2016 May it be a great one!

2016 scratched in sand2016 A great one to come?

You’ll note that the image I’ve used for this post is one where the year is scratched into the sand.

It’s beach sand and I wonder, will it be washed away from the surf, scraped away by some angry foot or harden and turn to stone for all eternity.

I wish that 2016 will be a superb year, filled with promise and hope for the future of our species. If anything, the past several years makes me wonder whether we as a species will be around a millennium from now. I wonder. There seems to be so much hate in the world, closed-minded people who insist that everyone believe and act as they do, whether we as a species can surmount these challenges and boldly move forward into the 21st century.

Girl with Santa hat in forestEven if we do survive to the 22nd and 23rd centuries, what will they say about our current period on this planet. I can’t help wonder that they would say “Just how the hell did the species survive?”

Mona and Honey live sometime in the next millennium, 35th century perhaps, and somehow, their community has figured out a way to accept each other for whom they are. They are opened minded enough to realize that all members of our species have something to contribute to society as a whole.

Let’s see if we can emulate their example and accept that each of us, have something to contribute to the global community.

If you have a greeting or a wish you wish to extend to someone, please feel free to share it here. I’ll be happy to repost it to all of my followers. In the meantime, may 2016 be a great one for you.

As 2015 winds down

Countdown to 2016As 2015 gives way to 2016

As the year 2015 winds down and as we prepare to welcome 2016, I plan on remembering both the good and the bad that happened in my life this past year.

If there is any one thing I’ve learned this past year, it’s that our failures as well as our successes that make me the person I am today. Those experiences will also shape the person I will become tomorrow.

As we celebrate this new year, it is my sincerest wish that our celebrations are done with love, compassion and fellowship with our neighbors, both near and far. Even if they live on the other side of the globe, we all deserve the respect of being who we are.

If you are looking for a New Year’s Resolution, I would offer you this one.

Find a way to accept your neighbor into your heart, regardless of their race, sex, nationality or religious belief.

Where do you write?

Patio table umbrella“Where do you write?”

This question was posed to me recently so I thought I would give it a stab. Everywhere, I suppose. I do remember that I started writing my initial books sitting on my deck in the middle of the summer.

Not exciting to most but I was able to soak up the sun at the same time. Sun worshiping weather is kind of rare in my area of the country. Glare on the screen hampered my ability to see the laptop so a deck umbrella was a necessary accessory.

Chocolate infused cappuccinoMoving indoors, I either sit in a chair in my living room or my studio with the game on or more likely, playing music in the background. Since I have a day job I may write while on lunch, often at a table at a nearby café. I’m used to typing while slowly munching on a sandwich or drinking a cup of coffee.

Portable ComputersThat’s the wonderful thing about today’s laptop computers and tablets. I can write almost anywhere, if I choose. I like utilizing any spare time to write including jotting down a chapter or two in the waiting room as my car was being serviced. I prefer the use of a laptop and tablets since I can later read what I wrote which is a big plus.

Mostly though, I write the bulk of my books sitting in a recliner in my bedroom. “Huh?”

Sunset sunriseWell, for me, my brain is constantly playing imagery in the background. It seems my best dialog comes to me at four in the morning while I’m half asleep. It is that sleep state between being fully awake and fully asleep where my mind floods itself with recollections of music, imagery and/or conversations. If you don’t experience it, consider yourself lucky. I might be jealous of you, though.

The dialog runs at super speeds in my semi-conscious state and if I am fortunate to realize it, I get out of bed, pick up my computer and begin furiously writing it all down before I forget it all. Trust me, if I wait until a decent hour, the scene and the dialog is lost forever. So, I’m up at four a.m., writing furiously and it often continues right on into mid-morning or later.

So, that’s how and where I write my books. How about you? Where do you write, paint or whatever you enjoy doing. Please write a comment and let me know. I would enjoy sharing common experiences with you. Thanks in advance for sharing.

Merry Christmas

Girl with present at ChristmasMerry Christmas

On this day, around the world people are celebrating the holiday as is their custom in their native lands. I hope you remember the ones you are not with you on this special day. Whether they be protecting your country, on assignment helping to support their families or simply living afar, please send them your love. It’s the most precious gift one can give.

