Interview Snippets on Mona’s Stories-4

September 1, 2016

Interview Snippets on Mona’s Stories

(Part Four)

What follows is the continuation of an interview I conducted with one of my readers. I captured their notes and turned it into this update to my blog. This is Interview Mona’s Stories part 4.

Q: Speaking of the Doctor. Does he have a name?

A: Of course he does. His name is Doctor.

Q: But that is a title or function of what he does. That’s not a name.

A: In Mona’s society, they are the same. He is the Doctor and his name is Doctor.

Q: Interesting. Fair enough. Tell me about the ‘BLOODLINE’. Can you elaborate on that?

A: The ‘BLOODLINE’ is still a work in progress. I haven’t yet worked out all of the details related to them. Right now, they are an unknown to Mona and her supporters. They have a personal agenda that seems contrary to the society Mona lives in. They have been working on this agenda for at least three generations and frankly, she’s scared.

Q: So, she has no idea of what their endgame is?

A: No, she doesn’t. And neither do I? The ‘BLOODLINE’ was an invention developed in my second book in the series, ‘Broken Steele’ to explain tainted meat and the widespread the effects it had on a significant portion of the society.

Q: So, are the ‘BLOODLINE’ a villain?

A: Could be. I don’t know at this point. But they are a good source for conflict in Mona’s society. For tens of generations, Mona’s community has lived in peace and harmony, everyone knowing their place and everyone contributing to support the whole. Mona was born to a time when this harmony is about to falter, where stress and conflict are being felt for the first time in centuries.

Q: Are you saying that the ‘BLOODLINE’ could be the good guys?

A: Again, they could be. They don’t have to be the power-hungry, arrogant subculture that most of our books and movies assume. They could be advancing their own agenda in attempt to reverse the need to consume their own to stay alive. It remains to be seen as I work out the next couple of books.

Q: So, there are more books in the future?

A: Yes, I have outlines for at least two more books as well as a possible sixth book.

Q: I look forward to reading them.

A: Thank you. I hope you continue to enjoy them.

Care to Comment?

Feel free to comment and agree or dispute my opinions. I love a challenge. Till next time, have a great day!

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Interview Snippets on Mona’s Stories 2

August 30, 2016

Interview Snippets on Mona’s Stories

(Part Two)

What follows is the continuation of an interview I conducted with one of my readers. I captured their notes and turned it into this update to my blog. This is Interview Mona’s Stories part 2.

Q: Are you an activist, passionate about stopping the practice of genetically modifying organisms?

A: I’m not an activist. In fact, I’m not an activist about anything. I just write stories based upon my passions. If anything, I subscribe to facts science reveals. Take for example, obesity rates in the U.S. My country has been modifying our food sources for nearly a century in order to increase profits. In the 1940’s, obesity was a rarity. Today, it is the norm.

Check the statistics. For example, in the 1950’s,
the widespread use of corn syrup was added to our food supply as a cheaper way to produce food. Compare the graphs of the introduction of corn syrup to the obesity rates in this country. You will find a near perfect duplication of the charts, separated by only a decade. For every change in the production of our food supply, an exact change in the obesity rate occurs a decade later. 70 years later, corn syrup is now a staple in our diets. I try to avoid it but it is virtually impossible.

Q: How does that relate to the premise in your books?

A: To me, human arrogance is the relate. We presume to know better than what Mother Nature and millions of years of natural selection has produced. I believe we are digging a hole that the human race will find difficult to get out of. It may not happen in our lifetime or our children’s lifetime but I believe it is coming. We ourselves are going to cause a massive extinction event. Assuming our species survives, will be radically changed forever.

Q: And that is what ‘The Taste of Honey’ and the follow-up books speculate.

A: Yes, exactly. I don’t wish it to happen to anyone but I do feel powerless to prevent it. I believe an extinction event is inevitable and we will have caused it. How our extinction manifests itself is the question. All I know is, and I am firm in my belief, we will be causing our own extinction.

Care to Comment?

Feel free to comment and agree or dispute my opinions. I love a challenge. Till next time, have a great day!

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Cultural Changes of The ‘Purge Plague’ (Part 5)

August 12, 2016

Cultural Changes caused by The Purge Plague

Over the last four segments, I wrote about the roots of the plague and the causal effects on Mona’s community. In this segment, I cover the cultural effects which resulted.

It should be noted that while the plague was halted, it was not eradicated. Over centuries, people made many attempts to revive the extinct species. Huge stores of seeds were set aside on the chance that one day, they could be replanted. Attempts to germinate these seeds failed. A millennium later, survivors made little progress finding an alternate source of high protein food stores.

In the early days, societal controls fell apart as starving people sought ways to find the nutrition they needed. Populations started to diminish once more. On the verge of succumbing to extinction, the survivors banded together to deal with the stresses of trying to live. Through trial and error, often violent, they eventually settled on a systemized process to select candidates for conversion through random selection. Over centuries, everyone accepted that one day, they would help feed the future generations.

