Interview with fantasy author: Richie Billing

This month I caught up with fantasy author, Richie Billing who’s new book Together We Rise is out on 22 March 2025.

Richie, tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Richie. I never had aspirations of being a writer growing up. I was a voracious reader of fantasy, but I ended up becoming a lawyer. I grew to dislike the job and thrown by the prospect of spending my life doing something I hated, I started writing and fell in love. I’ve been writing everyday for 10 years or so now and I can’t imagine life without it. Since then I’ve quit my job was a lawyer, ended up running an Irish pub for a few years, and now work as a writer, editor and SEO specialist.

Wow, that is a varied career history and I bet you have loads of stories from your time running a pub! Tell us about your latest book.
My latest book is called Together We Rise. It’s a story of a people’s revolution against a corrupt government—very timely given today’s political scene. I’ve been fed up with the state of politics for a long time. I’ve seen the worrying shift to the darker reaches of the right and felt quite helpless about things. Writing this story was my way of fighting that despair, and it provided a welcome escape too. Being something I’m passionate about, I loved every moment of writing and editing it and I can’t wait to share it with the world.

And it’s quite short compared to other fantasy books, isn’t it?
It’s a nice, short story, (about 150 pages) with a unique structure. It’s split into eight parts, with each part featuring a different character. Working like a sort of literary relay race, each character takes the story up to a point and then hands it onto the next character. The idea behind this was to explore the issue of rampant, unchecked capitalism from the points of view of the many different people it effects. My favourite TV show is The Wire, and part of the reason for why is its ability to look at a single issue critically from different perspectives (in that case the war on drugs).

I love getting different characters’ views on the same topics. What different perspectives did you use for the story?
In Together We Rise, you can find the perspective of a healer, a worker, a street kid, a drug dealer, a guard (the equivalent of the police). It’s all set in a fantasy world, which gives it a unique spin, and something else I’ve done is incorporate an original soundtrack. Each character has their own song which mirrors their emotional journey in the chapter. You can scan a QR code at the start of each chapter to listen. Hopefully, it adds another layer of immersion to the experience.

And who was the first character that you thought of for this story?
The roots of this story lie in a character called Tillia. I created her many years ago when I first started writing. She was a key part of a fantasy novel, set in the same world, and her part of the story was actually my favourite. I’d taken another big chunk of that novel and used it in another story I’m working on, leaving just Tillia’s story. I decided it was too good to waste.
You don’t see all of this in Together We Rise, but learn of it. Tillia is the daughter of a blacksmith (and also a master swordsman), but becomes ensnared by a deceptive evil man, named Vaso, whom she ends up wedding. Over time, he beats and abuses her, destroys her will, and the evil bastard also kills her father and destroys her childhood home. She’s trapped, powerless, helpless, until one night she happens upon a city guard assaulting a woman. She intervenes and ends up killing the guard, and she feels power like she hasn’t felt in a long time. It sets her on a path of vigilantism, taking out the bad guys on the streets
and cultivating a murderous alter ego named Shadow. After a while of doing this, she realises it isn’t enough. She has to do more to fight the problems corrupting the city. And that’s when she decides to start planning a revolution. Together We Rise is the story of Revolution Day.

I can’t wait to read it. Did any authors influence your writing in Together We Rise?
One author who particularly influenced me for this book was Daniel Polansky. He wrote a series called Low Town a few years ago and it follows the story of a former police officer turned drug pusher named Warden. It’s a gritty story, not shying away from the harshness of a corrupt, capitalist system, and Polansky has such a wonderful literary style of writing. I’d interviewed him on my podcast too (The Fantasy Writers’ Toolshed) and learned all about his working class roots in Baltimore—where The Wire is set—and how it influenced those first books of his too. I’m from a working class background too, and I could relate a lot to the type of story Daniel told. It inspired me to try and do something similar.

How amazing that you got to meet someone who was such an influence on your writing. I love meeting other authors and chatting to them about their inspirations (as you know!). To finish up, where can we learn more about you?
Website: www.richiebilling.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/richiebilling/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223253386-together-we-rise
Universal Buying Link – https://richiebilling.us16.list-
manage.com/track/click?u=6c5efb0717a56489fcafdf191&id=7880722fd3&e=111f98f8e8
Facebook – @richiebillingwriter
Instagram – @richiebilling
X – @Magpie_Richie
Tiktok – @richiebillingwriter
YouTube – @richiebilling