February was a gorgeous and robust month for audio fiction! Creating these lists is like pulling back a curtain on a patchwork tapestry hanging on a wall, inch by inch as the days go by. Each piece of it is lovingly crafted to be entirely different from the next, or maybe a little inspired by a familiar design. February was marked by intricate and detailed world-building and relationships complicated by history, whether personal or global.

This is part of an ongoing collection of fiction podcast debuts. You can read January’s roundup here, or work your way back through 2018 starting in December.

This is a three-part slice of life set in Weeksville, one of the United States’ first free Black communities, which was founded in the 19th century, in current-day Brooklyn. The show follows three generations of one family, the Harrisons, through the ages, as they grapple with what it means to be free as a Black person under oppressive, racist systems, and with the changing eras and sensibilities. This is the first official work of the Bondfire Radio Theatre Ensemble, produced by Keisha Dutes and Conscious Walker and written and performed by a talented and highly skilled variety of Black voices.

From Rusty Quill, creators of The Magnus Archives and the actual play podcast Rusty Quill Gaming, comes this semi-improvised comedy podcast set after the Earth ceases to be a viable planet. The show follows the worst planetary designer and his clone assistant as they craft the most desirable bespoke planets for the rich and whimful (based on actual listener submissions). It doesn’t exactly go well. Tim and David Meredith are uproarious and play off each other at a rapid-fire pace that won’t leave the listener behind.

This adorable romcom is peak fandom: two people fall in love — slowly and with some strife — as they argue vociferously and sarcastically about all things Star Wars over Skype. Fan Wars smartly taps into tropes to create a relationship that stems from animosity, but stays firmly in the realm of the hilarious, while addressing genuine concerns about how people of color act and are treated in online spaces.

Six women end up summoning a demon when they’re supposed to be participating in an acting retreat, and between the massive personality clashes and the literal demonic forces, I’m not sure how they’re getting out of this one unscathed. Calling Darkness is a wonderful horror-comedy that relies on building character relationships — mostly between people who definitely shouldn’t be in a room together for very long — before shuffling in the horror.

The Hidden People, the newest work from the Dayton Writers’ Movement, is a haunting mystery laced through with mythology and humorous overtones. After Mackenna’s parents are murdered in a bizarre manner, she’s followed by strange visions and frightening reflections while the police investigate. With an omniscient and extremely ominous narrator providing both guidance into people’s inner minds and colorful commentary, this podcast is a riveting delight, especially if you’re in it for Fae-related folklore.

Windfall is for those who want a complex, vibrant, expansive world-building experience through mythology, history, and sound design. Windfall is a world that is constantly building upwards, a city of huge towers built to reach the castle that long ago appeared mysteriously in the sky. Three brothers begin to drift apart, trying to work in a classist and tyrannical system, dealing with crime, running a small business, and falling hopelessly in love, and as they do, a sinister new threat has its sights on everyone in Windfall.

Unwell, a Midwestern Gothic horror from the critically-acclaimed audio production house behind Our Fair City, finds Lily Harper returning to the tiny town of Mt. Absalom, Ohio, to take care of her ailing mother in her boarding house. If you love truly creepy and weird towns, stories that subvert Gothic tropes while firmly retaining what makes Gothic horror tense and heart-stopping, and family dysfunction with a hint of conspiracy, this is the podcast for you.

Inspector Virlo Morton Lee is a comedic murder mystery about a wacky, whimsical detective who is dragged out of early retirement to investigate a death on the estate of a Congresswoman. I did not expect an incredibly lengthy voicemail recording to inspire gales of laughter, not to mention the detective playing the bassoon in annoyance over the police chief’s phone call, nor an aging reporter learning about the modern digital era via his starstruck assistant.

Five Years is a solarpunk podcast about the crew and passengers of The Lightning Struck, who retell their story as court evidence even though their memories are fuzzy and there’s seemingly no rationale to why they keep secrets and lie. There’s a lot of deep background to this story of a century-long war affecting the flow of refugees and government corruption running rampant; the world-building is so dense and expansive that it gets referenced naturally in conversation.

Caine Reyes is the fastest driver in the city of Metropolis West, which stands relatively alone after nuclear war. She uses her talents to resolve the debt she’s inherited from her family, massive enough that she’s simply called an “eighty-sixer”, someone who has no worth in society. This podcast features a rebel group, mandatory revolution, and brooding internal narration classic to a noirish cyberpunk tone, offset by Caine’s rambling, anxious nature. Under the Electric Stars deals with family debt and classism, but it doesn’t forget how to wield the plasma knives.

This anthology podcast is built of “audio snapshots of life at various places and times in the known universe”, through short episodes and varying structures, like transmissions, recordings, calls, and so on. A communications officer gives a daily wake up call, and then an AI curator gives an introduction to early human spaceflight. This is such a fun, varied set of adventures, for however long each one lasts, and are some marvelous inspiration for creators as well.

Captain Reni has finally laid her hands on the money she needs to buy “a map to end all maps”, a map that could change everything. One problem: the map, an active star chart, is on the back of her science vessel’s newest crew member, a human named Nym. Path of the Miriam is clearly about found family, even with the abrasive ones and between different species, and how our choices impact everyone. What does happen when you agree to buy a map and end up buying a human being?

When Nadia, a bilingual cat who has suffered under secretive experimentation, escapes the lab and finds refuge with a young Minnesotan man called Brian, she must work hard to avoid the spies and government agents looking for her. This is such a clever podcast to learn some Russian, as they explain all the Russian phrases and words used throughout at the end, but keep it relatively unclear whether Brian and Nadia are actually having a conversation. The story of the now-free cat and her human friend is absolutely delightful, especially enhanced by the deadpan British narrator who describes Nadia’s world.

In the town of Lantern, North Carolina, Peter and Sally investigate strange creatures, abandoned places, and liminal spaces, starting with a mysterious pool underneath their high school. Convenience stores that move location appear to be par for the course in Lantern, as are blocked-off pools underneath school science wings. Peter and Sally have the pitch-perfect dynamic of long-time high school friends where one (Sally) tends to get the other into trouble (sorry, Peter).

As a child, Jack Same is mysteriously gifted a collection of recordings and notebooks that were written by a Oscar Garrett, a boy who had bugged the motel he lived in with his family. Within this framework, Motel Americana presents a series of dramatic and comedic short stories that are based on real interactions Oscar had in the motel. They’re not all funny or easy, and Jack weaves the recordings together with narration of Oscar’s imaginings, which are sometimes science-fiction or horror and bigger than real life.

February saw the rise in popularity in the creation of semi-improvised science-fiction podcasts, including Earwolf’s Voyage to the Stars. This show follows a hapless insurance salesman, played by Colton Dunn, who ends up in an unlikely crew after a standard tourist trip goes wrong. Told mostly through crew logs, it also includes talents like Felicia Day and Janet Varney, who bounce off each other and each get their own time to shine as well. They just wanted to study a wormhole on the moon, and now look at this mess.

One night in 2507, an illegal student revolt fails; people die, friends are lost, and one girl named Jemma gets into a car and leaves behind the people and city she knows. Her recordings are presented as archival files, historical presentations by a museum in a distant galaxy in the year 2515. This is a painful reality in many places today, and the show writers treat this story gently without understating its disastrous effects. Actress Sunny Chang infuses Jemma with the feeling of being lost and bereft, but still able to be astonished by the world.

The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.

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