If you wish to share a holiday memory or send a message to a loved one, I welcome your comments. I’d be happy to share them with my followers.

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays in typewriterHappy Holidays

As I write another chapter for my next book, I am reminded just why we are all here on this planet. Contemplating just how Mona and Honey would approach this holiday, I can’t help wonder that ultimately, they would gather their respective families together, share fellowship, various stories of the past year of their dearly departed and they would welcome their newest members of their households.

They would also sit down together, share a meal, engage in conversation, seek out those they barely know and even enjoy each other, be it in fellowship, their bodies or simply, their common experiences.

We are a community. We are a global community. We all live together for the common goal and support of one another. I trust everyone on this planet feels the same way. I would love to hear your stories, your holiday memories and your wishes for the new year. I’d be happy to publish them here on this blog and share them with all my followers.

I hope that our own future is akin to their experiences. It is also my hope that our entire global community will celebrate the coming holiday with love and compassion for our fellow neighbor.

I look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, have a very Happy Holiday.

What inspired you to write?

11059592_sWhat inspired you to write?

Hmmmm … I suppose I’ve been writing in one form or another all my life. I remember writing short stories as a kid. I remember one story I wrote that later became a motion picture but that is another story in of itself.

Later, as an adult, I chose a career where I would write code for programs. I even got recruited by a company because I reverse engineered their software and began writing programs against their platform. They were so impressed, I got an upgraded job.

Writing programs exercised my creativity as well as the logical sides of my brain for decades. It was enough to figure out what to write and deliver a product that many people used each and every day. I got paid to do it yet there was never a question or an interest in receiving residuals for the work!

10392256_s-Creative definition pointed out by pencilJump ahead to the later part of my life and I was becoming increasingly anxious to create something other than computer code. I picked up pencil and paper and rediscovered drawing. Picking up paint and brushes, I rediscovered painting. For a while, I thought about trying to market my creative works. I was quickly frustrated by the process and abandoned my feeble marketing efforts. I still draw and paint but I do it for the love of the craft.

Frustrated by not being able to capture the imagery in my head fast enough, I dabbled with writing. Eventually, I stumbled upon an idea that really excited me. So, I wrote and wrote. Over time I must admit but I was determined to finish the story.

When I shared the finished product with friends, I was astounded by the response. They demanded that I publish it and continue writing.

So, now I’m working on a new career. One in which I do part-time now and will devote full-time after I retire from business. I enjoy writing and if I make money doing something I love, wow!  Who is to say that someone might even like it enough to sign me to a movie deal? Wouldn’t that be cool?

What inspires you to do what you love?

What aspect of the book will women love in the Mona Bendarova Adventures?

Broken Steele Spine Cover 6x9What aspect of the book will women love in the Mona Bendarova Adventures?

I think that women, reflecting on what they just read, will love the idea that they have all the power within the society I’ve created. They outnumber men, sixty six men for every million women. It may seem lopsided yet with numbers like that, how could the gender not be a power house to contend with. It is they that have the control over their own destinies. They may not know it and the reader may not get that sense while reading the initial book, ‘The Taste of Honey’ yet as they continue to read the subsequent books, ‘Broken Steele’ and ‘Lucky Bitch’, it becomes obvious that the women have the power and are in control of their destinies.

small of back with jeansThere’s no sickness, racism, sexism nor prejudice, immorality or desire to take what is not there’s. There may be the occasional aberration but that just supplies the necessary conflict to make a story worth reading.

Everyone enjoys each others bodies. To them, enjoying sex is a natural and healthy activity. Both genders like to play together. They find suitable activities that give each what the other needs. They are not selfish, self-centered nor unfeeling towards others. Therefore, fighting among themselves is non-existent. Men are mostly nurturing to those under their houses and take their responsibilities seriously. All women, in all societies, crave those characteristics.

Everyone knows what is expected of them. No one shirks their duties. No one runs from their responsibilities.

