In a crowded Michael Fowler Centre, a charismatic man takes the stage - telling the audience the concerns of "ordinary New Zealanders" have been ignored for too long.
He's the leader of ProtectNZ - a populist political movement with a long list of grievances.
Journalist Grace Marks has been looking into the rise of the alt-right in New Zealand and her attempts to find out who's funding the political party suddenly make her a target.
This is the premise of Riley Chance's new novel The Democracy Game which explores what could happen if US-style populism suddenly took root - successfully - in New Zealand.
Riley Chance is a nom de plume under which this book, and its prequel Surveillance, have been released.
Chance intends to reveal his identity at the launch of The Democracy Game on Thursday.
“I tried to have a complete separation from my work identity and my writing identity, that was one of the main drivers.
“And also, I quite liked the idea of using a nom de plume, when I picked a name I tried to be gender-neutral, where people would see who they wanted to see as the writer.”
Photo: Aotearoa Books
The events in Washington on 6 January got him thinking about whether something similar could happen here, he says.
“What I heard in this New Zealand society is that it couldn't happen in New Zealand, you fast forward a year and we have an occupation of parliament that's similar.
“Not quite, they didn't invade parliament itself, but very similar.”
The novel explores this sense of political complacency, he says.
“A number of fringe elements targeted the local body elections and I think the words they used were to try and make New Zealand ungovernable.
“And the reason they targeted the local body elections was because they knew with low turnout, they could potentially game democracy.”
The main character in The Democracy Game is investigative journalist Grace Marks, who “prods and pokes” into the money which is funding ProtectNZ.
Chance says ProtectNZ's leader, the charismatic Sebastian Ball, is a composite character.
“The character will potentially resonate with a lot of readers, if you sort of blended in a little bit of maybe Donald Trump, John Key, and a few other people like that, you'll get a picture for the person who's on stage and promoting this idea that New Zealand needs to be protected.”
Chance says the book is "first and foremost a thriller".
"I mean, I use one of Bryce Courtney's sayings. He said he writes popular fiction because the opposite is unpopular.
“I want people to read it, it has to be readable. I would change the word popular for accessible I think, it's accessible to everyone. You don't need an academic background to read it.”
