The Writer #podcast host Oliver Smuhar

Join the fight. 
Tell the story. 
Survive the lie.

The Writer podcast by Oliver Smuhar is a fictional, serialized audio drama that explores the events of an imagined World War Three. 

It follows a young writer drafted into the Foxtrot Unit, a psychological operations team tasked with documenting the war through stories that blend truth with deception. The podcast delves into the nature of truth and the power of propaganda, using a future war as a backdrop to a dialogue about the nature of truth and the power of propaganda. 

The series runs weekly from May 12 to August 4, 2026, and contains 13 episodes. It is described as "Full Metal Jacket meets Arcane, with the tension of London Has Fallen," blending character-driven drama, dystopian fiction, and psychological elements to create a cinematic audio experience. 

To connect with Oliver ...
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-writer/id1894204580
http://www.oliversmuhar.com/
https://www.instagram.com/oliver.smuhar

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

It's good morning, Oliver. Welcome to Yellow Shelf.

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Oh, my pleasure. You're a podcast host. Your podcast show is called The Rider. And a bonus today, Oliver, you're an author as well. So I'm gonna let's touch on the podcast show first. But tell us all about your podcast show, The Rider.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Okay, so The Rider is an audio drama podcast. So it's sort of like a TV show and an audiobook had a baby. And essentially, um, it's an episodic audiobook uh or audio diary, some of the reviewers have called it. And it takes place in like an alternate reality, uh, where World War III happens in 2026. So something chaotic happens, um, it's a terrible, terrible event, and the world just goes into chaos, and it's it's it's World War III. And so it follows a young man getting drafted into the military, and he sort of has to figure out how am I gonna survive this because they're just gonna throw me out onto the front lines, and then like I'm not a soldier, um, so it's very per personal to me as well. It's just what if I got drafted? You know, what if World War III happened tomorrow and I just got thrown out there? Um, but because it's an audio story, um, yeah, you have the narrator who tells you the story, so it's very intimate. You get a very personal feel, it's also first person as well. Um, and there's music, there's narration, there's voice acting, um and it all comes together, and and so each episode tells a continuous story. Um, for so season one's coming out right now, and it's 13 episodes, and I really wanted you to be in well audiences, I really wanted audiences to be in the soldiers. So, what if they got drafted as well? That was a big sort of emphasis I wanted to put on. So, yeah, that's the story overall. And uh, as the soldier, the main character, gets drafted and is put into the front lines, um, he begins writing for the government and mixing the truth about what's happening with fiction so they can control how the public learn about the war, so the the narrative overall. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Oliver, like, I and I know there'll be people watching who'll ask this same question, so I'm gonna ask it. This idea of a serialized audio drama, is that like, is that popular in podcasting, or are you doing something on the edge? Like, where did you think of this?

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Well, so I've I've always been wanting to work in like film and TV, but it's it's such an intense, competitive market. And I love writing, I'm an author as well, so I've written books. So I was like, I want to combine the two mediums in a way that's not gonna cost me a billion trillion dollars. Ever. Um, so this was sort of the the the next best thing. Um it's it's not as popular as like the self-health podcast and the the gossip podcast and the very conversational ones, but it is it is growing. Um I released mine the same day as another another one that came out. So there are a couple of them. Okay. Uh there's a there's a really great one that's uh about a uh young woman's uh mental health as she's going through a breakup that recently came out as well. So I've been sort of staying up to date with them. So there is a few. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

No, I think I think they're really clever because as we know, podcasting is such a um, well, it's popular, but it's also a wonderful um a tool to be able to learn and be creative and embrace. So yeah, uh look, I need to get I need to learn more about this serialized drama. I think it's wonderful. And people who are curious need to start listening to yours. Oliver, do you want to tell us a bit about you as an author? Because I know I'd be amiss not to kind of capture that as well today.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah, so I've been writing for almost a decade now. Um, time flies. And uh so I I released my first book. I self-published my first book when I was in high school.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Um, so it was I was 17. Yeah, um, and I and I wrote this book when I was 16, and my parents helped me sort of get it through the door. Um, I saved up a bunch of money, and self-publishing is an expensive endeavor. You never have money. Um so yes, I just kept writing, and I just I was it's almost like an addiction at this point. It's just something I enjoy doing. I've just got a story in my head, and it's sort of it's a relief when you sort of get it out and you put it on a piece of paper. Yeah. Um but yeah, and so I've I've written sort of different genres. I started with fantasy, I then did a drama, um, and then I I recently uh since the 2020s have been working in the film industry. Yeah, um, I've been consulting on scripts and helping producers figure out whether they want to move forward with a production and with a script. Um so that's been super helpful, like reading other people's screenplays. Uh and now doing this, you have to write the the audio drama the book, but then you also have to write the script version so the actors have something to work on. So it's one of those things where you're sort of doing both.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Yes. Yeah, so it's you are incredibly creative, Oliver. I must say. You're one of probably one of the most creative humans I've met. Um, and do you love it? Do you love like being an author and a podcaster and you know the work you do um in TV and film? Like, are you is that where you see yourself in years to come?

SPEAKER_01 5:30

That's the dream. Yeah, if I it's just fun. Like, that's I think overall, like you just do it and you look at the time and it's like, oh, four hours have gone by.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Because it's and everything about it, like with the audio stuff, doing that, because I just didration, so doing all of that is just I just have fun with it. That's like that's the and so hopefully one day if things keep progressing and you can grow an audience, it'd be amazing to make it like a full-time.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Yeah, yeah. Persistence, Oliver. We all know what that's about, and I'd love to share that message whenever I talk to anyone, whether it's an author or a podcast host, because there's a level of just persistence and honing your craft, isn't it, isn't it? And just um moving forward. Well, well done. I'm so glad that we were connected by Frank, um, who interestingly enough connected us, even though he's in the US, we're here in Australia. It's it's good to good to be able to chat and share about your podcast series. Um, Oliver, all the best and come back if you know when more books come out or you want to chat again about your podcast show. I'd love to support it.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. And all the best with the other interviews.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yeah, it's fun. See ya.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Bye.