I listen to a lot of spoken word stuff. Audiobooks and podcasts are my constant companions and since my lists do change a bit and it’s been a while, here’s what I’m listening to here at the beginning of 2018 in no particular order.

Non-fiction

• My Favorite Murder – Two funny women talking about murders all across the US and sometimes abroad. Their tagline “Stay sexy. Don’t get murdered.” says it all.
• Stuff You Missed in History Class – Two women teach things, events and interesting people from history at depth from all over the world.
• Freakonomics Radio – A team of podcasters explains the hidden side of everything through economics.
• Iroquois History and Legends – The name pretty much says it all. American history from an Iroquois viewpoint with myths and monsters added in other episodes for good measure.
• Making New Worlds – An astrophysicist and space travel enthusiast explores the ethics of space travel from all kinds of perspectives.
• No Such Thing as a Fish – Four comedians share random facts for an hour.
• Sawbones – “A marital tour of misguided medicine” a married couple talks about quackery through the ages, teaching and making jokes.
• Talk Nerdy – Interview programme where scientist, science communicator and skeptic Cara Santa Maria scientists and science communicators about all things science.
• The Skeptics Guide to the Universe – A group of skeptics talk science, skepticism and science fiction once a week.

Fandom and pop culture

• All Comics Considered –
• Dirty Old Ladies – Three women making comics – two of whom write sexy comics – talk storytelling, business and all around all things comic.
• Doctor Who: Verity! – Six smart women talk about Doctor Who. Need I say more?
• Fangirl Happy Hour – Two smart, funny and unapologetically fannish women talk about pop culture, science fiction and fantasy literature, and fandom politics.
• Galactic Suburbia – Three lovely Australian women talk pop culture, politics, history, comics and science fiction and fantasy literature. I’m sensing a theme here…
• No Story is Sacred – Four siblings who grew up among stories because their parents are writers and editors take stories apart and it is glorious. (Although I may be slightly biased since my friend Pippin is one of the people on it and she is also glorious.)
• Switchblade Sisters – Film critic April Wolfe has a woman filmmaker join her to discuss their favorite film and their own work.
• Tea & Jeopardy – Tea, conversation and mild peril! Emma Newman interviews science fiction and fantasy authors over tea before they end in mild peril.
• The Skiffy and Fanty Podcast – The podcast is what it says on the tin. A panel of experts talks at length about all things genre.

Fiction

• Apex Magazine – Fantasy and science fiction with a dark twist.
• Uncanny Magazine – Space Unicorn Ranger Core brings all good speculative fiction. Not that I’m biased or anything.
• Clarkesworld – Science Fiction that brings you new worlds and new ways of being human.
• Lightspeed – Science fiction (and sometimes fantasy) about humans doing amazing things.
• Nightmare Magazine – Horror reimagined!

Writing and Publishing

• Ditch Diggers – Authors Mur Lafferty and Matt Wallace talk about the business of writing, treating it as a job among others.
• Get to Work Hurley – Kameron Hurley talks about stories, storytelling, politics and the business of writing.
• Print Run Podcast – Two agents who represent wildly different genres talk about the business of publishing.
• Unreliable Narrators – Four Viable Paradise graduates discuss the craft and business of writing
• Writing Excuses – Brilliant authors of science fiction, fantasy and comics talk craft for 15 minutes every week.

Self-development

• Happier with Gretchen Rubin – The happiness and habit guru Gretchen Rubin talks to her sister Elizabeth Craft about habits.
• You Need a Budget – podcast by Jesse Mecham of YNAB with short bits of encouragement and advice for budgeting.

Wow, that’s a lot of podcasts. Fortunately, I love them all and they keep me company on so many days.

What are your favorite podcasts?