An Interview With Russell Razzaque, Author Of We The People: A Premonition

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Russell Razzaque is an acclaimed academic, psychiatrist, and author of We the People: A Premonition, a thrilling and eerily possible tale of the convergence of autocracy and climate collapse. To celebrate the release of We the People, What We Reading sat down with Russell to discuss everything from finding inspiration in the current political crisis, his career as a psychiatrist, to his successes on YouTube!

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Thanks for speaking with us! First off, tell us a bit about yourself and what led you to the world of writing.

I am a psychiatrist and I have written several books about human psychology over the years. With the current political climate, I have become increasingly interested in the trajectory we are on as a society, and I started to concoct a story around where this might go and also how we might correct it. I have also enjoyed writing fiction, and when I got to know Trish MacGregor, who shared a lot of my ideas, it just seemed to be a natural alliance for us to pair up and write this book.

Talk to us about We The People: A Premonition. What is it about, and how was the process of writing it?

I have a very successful YouTube channel where I talk about politics and the ideas I have around what’s gone wrong and what needs to change, and I realised this is clearly a popular area. The book is about a not-too-distant future dystopia. A country hurtling toward autocracy,  with a president seizing more power daily, an AI predicts the imminent end of humanity. The prediction foresees illness, conflict, and chaos on a massive scale and unprecedented environmental catastrophe.

Former FBI Agent, Luna Ochoa, and journalist, Jake Kessler, join forces and discover a way to change the trajectory. It involves fermenting a countrywide revolution by changing the entire system of government itself. This revolution would mean mass participation of all citizens in every decision the government makes, a system that is truly for the people and by the people. 

They rapidly gather a community of thousands – employees purged from the government, immigrants fleeing ICE, judges, attorneys, scientists, and academics against whom the government seeks vengeance. But the president and his lackeys are closing in fast. The administration and the oligarchs inside of it will do anything to protect their power and unparalleled wealth, even threaten nuclear annihilation.

We are in humanity’s final days. Whether or not we survive and succeed is up to us – we the people. 

What is the number one goal you want your work to have with readers?

I want people to see the danger of the path we are on in our political system. I also want people to recognise that there is still hope. Hope for a different way. And we can escape this trajectory.

What do you think makes you stand out as an author?

I believe that, together with Trish, we are able to combine compelling characters and a really gripping story with deep meaning and purpose. So hopefully it works on many levels.

What would you say has been your biggest success so far?

Well, I work as a psychiatrist and also an academic researcher, and I have had a lot of successes in these areas. Some great recent successes in my research, with breakthrough treatments – based on more holistic ways of working – in mental health, have been particularly rewarding. My YouTube channel has also gained over 160,000 subscribers in just a few months, with some videos seen by over a million people. This has been very gratifying too. 

If you could go back in time to one book you read for the first time, what would it be and why?

The Tao Te Ching. Full of wisdom, and I still reread it often. 

What’s one tip you would give your younger self if you had the opportunity?

Don’t have any expectations about how your life will unfold. Try your best to enjoy the journey. 

And finally, what do you hope the future holds for you and your writing?

I have had some interest in the possibility of turning this story into a film, and I’m very excited about this possibility as a next step.

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Follow Russell and find out more about We The People on this website, and his YouTube

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