Interview with Stu Strumwasser, Author of A Real Collusion – NewInBooks

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

The two-party system is failing in America. Most of us feel that way and wish for a leader and a movement to effect change. This is the David vs. Goliath story of John Campbell. Only 14% of us approve of Congress. Forty-five percent of us identify as independent, yet we have no voice or representation in our own government. That needs to change. Sometimes a movement starts by accident, and sometimes it requires a leader.

“A Real Collusion” exposes the real conspiracy between the Republican and Democratic parties and tells the fictional David vs. Goliath story of the man who led an independent political movement that almost took down the two-party system in America.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?

John Campbell (the book’s main character and leader of the independent political movement) should have “Revolution” by the Beatles as his theme song. Not only is he leading a reform movement, but if you go back and read the lyrics, John Lennon was talking about seeing a revolution of tolerance. The change we need is not to go from one political or philosophical orientation to another, but rather to reach a place where people of various backgrounds and perspectives can work together, disagree respectfully, and compromise in order to accomplish things. At the end of the day, we are all American, and we are all human.

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

Literary novels. As a writer, I have gravitated toward creating stories about weighty subjects, but with the pacing, plot twists, and intrigue of a thriller. As a reader, many of my favorite books are quiet stories about regular people, often classics.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

Vince Flynn! I wrote a political thriller, so I figured I should probably read one that sold millions of copies.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

There are so many, and so many that feel deeply personal to me. I love the opening scenes when a Community Board meeting goes sideways and leads to the creation of a political movement. I also particularly love the conversations between Skip Winters (the story’s narrator and the best friend of the main character) and the antagonist, Steven Fenterman, when Skip goes to visit Fenterman in prison in Ossining (otherwise known as Sing Sing).

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

No. Ha. Hemingway said he liked to pour a nice, neat scotch. I do that on occasion.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

My new motto, which I have adopted recently in relation to promoting a book about political reform, is this: Change is not impossible; it is fucking inevitable.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

Change is possible. Our government wasn’t always this way. The Republican Party was a third party, and six years after being founded, they captured the Presidency. There are so many good people and so many who want to do the right thing and care about others. However, our system is deeply flawed, and in the last forty years, it has been broken. In the book, I explain how it got this way, but also how it truly can be repaired—all through an incredible fictional illustration and alternate history recounting. This doesn’t require impossible revolutionary change; rather, it can be incremental. We just need good people to do a little instead of doing nothing.