Listen to these finished fiction selections this solstice! — The End #42
Check out the slightly new format for these newsletters, will ya! I’m hoping that the new template is more… friendly, let’s say. Especially to those of you who rely on screen readers. Let me know if it’s better, would you? Oh, note there are links to RSS feeds and trailers, too. Woot!
Also, I want to highlight the fine folks who recently signed up to support The End with a teeny-tiny monthly gift. Ben, Colin, Fred, Charlotte, Craig… you are amazing individuals. Your names are memorialized on the site and at the bottom of this email. Thank you!
Want to help? Fab! I’d love to shout a big thank you to you as well.
Enough of the preamble. Let’s get started.
- Evo
Featured Audio Fiction Recommendations
I’ve listened to every episode of these two shows, and proudly recommend them to you. As with all things in life, YMMV.
The Polybius Conspiracy
A dramatized thriller from Jon Frechette & Todd Luoto
Originally heard on Radiotopia’s Showcase,The Polybius Conspiracy tells the story of a mysterious arcade game from the ’80s whose alleged existence in the Pacific Northwest is fueled by a blending of fact and fiction.
- Series complete as of Aug 18 2022
• 7 episodes
• Listening time: 3h 28m
• 🕹️🌲🔥
Bronzeville
A dramatized historical fiction thriller from Josh Olsen & Wayland Productions
Starring Laurence Fishburne, Larenz Tate and Tika Sumpter, and written by Academy Award® and BAFTA nominee Josh Olson (“A History of Violence”), BRONZEVILLE chronicles the lives of players in the lottery games while illuminating the self-sustainability of the community’s African American residents.
• Series complete as of 20 Apr 2021
• 2 seasons, 17 episodes
• Listening time: 10h 55m
• 🌃🎰🍸
Season Finales & Finished Series
I’m still tweaking the format of this section. So if you’ve any feedback, just hit reply. In the meantime, check out these shows, most of which have recently reached a conclusion.
Goodbye Blue Mondays
Dramatized absurdist scifi comedy from LovelyMachine & Story Engine
Upon learning his misogynist, conspiracy-spewing workmate holds a winning ticket for the most coveted prize on earth — the Global Early Retirement Lottery — a listless factory worker stops at nothing to ensure the reward goes to a more deserving citizen, namely himself, only to discover the prize is not exactly as advertised.
- Season 1 finale released 20 Jun 2023
- 6 episodes
- Listening time: 2h 18m
- Season 2 starts Apr 2024
- 🤨😀🤮
Liars & Leeches
A dramatized supernatural horror from Hemlock Creek Productions
Grief. Anxiety. Terror. Tonya Wright felt it all after the tragic murders of her sister and brother-in-law in a random act of gun violence. Struggling to travel outside of her home, she now lives constantly on edge about perceived threats that seem to surround her.
- Season 1 finale released 16 Jun 2023
- 10 episodes
- Listening time: 4h 08m
- Season 2 starts Oct 2024
- 🧍🏿♀️👁🕴
Wrong Station
A narrated horror anthology from Anthony Botelho, Alexander Saxton & Jacob Duarte Spiel
The Wrong Station is a Canadian horror anthology series. “You may wish to adjust the dial. You are currently tuned into… The Wrong Station.”
- Season 7 finale released 12 Jun 2023
- 119 episodes
- Listening time: 60h 30m
- Season 8 starts Oct 2023
- 📻😱🇨🇦
Strange New Worlds And Spaced Out Tales
A narrated scifi anthology from Jim Cogan
A Sci-Fi Anthology Audio Drama series, with full voice acting and sound design.
Fully independent show produced by volunteer actors, writers and producers.
- Season 7 finale released 12 Jun 2023
- 119 episodes
- Listening time: 60h 30m
- Season 8 starts Oct 2023
- 📻😱🇨🇦
Long Night in Egypt
A dramatized horror from Violet Hour Media & Realm
During Spring Break, a group of archaeology students travel to Egypt and sneak into the Pyramid of Unas after dark. Little do they know that they are setting themselves up for a ghostly night of terror that will alter their fates forever.
Violet Hour Media is a female and POC-founded company.
- Series complete as of 13 Mar 2023
- 8 episodes
- Listening time: 3h 43m
- 💀😫🛕
Vampire: The Masquerade Port Saga
A dramatized thriller from Rachel J. Wilkinson
Shocked by his sire’s murder, young vampire Titus Reed returns to the city of his embrace only to discover an old friend has confessed to the crime. Unconvinced of her guilt, he reopens the case and vows to hunt down the real killer while confronting his violent past, the Second Inquisition, and the Camarilla politics of Port Saga.
LGBTQIA+ representation in this award-winning story.
- Series complete as of 10 Nov 2022
- 2 seasons, 20 episodes
- Listening time: 9h 10m
- 🧛♀️🩸🎼
Electric Easy
A dramatized scifi tale from QCODE
A forbidden love story about a runaway android and the human sent to hunt her down.
Electric Easy is a musical neo-noir science fiction show set in a futuristic Los Angeles in which humans struggle to co-exist with robots, known as “electrics”.
- Series complete as of 25 Oct 2021
- 10 episodes
- Listening time: 6h 09m
- 🤖❤️🧑🦱
New Seasons Coming Soon
Presented by Radio Drama Revival, one of the internet’s longest-running anthology audio drama shows, with the goal of showcasing the diversity and vitality of modern audio fiction.
Returning on 1 Jul 2023:
Auricle, a dramatized urban sci-fi anthology from Auricle, returns for Season 2 on 1 Jul 2023.
• 4 current episodes
• Listening time: 1h 42m
• 🌎💌🤖
Returning on 17 Jul 2023:
Tower 4, a dramatized mystery thriller from 7 Lamb Productions, returns for Season 3 on 17 Jul 2023
• 20 current episodes
• Listening time: 9h 58m
• 🌲🔥📻
And that’s it for the audio fiction shows in the most recent issue of The End, the newsletter that shines a light back on audio fiction shows after they’ve reached the finale of a season or the conclusion of the series.
More information, including how you can get your audiobook, audiodrama or fiction podcast highlighted in a future issue, visit TheEnd.fyi.
