I'm halfway through the second season now and I can't help but wonder if most of the cast is actually text to speech AI or something similar. The IMDb page for the show lists about four or five actors in total for it but characters like Richard and Dr. Alfieri sound very robotic and not human to my ears.

I can't find concrete proof through Google or the official podcast website, but I'm getting more and more suspicious with each episode.

All the We're Alive series Impact Winter The leviathan chronicles Tumanbay Wolf 359 Copperheart The Strata The Dex Legacy Desert Skies Tower 4 Mission to Zyxx Dr Nosleep That's all I've listened to so far

I'm working on packaging the second season of The Madness of Chartrulean and summon thee fiction podcast fans to weigh in on two points. As much as I love other creator perspectives, I really want to hear from this sub's most avid listeners.

Question 1: Do you skip prologues? Why/why not?

I've have noticed a trend in my listening data that suggests that many listeners skip the prologue. The obvious solution is probably to remove prologue from the episode title and make it episode 1. But the question remains: are you a listener who skips prologues, and if yes, why?

Question 2: Length. How long is too long?

The first season of the show was 13 episodes ranging between 26-36mins. The upcoming season is not like that; it is designed as 5 longer omnibus episodes released bi-weekly, each reaching into 60min+ territory. This is to stay with certain arcs longer and focus more tightly on the characters. The options ahead are to break the episodes into parts, offering full omnibus episodes as early listening perks, or to keep them on the longer side as podcast apps keep your place anyways (not to mention, leveraging Spotify and YouTube's chapter features). The question is, what would be preferable as a listener (to this or any show?

Thank you all for answering with kindness and consideration.

I already went through "Wolf 359", "Find us alive", "Starship Iris" and "The Bright Sessions" and I reeally enjoyed all of them. I especially loved the character development and the way their relationships changed. Also loved the witty humor. Are there more out there?

I don't tend to like zombies. They're overused cliches for lazy writers. And the premise of necrophilia as the cause for zombism [misleadingly] suggested the kind of crude comedy I roll my eyes at. And I don't trust podcasts that use narration because most of them do it wrong as a crutch. So I'm not sure why I gave Wakers a try, but I'm glad I did. Just finished the season.

While there are some funny bits, especially early, I wouldn't call it a comedy. It's an intense drama.

It's beautifully written. A relatable set of characters, intense emotions, but what sets it apart is how constantly thought-provoking and intelligent it is. Always something to think about. The bits of first person narration are woven in perfectly in radio drama style, not audiobook style, never as a crutch for not knowing how to dramatize something. It doesn't reach for extremes, the universe isn't at stake. It's a small scope, narrow focus even though the context of the dead coming back to life is rather Earth-shaking... and that's what makes it work.

Acting and sound design are good enough you don't notice them. Music is sparse, but that works for the sort of story it is. My favorite of 2024 (edging out Silvertongues).

Auditory Anthology is a weekly podcast I'm producing with narrated sci-fi short stories

This week’s story is Prison Of A Billion Years by CH Thames. In the future, society perfects time travel, so naturally they use it to send prisoners to the primordial Earth. This decision has some unintended consequences.

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Yo. Episode 5 of COSMIKO: Neon Night is LIVE! We’re hyped to share what we’ve been working on.

This season has been a thrill ride. We’re already over halfway done too. Wow, linear time flies. It feels like just yesterday I was grabbing donuts with friends, chatting about this wild idea and how they were perfect for it. So, massive thanks to everyone rocking the talky bits while I mix with the biggest smile on my stupid face.

If you’ve been following along, this episode breaks out the red candles for the tiānhòu of the 9Dragons, Sable Volkova. She's a treat, don't get anywhere near her. Listen to sizzle and hear it for yourself.

https://reddit.com/link/1hip3zn/video/nussrmqbf18e1/player

New to the streets? No sweat! This full-cast neonpunk audio drama drops you into the glitched-out brain of a defective automaton who stumbles across a mysterious vial -- and everyone wants it. Hell's empty and all the city's devils are here, ready to slice some heads if it means snagging it. Looks like two options here: Uncover the truth behind the vial, or end the night being minced by a recycler.

New episodes drop every Friday. If you’re enjoying the show, that's awesome. Share the love if you wanna. Or spotlight areas where we could improve. Story beats, sound design, anything really. You gotta voice and I wanna hear it.

Pick Your Poison | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Podcast Addict | RSS Feed

I'm noting a troubling trend of fiction podcasts that only exist in a few podcast directories. And that's not good, as people use a variety of listening apps, and it's dead-simple to make sure your show is available on all of them.

Here's how to submit your fiction podcast to every directory so every listener of fiction podcasts can find and enjoy your show.

