It’s once again time for me to do a rundown of what I think are the best audio fiction shows that were completed in May of 2024. As is always the case with these monthly-best-of articles, I use the word “completed” to refer to shows that have reached either a season finale or a series conclusion last month. If you’re like me and prefer to “binge” or “mainline” your audio fiction and are looking for something new, this list is for you. Let’s do this.
Looking at our database—which is almost exclusively based on submissions from fiction podcast creators—I see that a total of 27 shows posted either a season finale or the series conclusion sometime in May 2024. Is that a lot? Well, compare it to the 103 shows that started posting episodes in May, as compiled by The Cambridge Geek. This article makes a nice book-end to that.
But that’s a delta of nearly 4x. Shouldn’t finishes be roughly the same as starts in any given month? No, not really, and my money as to the reason why is on one simple thing, and it’s the simple thing that led me to create The End in the first place—starting an audio fiction project is relatively simple compared to finishing one. Podfading is real, and though I don’t have the data to back this up (yet), it seems logical that it’s even more prevalent when it comes to making audio drama. Because even though I am not an audio fiction creator, I’ve produced podcasts since 2004 and have helped hundreds of creators bring their audio fiction to life, so I do know that that shit is hard. Like, really hard.
So I want to start by saying congrats to the creators who reached a season finale or the series conclusion last month. You hit a milestone that, if the data here is to be considered representative, most do not. My hat’s off to you.
Now, for fans of audio fiction like me, let’s get into the cream of the crop, shall we? And I'm not going to write this like a recipe post. I'm just going to give you the pertinent info. You decide what to investigate further. Click on the title/image for more info on where you can listen, visit the show’s website, or play some sample audio trailer. That's enough to get you started, I reckon. Oh, and I present these in no particular order. I enjoyed each of them immensely.
