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[Parsely]

Howdy y'all, I'm a big fan of podcasts as entertainment you can absorb through your holes-what-catches-sounds while you do other things with your arm sticks and see balls, and recently I've been listening to more audio fiction, especially sci-fi and horror stuff (there's a severe lack of original horror stuff most of it's anthologies or readings of existing horror fiction YUCK).

I'm not one for making big long posts about recommendations but other people are so here's a place for you to share the audio fiction you listen to!

We should just get Nightvale out of the way right now since eventually that's going to come up.

[birdy51]

Well, there's Nightvale. Wait. Shit.

Ok let's try this again. I've got a few suggestions to make! Limetown was interesting shortie, but goodie I listened to a while back. It's incredibly well-produced and they are moving on within that story soon, with a new update coming up this year I think? If you enjoy gaming podcasts even a little bit, you might find Cthulhu and Friends interesting. It follows a group of players as they play Call of Cthulhu. The GM does a killer job and ends up blending Sci-fi into the world in a way that works.

In the vein of Sci-Fi, SAYER is incredible and has a strong Space Station 13 vibe as you follow workers throughout their day with the titular AI, SAYER. As the show goes on, the plot gets thicker and they are now in their 5th season I think? Regardless, I recommend it a LOT for existential horror and mad, but productive science.

Last but not least, I'm going to give a sideways shout out to Drunks and Dragons. They are a part of the community that produced Sayer and Cthulhu and Friends as well. Basically, drunk people get together and start to play DnD. It's recommended that you start in places other than the very first episodes, since that is also them just learning how to play the game, but they've got some good moments and are a pretty damn fun group to listen to. Episode 32 is a good place to start from what I understand, or at the beginning of a season. It can be a bit of a slog sometimes, but hey, if you want a helluva lot of listening material look no further.

[Jopax]

Lore is more of an educational type of deal but it's essentially a dude digging up cool and interesting stories and myths from all over the world and then talking about it. Makes you realise just how many different cultures have what are essentially the same monsters and whatnots just painted a bit differently.

[Parsely]

Yes! More sci fi! I've been listening to Wolf 359, very sassy and clever dialogue, I'm only 5 episodes in and it seems to respect continuity more than, say, Star Trek Next Generation, but a problem is always introduced and resolved in the same episode. I'm loving all the characters so far but I'm hoping for an arc to form as time goes on and the show establishes itself.

Lore is more of an educational type of deal but it's essentially a dude digging up cool and interesting stories and myths from all over the world and then talking about it. Makes you realise just how many different cultures have what are essentially the same monsters and whatnots just painted a bit differently.

Not sure if this is exactly what it is but I would be interested in someone reading the story and discussing it at the same time, that sounds like an interesting enough premise too since I like history.

What I really don't like is 5-15 minutes of intro and outro (full of plugs, which is really bad when you're looking for horror like me) sandwiched around some person reading to you in their breathiest and deepest tones. By far the best horror shows I've heard were actual retro radio plays. My favorite radio play show is Suspense (the YouTube channel that's on has loads of archived radio shows), they're often acted by quality, big name actors, and the sound design is usually awesome too!

This one is more modern but Who Goes There, a one-off based on the short story by John Campbell, is also very good and if you've seen The Thing you'll love it.

[Jopax]

Yeah, it's primarily an educational thing, dude collecting lore and talking about it, not really reading the stories and such.

[Parsely]

Wolf 359 is only getting better and better. In the first season it was just a Red Dwarf knockoff (a lazy relatable main character with vices, a sassy AI, and hardass officer who does everything by the book, only Hilbert doesn't fit the template) but it mutates into a high drama tale of paranoia and survival and it feels like every other episode they're dealing with another problem where failure means death, and it does it naturally without making the first season meaningless. My fears of it being too episodic are washed away, events from the first season are still having consequences in the third season.