By Jason A. Wilkinson
If you’re new to Adult Sleep Stories, I would start with a journey. There is something about following a character from one place to another that gives you time to settle into their world. You can picture the road, the room they stop in, or the next place they hope to reach.
My first recommendations are The Quiet Atlas and The Long Walk Across the Quiet Highlands, with a special mention for The Sleeping Giant of Emberwood. Each offers a different place to spend an evening, and you don’t have to finish any of them in one sitting.
Choose the kind of journey you want
- Travel from country to country: begin The Quiet Atlas with its Portugal-to-Japan journey.
- Follow a more personal path: take The Long Walk Across the Quiet Highlands.
- Step into a gentle fantasy: explore The Sleeping Giant of Emberwood.
These are my recommendations as the creator of the podcast. The first two seem to resonate with listeners, and I think the traveling is part of their appeal. You get to experience a place through someone else’s eyes, without needing to go anywhere yourself.
The Quiet Atlas: for the feeling of going somewhere
The Quiet Atlas follows Julian Becker as he begins a year of travel. His first journey takes him from Portugal to Japan, with time for the places and everyday details along the way.
That is what I enjoy about this kind of story. A journey gives the character room to notice things, and it gives you room to imagine them. You can follow closely, or simply enjoy the company of a traveler discovering somewhere new.
Start with The Quiet Atlas: Portugal to Japan on Spotify. The published recording runs approximately 8 hours and 42 minutes. The series continues with Paris to the French Alps, so there is another journey waiting if this first one suits you.
The Long Walk Across the Quiet Highlands: for scenery with emotional depth
In this story, you follow a man traveling through the Scottish Highlands. There is beautiful scenery to imagine, but there is also something personal beneath the journey. As you listen, you may begin to wonder what he is walking away from, and what he will eventually need to face.
I won’t give that part away. It is one of the reasons I recommend the story: you can enjoy the landscape while gradually getting to know the person moving through it.
Listen to The Long Walk Across the Quiet Highlands on Spotify. At approximately 4 hours and 42 minutes, it gives you plenty of time to accompany him.
A special mention: The Sleeping Giant of Emberwood
If you would rather spend your evening somewhere imaginary, this is another story I recommend. Tessa, a cartographer, enters Emberwood to map an unfinished boundary. She discovers that parts of the forest belong to an immense sleeping giant.
The premise is fantastical, but the published story description makes the mood clear: this is a gentle encounter, without menace or danger. It is a good choice when the idea of a forest full of quiet wonder appeals more than a journey through familiar countries.
Find it in the Adult Sleep Stories catalog on Spotify, or open the episode on Apple Podcasts.
Why I keep coming back to long stories
I want these stories to give you somewhere to put the day down. Descriptive settings, characters with emotions, and an unhurried journey all matter to that experience.
Length matters to me, too. If you wake later in the night, a longer recording can still be playing, provided you have left it running. You can also return to the same story over several evenings. There is no need to treat the running time as a commitment.
I deliberately place the ads I control at the beginning and end, rather than interrupting the story. That is my approach to the listening experience; advertising and playback behavior can still vary by platform.
Listen in the way that suits your day
Some listeners come to the podcast at bedtime. Others enjoy a story while working or doing things around the house. Both make sense to me. I want the characters and their journeys to be worth spending time with, whether you drift off or stay for the ending.
If you are still deciding what kind of listening you want, read Sleep Stories vs Audiobooks. For another setting to explore, try our guide to train sleep stories.
For tonight, choose the place that appeals to you. Save the story, get comfortable, and let the journey begin.