some sort of mysterious rural area. Along the way they come across a batch of eclectic strangers, some foes but mostly friends who either encourage or discourage our protagonist’s belief in the supernatural. 

Because this abandoned town could be host to a multitude of demons/ghosts/cults/serial killers/monsters or possibly all five because a town with multiple secrets is always better than one.

This is the setup of the typical horror docudrama, something of a stalemate in the podcasting world. And my, how stale it truly is.

It’s Small Town Horror, it’s The Black Tapes, it’s The Last Movie, it’s TANIS, it’s Diary of a Madman, it’s Limetown and Rabbits and it’s making me very bored.

The Public Radio Alliance podcasts (Rabbits, TANIS, The Last Movie) pretty much cornered the market on these types of shows and though I’m always a fan of a juicy mystery, something about their content, as well as those who try to emulate their style, just fails to be scary–which I imagine is a major thorn in the side of something in the horror category. No matter how polished, no matter how expertly produced, the horror docudrama setup has always been such a slog to experience. 

Not to be a snob about these things, but something about the formula just reeks of a sort of Blair Witch Project level of predictability, even if you want to liberally call it a homage to the found footage genre. 

Trends are inevitable in art no matter the medium and even audio drama is no stranger to piggybacking off established success.

Do you remember that time when all horror video games were about zombies and then after PT (the playable trailer for a since-canceled Silent Hill game to be titled Silent Hills) made a splash before getting erased from play stores worldwide, indie developers were renting out one endlessly looping childhood home after the next? And don’t even get me started on horror movies by directors who have only seen Poltergeist and Paranormal Activity in the last ten years and still think the next big thing is haunted houses and creepy kids possessed by demons. 

Horror podcasts don’t have many zombies but they certainly have the mysterious identity/mysterious town/mysterious mystery routine down pact. I just feel like horror can be more than just amnesiac discoveries of oneself, of waking up in abandoned rooms with blood under your your fingernails, or creepy strangers and fuzzy, mic interference. 

Why is it almost always places heavy with fog and rain and big lumbering trees that have all the ghosts and ghouls? Ever been to a suburb? Wouldn’t the contrast of an idyllic picnic spot or luxurious golf course be all the more interesting if there was a gory murder mystery hidden beneath the surface? A bit of narrative contrast can go a long way and frankly one show taking place in Oregon and the other in Nowhere, Washington is a road trip certainly not worth my gas money. 

Give me details about the corpse floating in a fountain at a California strip mall then we’ll talk.

Die Laughing

While still on the topic, I can’t help but mention shows that are still nestled into the horror genre but are defined more as comedies inspired by the aesthetics of slasher films and ghost stories. Combine gore with good laughs and you can produce some interesting results.

Why do you think things like Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Addams Family, and Scooby Doo still thrive even in this climate? If you can’t be the next new scary movie, you can always try to be the next Scary Movie.

Horror is scary, but horror can also be stupid, campy fun, just ask anyone whose seen a Christopher Landon movie. We wear rubber masks and eat our fill of candy not because it freaks us out but because it’s a good time and honestly it’s the shows with spooky hosts rather than spooky circumstances that’s really caught my attention as of late. 

Kind of like the second coming of Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, it feels like a commentary on horror tropes while still embracing why exactly we even like this kind of stuff in the first place. (Editor’s note: I simply cannot see an Elvira reference in 2021 without taking time to say congratulations to Elvira for coming out and sharing 12 years with her girlfriend. We queers have always loved you and we love you all the more now.)

Less is Morgue has a kitchen sink of undead and otherworldly beings, Haunted House Flippers combines Extreme Home Makeover with Ghost Hunters, and Death by Dying and Brimstone Valley Mall places a lot of the perspective on the titular monsters. If anything, I’ve found I’ve been deeply enamored with horror shows that take the perspective off of the usual human everyman and works to humanize the beasts we’d normally be avoiding all together. And the results are often just so hilarious that you wouldn’t have it any other way. 

How to do Horror 

Long time readers might know about a past article of mine where I discussed scary moments in otherwise non-horror based audio dramas. 

Even podcasts that don’t specifically focus on horror can utilize common fears to generate more authentic stakes. Wolf 359 deals with the psychological effects of isolation and paranoia, I honestly really enjoyed the bite-sized thrillers done by The Long Hallway and the ways the tension just absolutely grabs you in stuff like The Penumbra or Girl in Space is unbeatable.

