Fiction Podcast Debuts: April Roundup
It’s time to take a trip through someone’s amazing bottle universe.
Audio fiction adventures are often like stepping into a bottle — one that is carefully and loving decorated to become another universe with different rules and fascinating characters. From writers, who outline the bounds of the universe and the trajectory of the listener’s mind, to voice actors, who breathe life into the characters and their whims, to sound designers, who flesh out the landscape and the sounds of the world coming into contact with moving objects: the journey of an audio fiction is long and arduous, but ultimately triumphant.
Here are 16 fiction podcasts that have taken a long trip around suns and stars to get to you, podcast listener.
Among the Stars and Bones
Out there, in deep space, there is an ancient alien civilization that begs discovery and analysis — an unearthing of old alliances and language change and massive quantities of bodies. Among the Stars and Bones is an innovative found footage podcast, where a variety of reports by the scientists engaged on this expedition are being sent back to the operation leader on Earth, and intertwine and weave together to give listeners a full image of what’s happening. But there appears to be a glitch corrupting that data — an auditory editing stroke of genius to arouse both curiosity and fear.
Purple Panties
Purple Panties is the audio adaptation of erotic fiction from author Zane’s collection of Black lesbian erotica. Originally a Stitcher Premium podcast, it is now released to general audiences. Following three women in Atlanta, this is a work that celebrates lesbians, their love, and their sexual power. It is tastefully and lavishly constructed, focusing on the complicated angles of their relationships and how that entangles with their needs, their work, and their dreams.
Counterbalance
Counterbalance is a fast-paced, high fantasy adventure. It explores what happens when protective magical weaves are torn apart, letting malicious, gluttonous spirits into the world of Skundr — spirits that eat sound, light, dreams, anything they can sink their teeth into. Raka, along with her companions, must venture into the mountains in order to repair the tear and keep the tear from spreading any further. This is a beautifully designed world both in script and sound; the first episodes are genuinely transportive while paying close attention to the importance of character and relationships.
Forest 404
From the BBC comes an experimental political thriller set in an age after a cataclysmic data crash — one that results in historical data of all kinds being carefully selected and preserved in a future that doesn’t understand Mozart’s symphonies or past speeches from world leaders. Forest 404 is about an archivist tasked with deleted “unnecessary sounds” — without having any context — and only keeping those that sound important. When she stumbles on a recording of a rainforest it changes her life, and reveals the insidious conspiracy beneath this new society.
Oblivity
A war hero gets sent to a research station on Pluto for her own health, and is tasked with corralling a team of wayward and offbeat scientists. At this distant, lonely station, the team must grapple with their emotions, evil geniuses, and old rivals. Oblivity is a sci-fi comedy full of bonkers adventures and forceful, hilarious personalities, that spends exactly the right amount of time on things like PTSD and broken hearts.
The Ordinary Epic
The Ordinary Epic explores what happens when a new person joins a long-running RPG campaign full of friends. Marcus has joined after meeting the Emo, who plays a half-orc warrior, at work; the other players receive him in both cold and warm measures. Listeners witness their developing relationship as the perspective shifts from the Dungeon Master Athena’s basement to the wide fantasy realm they have created together.
The Atomic Library
The Atomic Library follows the shenanigans of the staff of the Orson Welles Community Library of Haven Hollow, TX, after the “Allpocalypse” — it was the apocalypse, but literally everything went wrong. This post-apocalyptic workplace sitcom is a series of snapshot looks into life at the library as they try to keep it running smoothly — even though there’s a ghost taking up residence in the second floor bathroom and they can’t seem to hire a reference librarian.
Railcar Studios Presents: The Red House Mystery
“The Red House Mystery” was the only mystery written by Winnie the Pooh author A.A. Milne. It is a locked-room whodunnit in an English country house after a long-lost family member returns to the family home and is shortly thereafter found dead. This adaptation is pitch-perfect for a classic, Golden Age mystery — from the calm and slightly judgmental tones of the narrator, to the snotty and playful acting of every character.
Ear Epic: Audio Drama Anthologies
From the producers of the sci-fi action podcast Joseph comes an anthology podcast, premiering with the ten-part story of The Record, a tale that takes place during an apocalyptic event. It follows the journey of Marc on his way out of a destroyed city, finding and losing companions along the way as he figures out that something much bigger is happening. Ear Epic’s expert sound design creates a filtered, nerve-wracking world, where danger could arrive at any second.
Hometown
Ashlyn Seibert, Aubree Seibert
This fictional anthology is a collection of small, personal stories recorded by a young woman, Kiera, about the community where she grew up. Hometown is an intimate, carefully written podcast, that uses snapshot interviews to show us how the characters’ histories make them into what they are today. Even though it’s fiction, the sound of it feels so real that it takes a moment to remember that this hometown can’t be found on a map, but inside of us.
Sapphire Springs
When a distress call comes from a mysterious place called Sapphire Springs, we learn it is from a woman being held captive by a cult located there. The woman on the radio has been trapped there, unrescued and forgotten by whoever is supposed to receive these radio messages, for more than a year. Sapphire Springs follows the woman’s experiences in the religious cult, and her attempts to escape its indoctrination — or death.
The Carlötta Beautoux Chronicles
Carlötta Beautox is going to be Hollywood’s next big thing. Unfortunately for Carlötta, she’s usually right in the middle of every most happening thing, but never actually gets any kind of attention, interest, or a win. The sitcom vibe of this podcast is one that is hyper-aware of the best Hollywood tropes — from starving artists to excessively detailed coffee orders. Carlötta wants to act, she wants to be a star and prove herself — it’s just that she can’t get this acting thing quite right.
Gold Diggers
Daisy’s at a health retreat with her boyfriend, the rich lead of a popular band, when it takes a turn for the super weird and super deadly. Daisy and other women are forced into an aggressive program that teaches them how to become proper, kept women, and how to control their men. The voice of Daisy is the kind that will immediately grab your attention: rough, but mellifluous, deeply cynical and able to fake a good smile in her voice. [Content warning for on-scene torture.]
The Veiled Monarch
Catherine is the newest member of the detective team in Miami, Florida, joining Detective Raina Escobar for her first day — and her first murder. In a world where vampires, werewolves, druids, and humans all live together in relative and varying harmony, Raina and Catherine have to handle a rather brutal illegal hunt on a full moon, when all werewolves are supposed to be in the hunting sanctuary, The Veiled Monarch, a nightclub owned by an ancient vampire. The Veiled Monarch will take you into a fantastical and grim criminal world.
3D Escape Room: Frequency
This is a fascinating use of audio to create escape room puzzles — it is an interactive listener-propelled fiction podcast based on code-solving. Frequency follows the story of Madison and her friends after they’re trapped in a trailer by her friend Lenny. Weird film reels and retro audio equipment are front and center in this game, brought to life in binaural sound to create a fully immersive experience.
This is Deadsville
This podcast, set in southwest Ontario, is a two-episode musical examining the life of a factory town — that is a town where the population is mostly employed by a factory, and dependent on the factory remaining open. These episodes track what happens when the factory decides to shut down, endangering the sustainability of the town. Follow the ensuing protests and political support to bring it back, all through folksy and upbeat song.
This playlist was sponsored by Podchaser. Check out Podchaser’s Creator Profiles to find your favorite podcast hosts, producers, editors, guests, voice actors, and more!
The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.
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