By now, you’ve put away your holiday decorations, made some resolutions you’ve likely already abandoned, and are thinking to yourself, “How the heck is this 2024 already?” I feel you.
But those things also mean it’s once again time for me to do a rundown of what I think are the best fiction podcasts that were completed in December of 2023. As is always the case with these monthly-best-of articles, I use the word “completed” to mean shows that have reached either a season finale or a series conclusion. 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 24 shows posted either a season finale or the series conclusion sometime in December 2023. Is that a lot? Well, compare it to the 88 shows that started posting episodes in December, as compiled by The Cambridge Geek. This article makes a nice book-end to that.
But that’s still a delta of more than 3x. Shouldn’t finishes be roughly the same as starts 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 a fiction podcast 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 a fiction podcast creator, 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. Or you can visit the show's official website or play a 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.
Evo's Picks for the Best Fiction Podcasts Completed in December 2023
Now, keep in mind that I have have a LONG list of shows in my queue. This isn't meant to be a definitive list. Just what I've heard so far. As with all things in life, YMMV.