Then there are more traditional horror shows like I Am in Eskew and The Magnus Archives that approach their concepts from an angle of existential dread with a nice sprinkling of body horror to keep things interesting. 

I feel found audio horror podcasts have tried and tried again to zero in on the horror of discovery, of man knowing things man simply shouldn’t know, but it always falls flat as it’s dragged from lab to home to empty town to recording booth over and over again instead letting the impact of the reveal do the talking for them.

And with the primary usually being some sort of monster or event that the whole series is building up to, it often runs into the problem of over-explaining and ruining any potential for a gray area for our imagination to wander. 

This breaks such a big rule in audio storytelling where the lack of visual input is entirely the point. Nothing is scarier than nothing, after all.

Read more: The Parapod: The Haunted House Investigation That Lied

For example, one of my favorite minimalist horror shows to this day is SAYER which is nothing like a docudrama but a sci-fi story characterized by its dense, oppressive atmosphere and told from the perspective of an A.I. And though it starts off as this self-contained glimpse into the future, it’s growing cast of characters and world building serves to develop a conflict of conflicting powers, devising a sort of mechanical Cold War.

There are so many ways to create authentic tension and fear that you may not even need the horror label to sink your narrative claws into listeners. After all, not all horror media needs a big scary monster pushed into the forefront, there are already plenty of human fears lurking around our everyday lives.

Horror is Not Hopeless 

I’m not implying horror shows can’t accomplish what they set out to do, it’s just that the avenues horror podcast writers take can feel so trodden and overdone to the point it all starts to blend together. 

Serial killers and cults and memory loss-those are inherently freaky concepts, but when one show after the other is playing that same tune we’ve heard a million times before it’s not even worth dimming the lights for. 

Pacific Northwest Stories makes good, high quality work but it’s reliance on comfort zones has created a template too many people are eager to fill. Horror is hard to pull off but people aspiring to be the next Stephen King need to stop borrowing overused tropes and start looking deep into the kind of scary ideas that will leave listeners speechless, not asleep. 

And besides, a lack of originality? Well, that’s simply terrifying.

(Editor’s note 10/15/21: Edits have been made to distinguish the differences between Pacific Northwest Stories, or PNWS, and the Public Radio Alliance, or PRA.)

The post The Stale State of Horror Podcasts appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

Akers and Bronkie met at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where they were roommates–but before Limetown, the only project they collaborated on was a student film. After graduation, Akers went on to make sports documentaries with HBO; Bronkie worked at Facebook and Pinterest. It’s a strange path to eventually land on a sci-fi-meets-conspiracy fiction podcast, but the two creators found inspiration from their paths in different ways.

“Documentary is a good discipline for storytelling and filmmaking, generally,” Akers said. “How do you construct a story using the facts, and the facts alone in a way that’s entertaining and engaging? When I was in film school, early on, I didn’t have any interest in the discipline of documentary because I wanted to work completely in narrative. But, of course, the real world is a really fascinating place. Documentary is a great way to access it and convey it to an audience.”

In previous interviews, Bronkie has mentioned that some of the inspiration for Limetown’s concept came from Silicon Valley, namely the Facebook campus. Now, with the TV adaptation of Limetown, Bronkie has returned to Facebook to work with their Facebook Watch team. “When we pitched the show out in 2017, Facebook was the partner who wanted to go straight to series, and Facebook was the partner who also shared our creative vision. When I was at Facebook back in 2005, I remember thinking, ‘There’s no way Facebook would ever do original content.’”

But for fans of Limetown, the series isn’t just about the concept, the setup, or the town itself; it’s also about the rich cast of characters who develop via semi-monologue in each episode. Akers and Bronkie say that their inspiration was pulled for the characters on the page versus drawing from personal experiences–which put Bronkie at ease to hear. Referencing the character Lenore from late in the podcast and show’s first season he said, “Lenore is someone that I can see come from some deep, dark place inside of [Akers], and I’ve almost always been too afraid to ask.”

“Lenore is my favorite character to write,” Akers answered. “I got a chance to write her again for the TV show, which you’ll see in episode 10. She’s so delicious to write for.”

This did not seem to ease Bronkie’s worries.

While Akers feels a connection to the terrifying Lenore, Bronkie says he resonates with the love story at the core of Max Finlayson and DeirdreWells’s narratives, written by Dan Moyer. Akers and Bronkie explained that for each episode of the podcast’s first series, the writers were given a starting point and a destination, but were otherwise largely left to their own devices. When asked about the references to The Wizard of Oz in the Deirdreand Max episodes, Akers said, “I think that was [Moyer] just processing the story of Limetown and spitting out something beautiful.”

