FISHERS, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After retiring from a successful career as a corporate business executive, international consultant and entrepreneur, Gary Levey, an embattled, Midwest moderate, became concerned about his children, grandchildren and the country’s future. As he debated with friends and business associates on both the liberal and conservative sides, he began to realize that despite different political viewpoints, most people tend to hold the same things dear. With a love of science fiction, history and economics, and a righteous indignation about American politics and the impasses of today, Levey didn’t just get angry – he decided to write. His prophetic, satirical novels – a series of four books he calls The Joad Cycle in reverence to The Grapes of Wrath – predict an American future controlled by greed.
“The purpose of these novels is to provide a more black and white perspective of today’s issues to enable Americans to visualize what the future might hold,” said Levey. ”The characters in the book face the realities of today’s decisions – and their impact on future families, careers and communities. With life so dominated by economics, the book delivers a poignant love story that portrays for the readers an extreme but possible future when greed and power warp America’s institutions and its people.”
Book I of The Joad Cycle, The Golden Rule (iUniverse, August 2010), presents a cautionary tale of how greed comes to dominate America from 2032 onward. Unable to enact solutions that resolve economic, social and political issues, in Levey’s future, the media, politicians and citizens sell out to a group of wealthy and powerful business oligarchs who overthrow the American Republic in a Constitutional coup. The story depicts a few, brave individuals who try to stand against the moneyed interests, but have limited resources to prevent the takeover. Book II of The Joad Cycle, Profit, extends the story of the hero, Gil Rose, a sheltered teen tasked to take on the business interests that now run the government and restore humanity in a new world where people worship the Almighty Dollar (literally, there is a church) and where citizens “disappear” if they do not provide economic value. In Book III of The Joad Cycle, Circle of Life, in these greedy times, the main character continues his struggle to survive in the perverse and bizarre economic America. Book IV, the final chapter of The Joad Cycle, The Rightness of Things, launches in March, 2012. It tells a story of a maturing leader who must learn the true meaning of love and re-teach the values of The Golden Rule to Americans so that they can overcome the greedy and powerful.
“Capitalism like it once was in America has evolved into something sinister, and it’s time to expose the implications of that, and to hold our government representatives, citizens, media and business community accountable to the children of our future, before it’s too late. I chose to write speculative science fiction as there are few non-fiction books that discuss the issues while also humanizing them and foretelling the future.”
Customers can purchase the four novels of The Joad Cycle at major online bookstores, and electronically for both the Kindle and Nook. For more information about your future, visit the author’s website at www.joadcycle.com.
About Gary Levey: Levey, a married father of two and a grandfather, was born in Philadelphia and now lives in a suburb of Indianapolis, where he enjoys staying informed in current affairs by reading left and right perspective political science, history, economics, as well as fantasy and science fiction that provide the prism through which he visualizes America’s future. He currently blogs from the future on www.joadcycle.com as Bernie, one of the main characters in The Joad Cycle, where he alerts those who care about the future to the consequences of the present.