Mihret’s Podcast Picks: Sci-fi audio dramas to ease into the school year

By Mihret Yirgeta, September 25 2023—

I’m sure we can all use something to ease us into the commotion of the fall as we begin yet another school year. While we wait for the leaves to fall, here are some sci-fi podcast recommendations to start the year right.

ars PARADOXICA

The excellent ars PARADOXICA tells the story of American physicist Dr Sally Grissom who while working on an experiment in her lab gets transported to a military base in 1943. From there she is made to work for a clandestine branch of the US government, first to aid in WW2 efforts and then beyond. ars PARADOXICA is a story filled with fun time travel shenanigans, found family and existential questions about the way power corrupts. I consider it one of the best time travel stories ever told. The show is complete, so it is all available to binge-listen.

SCP Foundation Database

This podcast is an audio adaptation of the SCP Foundation, a collaborative online fiction project. The basic premise is that the SCP Foundation is a secret organization entrusted by governments around the globe to contain and study anomalous individuals, entities, objects, and phenomena that operate outside the bounds of natural law. Each episode focuses on a specific SCP object and all its related documentation, including interviews, exploration logs and researcher’s notes. There’s also a meta-narrative surrounding the personnel accessing the Database. The collaborative nature of the SCP Foundation makes it an excellent way to dive into a fandom!

We Fix Space Junk

We Fix Space Junk follows two smugglers, Kilner and Samantha, as they traverse through the galaxy avoiding law enforcement and carrying out all kinds of odd jobs, the legality of which is dubious at best. This show is a female-led sci-fi comedy sitcom reminiscent of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It also has a fun page on Tumblr! Definitely check out this show if you want some laughs with some seriousness thrown in once in a while.

Look Up

Atypical Artists, a producer of audio fiction that spans genres, presents Look Up, a ten-episode short audio drama that is equal parts a love story and a story about family. Teenage boys Lincoln and Emmet, estranged childhood friends, reconnect and meet every night to look at the stars as they wait for their moms to return from a three-year mission to Mars. This is a brilliantly written short story that is guaranteed to make you feel all the feelings.

Heroics

The description for Heroics on Spotify is “A group of B-list superheroes decide it’s more lucrative to be supervillains instead”, which is an excellent summary. From the same creators that brought you EOS 10 comes a comedic podcast about inept and morally questionable superheroes who have no idea what they are doing. There are only seven episodes so far, with season 2 in production, so it is perfect for listening as you walk between classes!