There’s a sense of cinema throughout the first season of Limetown, both in references like The Wizard of Oz and the storytelling itself, that has always made Limetown feel ripe for adaptation. Because Akers and Bronkie come from a film background, Akers said that writing the pilot almost felt like a relief. “Writing for podcasts is really hard, and writing for TV is really hard. They just both present different challenges.” 

On adapting the podcast for TV, Bronkie said, “I often forget how much time Zack [Akers] and I have been living in this world. Even at its start in the writers’ room in 2017, that’s five years after we started talking about Limetown. We deeply know this world and these characters, and that was important in thinking about how to tell this story visually in television.”

Akers explains that the biggest challenge he had was building out the protagonist, Lia Haddock. In the podcast, he said, “She wants to present herself in a very professional way and a very particular way. In the TV show, you have to drop that and show who she really is away from the edit lab.” Some of the inspiration for Lia’s iteration came from bringing lead actor Jessica Biel on and working with her on Lia’s character.

Fans of the podcast who have been keeping up with the season on Facebook Watch will have noticed the changes in Lia’s character. In the podcast, Lia is almost a blank slate, there to give some structure and framing in the story; in the Facebook Watch show, Lia is a fully-realized character who is driven by her obsession with the story she’s trying to tell.

Limetown, in all of its iterations, is a story focused on the importance of the truth. When I asked whether the creators thought that Lia’s quest for the truth is noble, their answers reflected the tricky territory of the price truth can have.

Akers answered, “I don’t think of [Lia] as a noble character. Skip [Bronkie] says she’s a character who lives in the gray [. . .] she’s always burning those lines, and that’s what makes her interesting to me. When I’m thinking about how she would handle a situation, she’s constantly surprising me. But her pursuit being noble is a separate issue.”

Bronkie answered, “I think there’s an interesting distinction between the people in the world who pursue a mystery because they want to uncover the truth and the people who pursue a mystery because they want to be the one to uncover the truth. One of the great things we explore in this season of [the Facebook Watch show] is, what if [Lia] is the latter? What if she’s someone who finds purpose in this mission, and she pursues the truth because she wants to be the one to uncover the truth? And I think that you could decide for yourself if that’s noble, but it’s certainly something we’ve made a choice to explore.”

The post Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie on “Limetown” appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

For all of its flaws, the podcast excelled at capturing one’s imagination by playing to the strengths of an investigative podcast’s tropes. The host, Lia Haddock, travels from interview to interview, each new person more entertaining than the last. Each discussion reveals more about the disappearance at Limetown while also offering new questions that thicken the plot. 

I was given the first four episodes of a nine-episode first season to review, and I’m here to say it’s one hell of an engrossing watch, albeit a complicated one to recommend. 

In many ways the first four episodes work better than their podcast counterparts. With each return to the day people first moved into Limetown we’re given a slightly different perspective. The same scene can (and will) be revisited from a new angle multiple times, each iteration adding a new layer. Tonally Limetown makes me think back to Westworld season one and the early seasons of Lost. A drama with a mystery at its core designed to keep you guessing, but with a healthy dash of “prestige television” seasoning. 

If you enjoy the usual writing tropes of modern prestige television, you’ll have no problem getting invested in Limetown. If the term “prestige television” makes you roll your eyes, Limetown’s going to be a hard sell, but I still recommend giving it a shot. 

Limetown is cyclical in structure, frequently returning to move-in day at the titular town. Each time the show loops around itself new things are shown from the new narrator’s perspective. Even with each new layer of context given, there’s a dreamlike logic to this small town. Stores are fully stocked, everything has a fresh coat of paint, every interior of every house is exactly the same. People are uncomfortable when they arrive in Limetown, and that translates to an overall feeling of unease while watching. I know what happens and I still found myself waiting for the next domino to fall, the next bit of information to be meted out to prove my theories (even if my theories are what I objectively know will happen from the podcast). It’s a show that requires you to set aside time to be able to watch it and be able to recover a bit afterward. Perhaps nowhere near as disturbing as a given episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, but it still has the power to leave one in a funk afterward. 

The jump from podcast to television can be a difficult one to make successfully, but Limetown comes prepared with the original writers behind the podcast acting as both writers and executive producers of the adaptation. They’ve taken what we already know to be Limetown and, quite simply, made more of it. The biggest focus of this fleshing-out seems to be focused on series protagonist Lia Haddock (Jessica Biel). 