Do it now.

Hello! I just released my first project, The Fleet. Check it out!

Earth has become uninhabitable, now Humanity searches for a new home among the stars, until then they live on massive spaceships known as Starliners. Simon Duna is a newly appointed Inter Fleet Courier, determined to deliver a misplaced package and call it a day. Meanwhile, Maura Salvi is searching desperately for a way to help her people find a new home. Both have unknowingly wandered into a dangerous situation where the lives of millions are at stake. Can they save The Olympia and all the people who call this Starliner home? Climb aboard and find out in season one of The Fleet.

Edit: New links Here

Happy solstice, everyone!

I'm so excited, my new audio drama launches today! A Paladin's Bargain is a full cast, dark comedy audio drama, set in the world of Everyone's Favorite TTRPG(tm). Join "retired" Paladin Rowan Lawson and his moderately reformed partner Garnett as they escort a merchant to Gauntlet Station. It seemed like an easy job... but nothing is what it seems to be.

All of season one is available at our website: www.paladinsbargain.com

And to be clear: this is an audio drama story, not a live play podcast. We're English majors, we don't expect you to do the math :-)

Each Friday (well, usually) I post to this subreddit a comprehensive list of all the updates made within the last week to The End, the only listener-focused directory for completed audio fiction. And I throw in some of my own personal recommendations and a few collections as well. And here we are again! 

This week, I bring you 4 audio fiction shows that are entirely complete, and 4 audio dramas that wrapped a season, and 2 fiction podcasts coming back for a new season. Here are their covers:

https://preview.redd.it/evrnoytvq08e1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=a8e119b85c501e1b33e515115a517de737de7de6

👇 Click through on any show title to get more information about the show! 👇

Featured Recommendations

"Saint" Nick and the Big F*ck Up  • Narrated heartwarming Christmas series from Phil Rickaby

A part-time mall Santa who really hates Christmas shouldn’t be working today, but he is. And he’s about to meet a terrible child who will ruin everything. This is not going to end well. But what’s about to happen, isn’t the worst thing he’s ever done… 

Hilarious, heartbreaking, and heartwarming Christmas audio drama. 🎅🎁🤜 

This is the exact opposite of all those crappy Hallmark Christmas shows. Horrible, heartwarming, and hilarious at the same time!  

Complete Series fully released as of 22 Dec 2020. Listen in 1h 13m. 

Desert Skies  • Dramatized fantasy/comedy from Jared Carter

On a lonely highway between life and the next life there’s one last stop that we all have to make.

 🌵⚰️⛽ 

Think 80s-sitcom, but in the best possible way! It's a bit of a slow burn, but once it gets going, you'll be hooked! 

2 seasons fully released as of 16 Dec 2024. Listen in 16h 35m. Next season: Slated for Q2 2025 

Featured Collections

Check out these collections of shows to find your next finished audio fiction fix!

Christmas Is Coming • Current title count in this collection: 16

Whether or not it's the most wonderful time of the year is something for you to decide, but there's no doubt many people love Christmas! This collection of audio fiction shows celebrates (mostly) the holiday at the end of the calendar, will put you in the gift-giving mood. (Again, mostly.) 

One and Done! • Current title count in this collection: 23 

This Collection contains every single-episode show we have in our directory. The genres are as varied as the length. But the listening is easy! 

Completed This Week

The Case of the Greater Gatsby  • Dramatized film noir mystery comedy series from Shipwrecked Comedy

Follow hardboiled private eye Ford Phillips and his feisty, fast-talking partner Fig Wineshine as they delve into the seedy underbelly of Tinsel Town while trying to solve the murder of famed novelist-turned-screenwriter F. Scott Fitzgerald. 

This show is hilarious and clever. You can also check out the prequel film on YouTube, "The Case of the Gilded Lily". 🕵️📑🎬 

Complete Series fully released as of 18 Dec 2024. Listen in 9h 02m. 

Dean’s Killer Joke  • Dramatized murder mystery comedy series from Brandon Rizzuto & Evagation Media

After a night of drinking, canceled comedian Dean Blackshaw is found dead in a comedy club green room. Now his friend and fellow comic, Anne-Marie, has to put together the pieces of a blacked-out night, solve the crime, and wonder if it was all her fault. 

Ranked 75 on Apple’s Comedy Fiction Charts, #6 on Coverfly's The Red List for Top Drama Podcast, Honorable Mention in Screencraft’s Podcast Writing Competition. 🎤😱🔫 

Complete Series fully released as of 17 Dec 2024. Listen in 3h 39m. 

This Week's Season Finales

One More Turn  • Dramatized comedy series from Dan Quick

One More Turn is a dramedy where geeks deal with non-geeky problems. Part of Civilized Communication. 