Population Disparity

Due to the disparity of numbers between men to women, it became commonplace for sterile women to supply the bulk of those converted for food. Afterall, they represented more than three quarters of the population. Still though, everyone submitted to conversion processing at some point in their lives. There were no exceptions. From birth to conversion, people lived their life based upon this eventual fate. In between, everything they learned, did and produced was focused meeting the needs of society. They became the primary producers, workers and sex toys. In short, each person lived to serve and contribute.

In summary, due to the inability to satisfy basic nutritional needs, they turned to each other. To manage the conversion process, a complex society arose to fairly deal with the new reality. No one was immune from this fate but a culture developed to de-horrify the practice. In time, the stigma of consuming themselves disappeared. It became a simple fact and accepted as a part of life.

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Excerpts

Excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. The question explored dealt with the ‘Purge Plague’, a vehicle I invented to explain how Mona’s culture came to be. This is the final installment in a five-part series published over the past several days. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.

Tell me about Mona’s culture (part 5)

August 5, 2016

What follows are excerpts from an interview I gave some months ago. I’ve condensed it to a five-part series, published over the past week. This is the final segment. I hope it will provide insight into the world I created with the ‘Mona Bendarova Adventures’. Feel free to comment on the link at the bottom. I welcome your insights and opinions.

In many ways, Mona’s culture seems like a utopia. I mean, what’s not to like? Everyone has access to unlimited sex, unlimited partners, and unlimited pleasure. Your wants and needs are completely satisfied. You wake up in the morning, alone or with company sharing your bed, picking up from where you left off last night.

At breakfast, some lovely naked wait staff serves you, delivering food and drink right to the table. Man or a woman, it doesn’t matter. You are attended too.

What’s not to like?

After breakfast, you do your chores, whether it is cutting the grass, preparing the next meal of the day, or attending to and serving your household members. The workload is pretty easy.

You spend quality time in the playroom and get fucked on a regular basis. You have a roof over your head and three squares a day.

What’s not to like?

Except that thing about feeding upon one another in order to survive. That’s a bummer, right?

What if you knew and accepted from birth that one day, you would feed your companions, just as you are feeding upon them now? Does it then become an acceptable and moral practice? Maybe.

What if by converting and feeding your companions, you knew that you would live forever? What then?

I submit to you that Honey, the title character of Book 1, believes she will. She firmly believes that she will live on in Mona and the rest of her family. By living in them, she will have the power to help them successfully navigate through their trials. Besides, she loves them. This way, she will be forever bonded to them.

If you knew that, without a shadow of a doubt, you will live forever. Simply by others consuming your meat, would you? I think I might.

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Rest assured, I’m still with you.

July 27, 2016

Just a quick note to let you know, I’m still here. I’m recovering nicely. As I am able, I am working on a five-part post that I hope to publish next week.

In this five-part post, I will be exploring the culture that Mona Bendarova lives in. For most of you, you know that Mona is the lead character in my series of novels called ‘The Mona Bendarova Adventures‘.

In the first two books, ‘The Taste of Honey‘ and ‘Broken Steele‘, I tell a story of a woman in another time and culture. She lives in a world very different from the one we live in today. Yet, it is plausible on so many levels. The third book in the series, ‘Lucky Bitch‘, continues to explore this culture, and I hopefully will have it out this fall. Be sure to look for it.

When you read the stories, you’ll wonder, could the world she lives in, really happen?

Check it out and let me know what you think.

In the meantime, dinner’s on the table. Time to eat.

One Week Left

July 25, 2016

Less Than One Week Left in the 50% off Summer/Winter Sale for ‘The Taste of Honey‘. Don’t miss out. Sales ends midnight, July 31, 2016. 50 %off only at RichardVerry.com and Smashwords.com.

When you read this story, you’ll ask yourself this question. “Could this really happen to us?”

Good books are friends

July 15, 2016

My girlfriend and I had chinese food for dinner the other night. I’d like to share with you what my fortune cookie had hidden inside.

“Good books are friends who are always ready to talk to us.”

For the readers out there, I think you will agree. Good or bad, they talk to us, reach into our souls and stimulate emotions. I don’t know about you, but I have conversations with my books. Yes, the books themselves. I talk to them and they respond.

I also have conversations with other readers about books, either mine or someone else’s. We can debate whether it was a good read or a bad read. We can argue about the elements of the characters, the plot or the outcome.

My favorite books are those that I cannot predict where the story is taking me. Not just the ending either. I want to be surprised and jolted all along the way. Just when I think I figured out ‘who done it’ or whether the couple will final get together, the best stories for me those that change direction. By the time the last page is turned, I want the story wrapped up. I want all of the pieces to fit, like a jigsaw puzzle.

So far, from what people tell me, my books fit that criteria. However, I would be interested in what you, the reader of this blog, thinks. Write me. Fill out the comment field below and lay it on me. Tell me whether your favorite books talk to you and what it is about them that makes the book one of your favorites.

Till next time, have a great day and a better tomorrow.

Your’s in reading and writing, Rich.

Followup to Goals without a Plan

June 23, 2016

Yesterday, I wrote about goals without a plan is nothing more than a wish. In fact, I believe it’s more than that. It’s wishful thinking.

