Fiction podcasts can beam you straight into a haunted desert town or a secret space station — even when you’re just rinsing the dishes. That’s the magic of audio drama: it’s basically a teleporter for your brain. And while radio dramas have been around for decades, the podcast boom has taken these stories to new galaxies. Whether you like stripped-down storytelling or elaborately produced audio sagas, you’ll find it all right here. Let’s explore some standouts.

Audio fiction has been around since the earliest days of radio, but the podcast age has completely changed how we tune into these stories. From stripped-down narrations to lavish audio dramas, there’s a format for anybody who craves a little escapism.

Below, we’ve gathered some of the best fiction podcasts out there — each one ready to transport you while you’re on the move, at home, or anywhere you’ve got a few minutes to spare.

Top 10 fiction podcasts to listen to

1. Bronzeville

Bronzeville shines a spotlight on the self-sufficient Black-American communities in big cities during the first half of the twentieth century. "It’s equal parts historical drama, crime story, and mob saga," says my colleague and Descript’s Head of Content, Brandon Copple.

Bronzeville is set in the once-thriving (now gentrifying) Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side in the 1940s, with a stellar cast featuring Laurence Fishburne. The sound design and acting pull you right into the story.

2. Homecoming

A political thriller from Gimlet Media, Homecoming is a delicious slow burn. “It draws you in with compelling characters and then gets its hooks in you with a harrowing storyline,” Brandon says. Featuring big-name actors including Oscar Isaac, Catherine Keener, and David Schwimmer, the story revolves around a therapist at a secure government facility, her supervisor, a soldier, and unraveling secrets. Homecoming is told through conversations, telephone calls, and recorded therapy sessions, which only serves to heighten the sense of reality. You may have caught the 2018 TV adaptation starring Julia Roberts, but Brandon says the podcast is better.

3. The Edge of Sleep

The Edge of Sleep, a sci-fi thriller from QCode (known for other audio dramas like Carrier and Blackout), follows Dave, a night watchman who realizes that everyone who went to sleep the previous night has died. Together with a handful of other surviving night owls, Dave struggles to stay awake — and alive — while being driven mad with sleep deprivation. The podcast’s real strength is its sound design: the driving pace and the often chaotic soundscape recreate the feeling of a fever dream, pulling you right into Dave’s world.

4. The Amelia Project

From Imploding Fiction, The Amelia Project is a dark, absurd comedy about a secret agency that arranges fake deaths and new identities. The writing is smart with philosophic tendencies and is filled with ridiculous situations and eccentric characters. There’s a natural flow to the dialogue that leaves you feeling like you’re sitting in the room with the Amelia Project’s “Interviewer” and his many weird, desperate clients.

5. Phoebe Reads a Mystery

In this podcast, Phoebe Judge, long-time host of the non-fiction Criminal podcast, lends her famously calm, even-keeled voice to the reading of celebrated mystery novels. “Well, it's not always a mystery,” Brandon says. “She's also read Moby Dick, The Age of Innocence, and other classic novels. But it works best when it features one of the golden-age mysteries — Agatha Christie, Wilkie Collins, and so on — because those are so easy to follow and essentially all plot, so they really suck you in.” Like a good bedtime story, it’s a charmingly comforting listen.

6. Archive 81

“A sort-of horror podcast that's not particularly scary, Archive 81 pulls off some good tension, especially in the first season, when you can't tell what's going on,” Brandon says. Another one that was eventually adapted for streaming services, this psychological thriller is a story-within-a-story. Dan is an archivist organizing and digitizing audio files, which were recorded 20 years before by a woman tracking mysterious happenings at a particular building. “The concept is brilliant, the acting is great, and the writing is sharp, though the exposition gets a little heavy handed,” Brandon says. Keep an ear out for nods to Steven King’s The Shining.

7. Old Gods of Appalachia

When you listen to the eldritch anthology Old Gods of Appalachia, you feel like you’re sitting around a campfire hearing ghost stories from a full theater cast. Co-creator and narrator Steve Shell’s voice is hypnotic, and the quiet background music is a bit eerie. But unlike other vintage ghost story podcasts, this one weaves in elements of the real, cruel history of racism, xenophobia, overconsumption, and environmental destruction in Appalachia. The stories may take place in an alternate Appalachia, but the horror feels all too real.

8. 36 Questions

36 Questions is a musical from the producers of the famous fiction podcasts Limetown and The Wilderness. But this is no mere novelty soundtrack. The pop score is more in-your-face and also more intimate than a stage play score can ever be — after all, the actors are singing right into your ears. A love story in three acts, it’s based on a “Modern Love” essay in the New Yorker about 36 questions that supposedly can make two people fall in love.

9. Wooden Overcoats

Wooden Overcoats is a clever British story about rival small-town morticians that’s perfect for fans of comedy and classic BBC sitcoms. The twins Rudyard and Antigone Funn own the only mortuary on a small fictional British island — until a charming new rival sets up shop across the street. It’s exactly what you’d expect: quaint, quirky, and a bit bizarre, with plenty of dry wit and a delightfully odd cast of characters.

10. My Dad Wrote a Porno

My Dad Wrote a Porno is best described as part fiction, part commentary, though the premise is stranger than fiction for sure. In each episode, host Jamie Morton reads aloud chapters of the erotic novel called Belinda Blinked written by — you guessed it — his own father, under the pen name Rocky Flintstone. The writing, which centers on the office escapades of sales manager Belinda Blumenthal, is exactly as laughable as you’d expect amateur erotica to be. The hilarity of the situation is heightened by Morton’s co-hosts, James Cooper and Alice Levine, who add their reactions and thoughts as they listen to Jamie read.

Final thoughts

These might be some of our favorites, but there are thousands of fiction podcasts out there to try.

Frequently asked questions

What is a fiction podcast?

A fiction podcast is an audio series that tells a scripted, fictional story. It often features voice actors, sound effects, and music, much like a radio play. Each episode expands on the plot or characters, immersing listeners in a narrative that’s designed for audio rather than adapted from print.

How do I start creating a fiction podcast with Descript?

Begin by writing or outlining your story, then record your dialogue in Descript using direct recording or Descript Rooms for remote sessions. Next, apply text-based editing to clean up the transcript, remove filler words, and arrange your scenes. Enhance the audio with Studio Sound, and add final touches like music or sound effects. Finally, export or publish directly from Descript to share your fiction podcast.

What is the difference between a fiction podcast and an audiobook?

An audiobook is usually a word-for-word reading of a written book, often by a single narrator. A fiction podcast is created specifically for audio and can resemble a radio drama, using multiple voice actors and sound effects to unfold a story across episodes.

How do I publish my finished fiction podcast from Descript?

Open the Publish panel in Descript, choose your file type or platform, then click Publish or Export. You can publish directly through integrated platforms or export the file to host it yourself. Descript also generates an unlisted webpage for quick sharing.

If you’re into literary short stories, check out The New Yorker Fiction Podcast, where authors and the magazine’s fiction editor discuss classic and contemporary works.

If you crave surreal comedy with a dash of small-town strangeness, Welcome to Night Vale is a classic that practically invented the eerie community radio format. Or maybe you want comedic sci-fi with a philosophy lesson on the side — try Midnight Burger, where a time-traveling diner meets patrons from all corners of existence.

So grab your headphones, pick a show that speaks to your soul (or your weird side), and let fiction podcasts do their thing. There’s a story for every mood — you just have to hit play.