Come for the books. Stay because somehow we've been talking about one fictional man's questionable decision-making for 45 minutes.

Conversations with the Oracle is a long-form bookish podcast and video series hosted by The Smut Oracle, romance audiobook narrator Emily Wren.

This is where I sit down with readers, authors, creators, and bookish friends to talk about the stories we cannot stop thinking about. We dig into romance and romantasy, chase theories down increasingly elaborate rabbit holes, dissect character choices, revisit beloved books with the benefit of hindsight, and occasionally discover that the "tiny detail" we noticed 600 pages ago was absolutely not a tiny detail.

The conversations are thoughtful. The opinions are strong. The tangents are inevitable.

What to Expect

If you are the kind of reader who finishes a book and immediately needs to talk about it, you are in the right place.

Expect deep dives into romance and romantasy, including:

• trope and character analysis

• rereads, foreshadowing, and details we absolutely missed the first time

• theories ranging from "well-supported by textual evidence" to "hear me out"

• conversations about what works, what doesn't, and why

• enthusiastic disagreement between people who genuinely love books

Some episodes focus on a particular book, series, or author. Others wander into bigger conversations about romance, fantasy, publishing, reader culture, and the stories that take up permanent residence in our brains.

No hot take for the sake of a hot take. No pretending every beloved book is flawless. Just curious, opinionated people taking stories seriously without taking ourselves too seriously.

Pull Up a Chair

You do not need to have read every book we discuss, although spoiler warnings are there for a reason. Watch an episode straight through, jump into a series that interests you, or find us through a three-minute clip that sends you down the rabbit hole with us.

Full episodes of Conversations with the Oracle are available on YouTube, with clips, highlights, and the occasional particularly unhinged moment shared on TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Grab a beverage. Settle in. Let's talk books.