Action/Adventure/Thriller
Date Published: 02-06-2024
Publisher: Sunbury Press, Inc.
REAP THE WIND is THE PERFECT STORM meets THE FIRM.
The novel is an action/adventure thriller in which three lawyers flee Houston heading to Cincinnati in a rented Lincoln Town Car. They must drive across Texas and the Midwest in the midst of the worst climate change-induced hurricane of the century so Josh Goldberg can be with his girlfriend who is giving birth to their baby. They have to survive a hurricane, tornado, hailstorm, driving rain, and each other to get there.
Josh’s travel companions are his best friend—an alcoholic, drug-addicted lawyer—and his boss who connives to derail his plans so she can get to Philadelphia for a business meeting with a Norwegian billionaire. The odyssey is dangerous on many levels and may be a suicide trip.
What is the
hardest part of writing your books?
For me it
always is the editing. I write fairly quickly. For my last published novel,
STRANGE FIRE, I wrote the first draft in seven weeks. I then go through a
painstaking edit and rewrite process that can go on for six months or more.
Then, my editor or agent goes over the manuscript and I edit and rewrite again!
I love writing the characters, scenes and dialogue. The editing…not so much!
What are your most played songs?
When I am
writing I love music but cannot listen to words as that distracts me. So I listen
to classical music. I have an extensive music library with 12 full days of
music on it (that’s 24-hour days or 288 hours of music). I just start playing the
first “A” album (the composer Arensky) and keep it going to “W” (Wagner, sorry,
no X, Y, or Z composers, yet). When I am just listening to music, I like
classic rock…1960s and 1970s music. I’ve also been known to listen to country.
Do you have critique partners or beta
readers?
Yes! I am
a member of a critique group through International Thriller Writers. There are
six of us and we critique up to 5,000 words a month of each other’s work. That
is invaluable. I also have 4 or 5 friends who are my beta readers. They do not
see the writing until the book has been edited quite a few times. My wife
serves as my “alpha” reader and will read the second or third draft of the chapters
to me so I can hear if they are flowing properly and to make sure the dialogue
makes sense.
What book are you reading now?
I have a
four-book cycle. 1) traditional thriller; 2) literature; 3) debut thriller; and
4) non-fiction. I do not always follow the cycle precisely. Right now I am
reading Mitch Albom’s The Little Liar. I just finished Tess Gerritsen’s The Spy
Coast. Before that I read Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare. I can recommend all of
them. My next book will be written by a new thriller writer. I like to see how
the new writers are writing and what they are writing about. I haven’t picked
out that book yet.
How did you start your writing career?
I wrote
short stories and poetry in college, a short story when I turned 40 (that was
published). On July 4 weekend, 2008, I was stuck in Lubec, Maine, with no
internet access and no cell phone access. It was pouring rain. With little else
to do, I began writing a short story that was demanding to be released from my
head about the best beer I’d ever had. I
have been writing ever since. When I restarted writing, I wrote short stories
for a year. One day, a friend asked me how my novel was coming along. I told
him I wasn’t writing a novel. He asked, “why not?” I went home and began
writing my first novel. I have written ever since. These days, I write mostly
novels, but occasionally will bang out a short story.
Tell us about your next release.
Sitting on my agent’s desk are four
completed novels. One is a young adult thriller, called LULLABIES AND OTHER
LIES. It’s about a time when a virus wipes out all adults and only the
teenagers survive. I’ve written a
speculative thriller about the FBI going to war with a local police department,
called LITTLE BROTHER. Another book on my agent’s desk is WHIZ KID, set in 1950
about a young man growing up in Philadelphia amid the excitement of the
Phillies’ run for the World Series. Also, I just finished writing a novel
called Bullets Over Broad Street about a low-level crook in Philadelphia in the
early 1970s who gets in trouble with the Irish mob.
The book
that is likely to be published next is called TEMPERATURE RISING. It’s about a
young woman law student who is mistakenly admitted to a meeting of lobbyists in
DC who are working to undermine all climate change laws and regulations. She
becomes a spy for the New York Times. This is very loosely based on a true
story.
I’m
working on a new book, called THE FIREBRAND, about an environmental lawyer who
takes the law into his own hands. That one is far from being completed.
About the Author
Joel Burcat is an award-winning author of three environmental legal thrillers: Drink to Every Beast (about illegal dumping of toxic waste), Amid Rage (about a coal mine permit battle), and Strange Fire (about a fracking dispute). His most recent book, Reap the Wind, published by Sunbury Press, Inc., is about three lawyers trying to drive from Houston to Cincinnati in a climate change-induced hurricane.
He has received a number of awards, including the Gold Medal for environmental fiction from Readers’ Favorite for Strange Fire, and as a Finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Amid Rage. He has written numerous short stories. Burcat imbues his novels with facts to educate his readers about critical environmental issues while they are being entertained by the story.
Burcat’s books are infused with realism developed over a forty plus year career as an environmental lawyer. Burcat has worked in government as an Assistant Attorney General and in a private law practice. He was selected as the 2019 Lawyer of the Year in Environmental Litigation (for Central PA) by Best Lawyers in America. Among his numerous professional writings, he has edited two significant books on environmental and energy law. He has retired from the practice of law and works full-time as a novelist.
He is an active member of the International Thriller Writers and PennWriters.
Burcat lives in Harrisburg, Pa. with his wife, Gail.
Contact Links
Twitter: @JoelBurcat
Purchase Links
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