The practices that some of the female readers may consider foreign or even gruesome need to consider that in the universe I created in these books, the female gender do it out of caring for their house and their community.

Everyone is healthy and life goes on.

How did you come up with the Mona character?

The Taste of HoneyHow did you come up with the Mona character?

When I finally figured out the title of the story ‘The Taste of Honey’, I knew how I wanted the story to end. Honey was a main character who wanted to live forever in her family and close friends. In her mind, for whatever reason, she firmly believed that her spirit could only continue on through a live roasting on a barbecue spit. Gruesome, I know, but in Honey’s universe, it’s a common practice among the community.

Knowing how the story was to end, I needed to create characters with whom Honey would share her meat. As I thought about how Honey would meet her end, I needed an avenue to get there. So, I hit upon the idea that she goes missing and someone hired to go find her.

BeautyIntroduce the investigator, Mona. Since my universe incorporated pervasive bdsm play, I decided that this character would be a masochist who enjoyed extreme play. So, her first name became Mona. Mona would be a play on the sound ‘moan’, which she would do a lot during her play.

To come up with her surname, I wanted her name to reflect her sexuality. Eventually, I came to the concept of ‘bend her over’.With a hidden message decided, I contracted it to Bendarova. To date, only one person I know has made this relate and called me on it. She smiled as she told me.

That’s how Mona Bendarova came into existence. She’s a smart, masochistic investigator who loves sex. Who’s your favorite character?

How did you come up with the title ‘The Taste of Honey’?

The Taste of HoneyHow did you come up with the title? Did the title come first or did the story?

For months, I had a concept of what I wanted to write. I had developed the idea of a future history of the human race dependent upon consuming themselves to survive. Originally, I had thought at it would be the result of a devastating war that put the species on the brink of extinction. It wasn’t until later, that I came up with the GMO angle running wild, systematically wiping out all protein based biologically life on the planet.

Yet that didn’t help me decide on a specific story line. I wanted a story in which I would highlight a main character who would by the end, decide to be live roasted and her meat consumed by her family and close friends. I wanted the live roasting to be the character’s choice and not forced upon the character. Further, I wanted the other main characters to feel comfortable with consuming the meat of one who had been one of their own. I struggled over months to find a way to carry out that goal.

In that time, I wrote draft after draft but none of them spoke to me. Then one day, while sitting on my deck, enjoying roasting under the summer afternoon sun, the phrase ‘The Taste of Honey’ hit me. It was a eureka moment. As I reflected upon the phrase, I decided immediately that it would be the title of the story.

Blonde with open back tshirt facing wallNow, at that time, I wasn’t even thinking about publishing the story. I just wanted to write it. Now that I had a title, the rest of the story came together in a flash. Within minutes, I was furiously writing notes, capturing thoughts and ideas before they flashed out of existence. For me, it was a race to document the ideas, never mind whether I would use them all.


A couple of hours later, I had a clear concept of what I wanted to write and I began writing anew. Honey was not only to be the subject of the title but she would be a main character in the story.

It was a journey of self discovery, of retrospection and of desire. Desire in the sense of curiosity of seeing the story come to its conclusion. I knew what I wanted to write but I wanted to see it written on paper. The story took on a life of its own and before I knew it, it was no longer a short story but a full length novel.

An Editor’s Viewpoint

An Editor’s Viewpoint

by Janet Maggio

woman with shackled legs sideI just completed editing the novellas included in ‘The Client Series’. I look forward to editing Richard Verry’s writings since I see first hand what a great author he is becoming, especially with character development. As in any book, I like to define myself with one of the characters. ‘The Client Series’ was difficult for me. It identifies with one of my greatest fears against the female gender and it is so timely with what is happening in the world today, Human Trafficking.

I like reading and editing with Rich. Those sessions have created heated discussions and since Richard knows I am impatient, he keeps telling me to hang on and “you will feel better” after reading ‘Her Essentia’. I hate to admit it yet he was right! I do feel better.

I hope you enjoy the series too. Please read all three and I implore all women to get through them all.

It will soon be available on his site, www.richardverry.com.