In the first four episodes of the adaptation, it seems Biel-Haddock is a far more engaging, well-rounded character that podcast-Haddock. Most scenes featuring Lia alone trigger flashbacks to her childhood memories of her uncle Emil (played by the ever-charming Stanley Tucci), who ends up working at Limetown and becoming one of the missing 326. She’s tangentially connected to Limetown by the one family member she seems to still have a healthy relationship with, despite not having spoken to him since she was eight years old. 

On the flip side, Lia Haddock has some big problems, namely that she’s a crap journalist. While that doesn’t seem like much on paper, it’s hard to get rid of the question “how does she still have a job at APR (the in-canon replacement for NPR).  She has seemingly infinite company resources at her disposal, every bit of audio she publishes gets mad traffic, yet flubs most basic ethics of reporting. Lia doesn’t have the chops a reporter at her level would be expected to have, and there’s nothing in the world to indicate the rest of the fictional world acknowledges this. 

Lia is always recording, regardless of consent. From her order at a coffee shop to a clandestine aural sex tape of a hookup with her neighbor-with-benefits, Lia’s (in some cases literally) horny for violating privacy. There’s even a scene where she parks a recorder next to a sleeping coworker, gets in her own hotel bed mere feet away, and proceeds to masturbate while listening to his breathing in her headphones. 

Why does she do this? The best answer I can come up with from these four episodes is because the show could. As streaming services push the boat out on being seen as “legitimate” sources of drama, there seems to be this expectation they’ll produce an IP that contains content one would normally associate with a Showtime or HBO release. A version of Limetown on broadcast television wouldn’t be able to do this, and as the only facet of Limetown that ticks that box it stands out even moreso.

Perhaps there’s a complex narrative reason for why Haddock’s compulsions to be found in the prequel novel or episodes of the podcast I’ve not listened to, but as we stand with this first block of four episodes: I have no clue. Maybe I’m wrong and this develops into something later, but for now it feels like we’re just falling for the all-too-common trope of having a queer character’s only expression of sexuality be inherently negative in some way. Fingers crossed it’s an intentional character choice that goes somewhere and not a way to garner brownie points on the awards circuit for being edgy for edginess’ sake.

That said, Biel does her best to make Haddock feel legitimate, regardless. TV-Lia has some rough edges and unfortunate writer’s decisions driving the character, but I can’t fault the acting. Biel takes these mismatched elements and molds them as much into something resembling a real, imperfect human as possible. She sells this reporter who’s willing to lose everything to find the truth. How she ends up nude in a decompression chamber as shown in the trailers I have no idea, but I’m interested to see if the small deviations from the podcast mean TV-Lia is going to go in a much different direction by the end of season one. 

Of course, the true strength of podcast and TV Limetown are the people Lia encounters on her investigation. In this quartet of episodes, we encounter Winona and Warren Chambers (podcast listeners will recognize him as The Reverend). Kelly Jerette’s performance as Winona makes perfectly clear that Limetown will mess with the audience. Scenes can and will change based on unreliable narrators. It’s a bold statement and it sold me on following this story to its conclusion. 

Then we have Warren Chambers, played by the excellent John Beasley. Beasley’s got a big order to fill because his character is the key to the episode “Napoleon.” It’s the best of the first four episodes, which is unsurprising as Napoleon is one of the better single episodes of audio fiction I’ve encountered. Beasley does not disappoint. If anything, the subject matter of his story lends better to a visual medium. Warren Chambers is given some heavy narrative lifting and pulls it off without breaking a sweat.

There’s also a show-stealing performance from French Stewart, of all people. An actor I most associate with his wacky, childlike performances in Third Rock from the Sun and Inspector Gadget 2 achieves so much with so little in one scene, it’s flabbergasting. Without moving from a hospital bed and barely moving his hands, Stewart’s performance marries with the series’ immersive sound design to leave the viewer thoroughly disturbed in a way most war movies or prestige television series about serial killers could only hope to achieve.

Limetown is not without its faults, but in a small crowd of podcast TV adaptations it quickly stands out in a crowd. It remains to be seen if Facebook Watch will be widely adopted enough to justify multiple seasons of something as packed with name-brand stars as Limetown, but even these four episodes on their own significantly raise the bar for fiction podcast adaptations previously set embarrassingly low by Gimlet’s Homecoming. 

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