🙂😄😮 

10 seasons fully released as of 29 Dec 2024. Listen in 40h 26m. Next season: Slated for 2025. 

Returning With New Seasons Next Week

Season 2 of Equinox Anthology, a quarterly scifi anthology from W. Keith Tims & Alien Ghost Robot, starts on 21 Dec 2024. 

An anthology of short fiction from some of the most inventive and creative indie audio storytellers working today. Released every Equinox and Solstice, each episode features short sci-fi audio works created just for this show, all around a particular theme.

We want to tell new stories and highlight creators from the indie audio fiction world!☀️🚀🌎

Catch up with the current 1 episode in 1h 09m. 

Season 3 of The Adventures of the Fox in the Fedora, a dramatized mystery thriller from Christopher S. Fox, starts on 23 Dec 2024. 

Magic! Mystery! Danger! Adventure! It’s around every corner! Join multiverse-traveling street thief/treasure hunter Fox and his friends on their many adventures to procure existence’s most dangerous magical treasures before they fall into the wrong hands.

🦊🧞🧗 

Catch up with the current 18 episodes in 3h 50m. 

Just Added

Tis The Grinch Holiday Podcast  • Dramatized Christmas comedy series from James Austin Johnson & Wondery

With Cindy Lou and Max by his side, join The Grinch each week as he stubbornly refuses the joys of the season, cozies up to his celebrity guests — and investigates a brand-new mystery that puts him right at the center of another dastardly Christmas caper. 

Weeby Award 2024 Honoree: Podcasts Interview/Talk Show (Limited-Series & Specials). 🎙️🎄🕵️‍♂️ 

First season fully released as of 18 Dec 2023. Listen in 5h 03m. Season 2 now releasing. 

The Light Jumper: A Kai Cooper Adventure  • Narrated superhero series from Kyle Bullock

Kai Cooper has the power to teleport wherever he wants… but it comes at a cost. The villains of his past won’t let him go. Meanwhile, Kai battles the city’s most dangerous criminal all while evading a police detective hot on Kai’s trail. 

 🌀🧠⚔️ 

Complete Series fully released as of 17 Aug 2021. Listen in 5h 24m. 

In Darkness Vast  • Dramatized scifi comedy series from John McCarthy & Hammergrin

The adventures of the Nervejump and its initially unsuspecting crew, who come to learn they’ve been generated entirely for the experience of others. Follow the unravelling of HARNESS’s best laid plans, and the coming of age of the surviving crew members.

Normally I write plays for theatres, so this one is a real labour of love. The third season is now years into development, and looks set to be spectacular once I finally get to the end of it... 🦿🚀⁉️ 

2 seasons fully released as of 31 Dec 2017. Listen in 5h 43m. Next season: Slated for Q4 2025. 

—--

As a reminder, 👆click the links above ☝️ to get loads more info that I don’t have room to put in Reddit! 

And you can check out the 120th issue of my update newsletter for links to listen, artwork, and more at https://www.theend.fyi/newsletter/deck-the-halls-with-audio-fiction

That’s it from The End for this week. See you next week!

Help me find something new to listen to , my problem is that I kinda like podcast like we are alive with All the sound designs but im pretty sure we are alive is the only one still with that Level of audio design, I have listend to slot of audio podcast but nothing on the same lvl as we are alive

Looking to get back into Audiodrama. I don’t know much other than I was obsessed with were alive. Such a great show.

I tried a few other shows like midnight burger and hello from the magic tavern but it just didn’t scratch the same itch.

I have had The Hyacinth Disaster downloaded for a while, have listened to it a few times. There are ads already in what I have downloaded. On my phone, Episode 1 starts in earnest at about 1:35. Put it on my homepod and it switched from being the episode to being more ads. I have switched back and forth a few times, and it comes out to there being 2 min extra ads added to the beginning if I want to listen on my speaker. The episode starts at 3:37.

Does anyone know what the heck is going on with this?

Update as I have been told the ads are inserted elsewhere.

Just for the record, my homepods won't play anything I have downloaded to my phone. It will start to play and then a few seconds later dump it back to the phone. This is a new problem, so maybe they broke it in a recent update.

Please help me I have listened to all the big names need something truly terrifying

Edit: what I have listened to, white vault, the burned photo, Magnus archives, what happened in skinner, darkstead, we’re alive scouts, graven, oak bridge, and so so so many more

Looking for the name of a podcast. It was on Spotify. Centers on a clone who helps a drunk build worlds last minute. Setting is on a space ship, the last of humanity.

Thanks !

Really loving this one. Check it out if you haven’t!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/please-leave/id1608959141?i=1000680988141

Does anyone know what’s going on with Leaving Corvat? I went to check an update and their website has expired.

