Audio dramas? Don’t you mean audiobooks? Hold that thought.
Several members of the Fantasy Inn team love audiobooks. They’re convenient to listen to on the go, and the right narrator can elevate a good book to new heights. The only downside for those of us who enjoy listening to our books is that the audio format tends to be expensive.
Fortunately, there’s audio drama! These fictional podcasts are all free to listen to, with the option to support your favorite shows through sites like Patreon.
For similar flowcharts with different focuses, check out these:
- Intro to Female-Authored Speculative Fiction
- Intro to Speculative Fiction by People of Color
- Intro to Self-Published Speculative Fiction
Some housekeeping:
- This flowchart is by no means comprehensive, nor do we claim that these are “objectively” the best that audio drama has to offer.
- The audio dramas listed are limited to speculative fiction, with a few exceptions.
- We tried to provide enough variety that seasoned and novice audio drama fans alike can discover new stories to love.
- When possible, we tried to highlight indie audio dramas.
The final flowchart has 109 entries, and we could’ve included many more if we had room. Feel strongly about an audio drama we left out? Let us know in a comment!
Here’s the chart:
If any of these audio dramas strike your fancy, here they are in list form with links to the show websites. Enjoy!
Classic
Radio Dramas
- A Canticle for Leibowitz | Website
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Website
- The War of the Worlds | Website
- Star Wars | Website
- Relic Radio: Classic Radio Drama | Website
Fantasy
Actual Play
- Join the Party | Website
- Crit Faced | Website
- 20 Sided Stories | Website
- The Adventure Zone: Amnesty | Website
Adventure
- Here Be Dragons | Website
Famous Characters Reimagined
Folktales
- Flyest Fables | Website
Interviews
Left of Reality
- Greater Boston | Website
Magical Realism
Political Epic
- Tumanbay | Website
Romance
Tolkien Fantasy
Urban Fantasy
- Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magickal Services | Website
- The Magical History of Knox County | Website
Young Adult
- Violet Beach | Website
Science Fiction / Fantasy
Science Fantasy
- Mythos | Website
Superpowers
Science Fiction
Alien Planet
Artificial Intelligence
- Sayer | Website
Cyber Punk
Drama
- Steal the Stars | Website
Dystopian
- Joseph | Website
Space Horror
Space Opera
- Girl in Space | Website
- The Strange Case of the Starship Iris | Website
- We Fix Space Junk | Website
- Wolf 359 | Website
Steampunk
- Sage and Savant | Website
Time Travel
Mystery
Investigative Reporting
Isolation Mystery
Murder Mystery
- Lesser Gods | Website
Noir
- Congeria | Website
- Kane and Feels: Paranormal Investigators | Website
- The Penumbra Podcast | Website
- What’s the Frequency? | Website
Horror
Archive Horror
Arctic Isolation
Horror
Slow Build Creepy
Southern Gothic
Spooky
Zombies
Comedy
Comedic Fantasy
Crime Comedy
Monster Comedy
Space Comedy
- EOS10 | Website
- MarsCorp | Website
- Mission to Zyxx | Website
- Solutions to Problems | Website
- StarTripper! | Website
Weird
Musical
- Fall of the House of Sunshine | Website
Radio Broadcast
Trippy
- Death by Dying | Website
- The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air) | Website
- Within the Wires | Website
Weird and Folksy
- The Cryptonaturalist | Website
Anthologies
Anthology
- Cocotazo Audio Theatre | Website
- The Big Loop | Website
- The Theatre of Tomorrow | Website
- The Thrilling Adventure Hour | Website
- The Truth | Website
Horror Anthology
- Darkest Night | Website
- Knifepoint Horror | Website
- Liberty: Tales from the Tower | Website
- The No Sleep Podcast | Website
Short Stories
I highly recommend the comedic alien invasion radio drama, Project STELLAR. http://projectstellar.libsyn.com
Got another brand new one coming out this year under the time travel and adventure catagory. It’s called Sem and Ally Adventures – https://soundcloud.com/ts-wieland/sets/sem-adventures-across-time
We’re a little biased, but were nonetheless sad to not see any of our shows up there. We’ve got over a dozen different Parsec and Audio Verse award-winning shows that we’ve been making since 2004! 🙂
http://www.pendantaudio.com/
Amazing post. I love flow charts.
The Grey Rooms podcast is an awesome new horror audio drama! Check it out!
Oops, I thought the website would post.
http://www.thegreyrooms.com
Broken Sea
Darker Projects
Chatterbox Audio
Final Rune Productions
Icebox Radio
Harry Strange
LEAP Audio
Deck the Halls
Midnight Radio Theatre
Campfire Theatre
Audioblivious Productions
Decoder Ring Theatre
Dry Smoke & Whispers
AfterHell
Hadron Gospel Hour
Knights of Devonshire
Rude Alchemy
It’s About Time Travel Agency
Ollin Productions
Crazy Dog Audio
Colonial Radio Theatre
Narada Radio (Pulp-Pourri Theatre)
Squadron Leader Jack Steel
Epic Audio
Wormwood
Wireless Radio Theatre
Voices in the Wind Theatre
Texas Radio Theatre
The Chronicles of Oz
The Table Round
not to mention my own
The Sonic Society
Electric Vicuna Production Podcast
How are none of these on the list?
J
Would be awesome if you could add an alien invasion category/body snatchers. Loved The Phenomenon and End of All Hope. Also Immunities.
I’d like to recommend New Century, a steampunk alternative history set after the American Civil War. We’ve got mystery, horror, political drama and anthropomorphic fantasy so come and see if there’s something to your taste! The books are also published in novel form once the audio series is completed.
https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/
https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com/
Escape Pod, PodCastle and PseudoPod (under short stories) have a fourth sister podcast for YA, Cast of Wonders — http://castofwonders.org
this post might just be long over due but I have just recently joined the fantasy Inn family and I must say this was quite a fantastic read. I will be sure to make the time and many more post as they are plenty to choose from.