P = Podcast

Today, I'm going slightly off topic by talking about fictional podcasts. If audiobooks are the same as reading a paperback, then a good fictional podcast is like an audiobook with voice actors and sound effects.

Now I struggle to concentrate on audiobooks. The voice that drones on and on... I compare it to white noise and the quality of the story, assuming it's good, is completely lost on me.

I had the same problem with my first podcasts. My attention span was just too short to follow true-crime or science or politics. But then I got hooked on Aaron Mahnke's Lore. Lore is not considered a fictional podcast, detailing stories of the supernatural that may have occurred if you believe in that sort of thing. But Lore was a gateway to my love of fictional podcasts because Aaron Mahnke created one called The Bridgewater Triangle. Hearing a story about the Bridgewater Triangle (a location in Massachusetts that is said to be a nexus for the paranormal) appealed to me greatly because I'm from the area and have heard the stories.

The Bridgewater Triangle was awesome (if you like the supernatural, I assume you'll like it too) with its amazing voice cast that includes Misha Collins and Nathan Fillion. The story about haunted Massachusetts follows a folklore professor Jeremy whose father mysteriously vanished when he was a kid. Now his father Thomas is, equally as mysteriously, back from the dead.

I've also listened to Limetown about the investigation into a scientific community that inexplicably disappeared. It was super dramatic with a high creep factor the longer you listened. There was Blackout starring Rami Malek, about an apocalyptic blackout in this dystopian podcast. And if you like comic books there's Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind detailing the transformation of Harley from doctor to villainess.

Now you may have noticed that all my favorite podcasts are fantasy/sci-fi, which also tells you about my reading habits, but I'm sure if these exist then other genres must also exist.

I feel like if you can read a book, visualize what the words are describing, then you'll probably enjoy a fictional podcast of some kind. I'm pretty sure they were designed with imagination in mind. They remind me of the hype around the radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds in 1938 (historically remembered hype as I wasn't actually alive in 1938). That's kind of the vibe. Each episode with dialogue and sound effects but your mind acts as the television screen.

It's a pretty cool concept. 

Have you listened to any fictional podcasts? Which ones and did you like them?