I love this show and it makes me sad to see it may not be finished. I know the creator is working on his second season of Deca Tapes but man do I love Leaving Corvat more.

Prometheus, titan of foresight, is chained high in the Caucasus Mountains. He always has an eye towards the future. Yet now he looks back at his past, and what lead him to be chained. We follow him as defies his fellow titans in order to aid the Olympians. We watch as he forms a budding friendship with Zeus, the future king of the gods. We also witness his famous theft of fire for the sake of humanity. Prometheus, titan of foresight, adviser to Zeus, friend to humanity. This is his story.

We’ve had three excellent seasons of Live From Mount Olympus. But season four is, perhaps, their best work yet.

He constantly gets visions of the future. From the start, he knows that his journey will lead him to those chains, and having his liver ripped out each morning. And yet, he doesn’t try to fight it, nor does he protest his fate. For his visions also show him the heights that humanity will achieve once they harness the gift of fire. Knowing this is enough for Prometheus.

We see these even before the big heist. Prometheus begins his journey by openly defying Kronos and the other titans. He and his brother Epimetheus are some of the only titans to do so. This is no small feat, but Prometheus has seen the glories that the Olympians are destined to achieve.

I liked how this season handled Zeus. He and Prometheus start off as the best of friends. This makes it all the more tragic when Prometheus must betray Zeus. It would have been easy to portray Zeus as a tyrant, or a one-note villain. However, Live From Mount Olympus takes a nuanced approach. Zeus is clearly depicted as being in the wrong, but you can understand why he is so hesitant to share fire with humanity. Zeus rightly points out that humans are already fairly destructive and naïve. Giving them a new tool, especially such an inherently destructive one, could potentially make things worse.

I also really like how the actual theft of the fire is portrayed. It plays out almost like a heist movie. I thought that was a very fun touch. I also enjoyed seeing Hestia become a fairly prominent supporting character this season. I always kind of felt bad for her. She was the stalwart and steadfast one. She didn’t get involved in the shenanigans that the other Olympians did. Consequently, she doesn’t really feature in many myths. In fact, some lists of the Twelve Olympians even replace her with Dionysus.

Now, all of that being said, I also feel there were some areas that could have been better. I know that this season is shorter by design, but I felt that worked against it at times. Having more episodes to really develop Prometheus and Zeus’ friendship would make Prometheus’ betrayal carry more weight. We’d also get to see Zeus transition from an idealistic rebel to a flawed, but ultimately good at heart, king of the gods. It was necessary for the Titanomachy to be part of this season. Having the season start after the Titanomachy wouldn’t work. There just wouldn’t be enough material to sustain a full season, even a truncated one. Still, I feel that the Titanomachy could have made for an interesting full season in and of itself.

Have you listened to season four of Live From Mount Olympus? If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-audio-file-live-from-mount-olympus.html?m=0

And here are the link to all of my other reviews of Live From Mount Olympus:

Season 1: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-audio-file-live-from-mount-olympus.html?m=0

Season 2: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-audio-file-live-from-mount-olympus.html

Season 3: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-audio-file-live-from-mount-olympus.html

Hey hey.

I've had an ongoing audioseries for almost two years now. I'd be curious if anyone had unique ways in which they've gotten their stuff out there, finding new listeners. In order of effectiveness, this is what I've found most...

1. Social Media. Obviously. Though I left twitter and since that was my biggest account, I'm not keen on building up again. I feel like with IG I mostly just keep my current listeners abreast on things
2. Local outreach. I put up flyers in the community. Talk to folks and have my business card handy. I'm part of a local writers center. I feel its very underrated.
3. Discord. There's a big drop-off for me here. I'm not skilled at building online communities, though the people there seem swell. Seems like a good place especially if you're building on creating an audioseries. Otherwise, I don't know, it doesn't click for me.

I've been part of an audioseries/podcast listening thing at an event in the UK. Otherwise, I've applied to one grant.

Does anyone else have any unique ideas that helped them branch out, reach people, even if it's just one at a time?

Thanks

A NSFW audio drama about an American expatriate in France who finds himself caught between competing criminals, U.S. intelligence services, and a Corsican who just wants to find his girl.

In this episode, ideals and greed clash to make bad decisions.

Apple | Spotify | Red Circle | Author's Page

Sam has been dead for almost a year, and his absence has been felt by nobody so much as his younger brother, Charlie, who has retreated into himself... Not for very much longer however. After all, what's Christmas without a ghost?

Out at 7PM!

https://anchor.fm/s/fce25930/podcast/rss

https://www.dellstudios.co.uk/tidal-waves/ill-be-home-for-christmas