An Interview with Anthony Muss
Anthony Muss has written about Wall Street and markets for over a decade. His articles have appeared in print and online at Seeking Alpha, Yahoo Finance, and have been featured as Editor’s Choice selections at The Motley Fool.
Mr. Muss has worked for three presidential campaigns, four regional print news publishers, and currently lives in the Midwest.
Paradigm Shift is his debut work of fiction.
Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?
I wrote the book in response to the many, many questions surrounding the 2020 presidential election. I’ve read political fiction for decades. I was particularly influenced by the books Absolute Power by David Baldacci and Primary Colors by Joe Klein.
What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?
I’ve worked as an investment advisor for over thirty years. I’ve worked on three separate presidential campaigns, and I’ve written political opinion pieces as well as investment columns for over fifteen years. Due to the controversial nature of the premise of my book and how much polarization there is in our society around politics, I wrote the book under a pseudonym. I’m sure my readers wouldn’t know that, and I’m not sure, with very recent events in the political world, that I want them to know that.
Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
The title of the book ended up being more prescient than even I could imagine. The 2020 election was a paradigm shift away from in-person voting. Since the 2024 election, there has been a tremendous paradigm shift in global economics, global politics, and in what is acceptable behavior here in the United States.
What part of publishing your book made it feel real for the first time?
Holding in my hands an actual physical copy of my book. Wow.
If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?
Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who, Subdivisions by Rush, and Get Over It by The Eagles: “I’d like to find your inner child and kick its little ass.”
What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?
Force yourself to get out of your self-made echo chamber. Seek truths that may make you uncomfortable. And never fall into the trap of, “See! I told myself so!” (Confirmation bias: the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.)
What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?
Having so many readers claim in their reviews how often they kept asking themselves whether they were reading fiction or truth. I also enjoyed hearing that so many readers found my book very thought-provoking and made them think about our society, our politics, and the media.
What creative projects are you currently working on?
I’m about halfway writing a new manuscript called Thirty Years Far from Wall Street: Midwestern Musings on Money, Markets and Making Prudent Investment Decisions. It’s an investment book with autobiographical elements.
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