However, once you have the plan, you are already on the road to meeting your goals. For me, that’s the fun part. Taking the first step, then the next and then, the next one again. I’ve always believed that to reach the summit, you must put one foot in front of the other. Step over over the pebbles and eventually you’ll step over the stone, and eventually the mountain.

Earlier, I stumbled upon this followup quote.

“There’s no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.”

Makes sense to me, despite that I wish that it were possible to jump ahead of the line and go right to the top.

The image I’ve displayed shows the quote surrounded by a spiraling stair case. I can’t imagine how many steps it would take to climb that stair case and reach the top. Hundreds? Thousands?

However many there are, in real life, it takes much more to achieve our goals. My goals. I’ve spent decades learning, experiencing, and experimentation before deciding upon my goals. Some of my goals have fallen to the wayside in favor of newer, more interesting goals.

Do you know what I find if fun? Working on my goals, figuring them out and taking the steps to achieve them. For me, it’s sitting down in front of my computer and transcribing the dialog running through my head. It’s picking up a pencil or paint brush and putting it to paper or canvas. Adrenaline begins racing throughout my body. I’m excited and the imagery in my mind feeds off the adrenaline and suddenly, my fingers can’t move fast enough. Whether it’s typing on a keyboard or stroke after stroke of my pencil or brush, I pour my heart and soul into each creative work.

Years later, I can look at a painting I did, notice one of my books on the shelves and the excitement returns in an immeasurable instant. Every so often, I review Honey’s story in my book, ‘The Taste of Honey‘, and I’m filled with joy, wonderment and concern. I want her to be saved. I want her to thrive. I know that she has a goal in mind and that goal will survive death. She’ll make it happen. She has a plan. You’ll see as you delve into her world along with her best friend, Mona Bendarova.

Damn, I love what I do. I hope you do and if you don’t, well that’s okay too. You’re welcome to your opinion. Who am I to tell you what to think. So, to conclude, I hope I can instill this one thought and it’s a motto I’ve lived with my entire life. As far as I can tell, no one else has said this and I’ve repeated the mantra in my head every day of my adult life, and I’ve been around a while. I would be interested in your comments and responses. Please send me a note. I’ll be happy to read them.

My personal motto is this.

“Nothing is impossible. Everything is possible. It’s all in the attitude.” – Richard Verry

Thank you fans

March 9, 2016

I’ve just noticed that two more people purchased my books. First, someone bought a copy of ‘Broken Steele’, the exciting sequel to ‘The Taste of Honey’, which someone also bought. Thank you all. I appreciate it. I hope you enjoy them.

The third book in the series, ‘Lucky Bitch’ is in the works. I hope to have it ready in a couple of months. It picks up a few months after ‘Broken Steele’ ends, providing new challenges for Mona to survive. Yes, that’s right. She’s got a target on her back. Fortunately, she has a close circle of friends who help watch her back. I can’t wait to find out how it will all turn out.

‘The Taste of Honey’ and ‘Broken Steele’ can be purchased on my website RichardVerry.com or at your favorite book retailer such as Amazon. They are available as ‘real’ paper books or for your favorite eBook reader.

Facing Challenges

February 22, 2016

I read a quote on FB earlier today and it struck home as it relates to my blog post the other day on Chaos. The quote reads.

“We don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges.” Author unknown.

I found the quote interesting. I’ve instinctively believed in this concept, I found the reminder to be welcomed. It’s one thing to keep trudging through life, working out challenges and over coming obstacles. We all do it.

It’s quite another to realize that individually and as a species, our growth only comes about when we ‘work the problem’ and find solutions to meet the need.

Of course, most solutions reveal other challenges but so what? More challenges = more opportunities for growth. I welcome any and all opportunity for growth.

Overcoming challenges and growing is a central theme to my ‘Mona Bendarova Adventures’ novels. The characters in those books had to overcome a challenge so devastating to the human race, that they found a most ingenious if not difficult to accept solution. However, as a species, they embraced the solution and a thousand years later, the human race is still around. I’m not sure I would like to live in that environment but if I did, I would be well versed in the reasons why and would accept them.

However, that wouldn’t stop me from working towards over coming the new challenges that arose as a result. Mona and company are doing exactly that. She is determined to find a new solution to the new challenge. Overcoming it won’t be easy. In fact, it will be extremely hard, being there are social, moral and scientific obstacles in her way. Little by little, book after book, Mona is enlisting the help of those around her and perhaps, one day, they will find a solution and grow yet again.

This brings me back to our current lives. Mona’s are fictional. Ours are real. Today, we have plenty of obstacles which challenge us daily. Social disorder and chaos is happening right now, all around our planet. It is up to us, the current tenants of our world to come to terms with these challenges. Once we do, we will grow exponentially.

Can you imagine what we could do with that? Can you imagine where we could be in a thousand years. I can. How about you?

Richard Verry, writer

Opening the mind to what is possible.

Category: Honey Lee-Marks

Interview Snippets on Mona’s Stories-4

Interview Snippets on Mona’s Stories