Tag: The Consortium

I’ve been on a Bender

June 17, 2022

That’s right, I’ve been on a bender.

I don’t mean drinking or the Futurama character, although there are days I miss the drink. No, the bender I mean is writing, putting quality time into research, putting words down and writing a story.

Bender

Last week, I took several days off from work as a staycation. And I put it to good use. I won’t take the time to count the words written, but I assure you, it was well over ten thousand words among five chapters for the next book in the Consortium series. My readers know it can take too long to release the next book. Sorry about that. I sometimes think that as well. However, I don’t want to sacrifice quality for quantity.

It’s funny. When I first sat behind my writing desk, I stared at the screen, down to my keyboard, and back up at the screen. I didn’t know where to start. I knew where I wanted the book to end up. It was getting there where I struggled.

more “I’ve been on a Bender” …

Exposure nears completion

August 1, 2021

Exposure Nears Completion

What do I mean, Exposure nears completion? I’ve decided on the title ‘Exposure’ for the next book in the Consortium Series. If you read the epilogue to book four, you know I teased you with the story’s premise in the next chapter of Avril’s story.

I like how the book is turning out, and I only have to write a couple of chapters left before I can turn it over for editing. If all goes well, I hope to publish the book by the end of September. Wish me luck.

The Crash

Exposure nears completion

This next segment in Avril’s story deals with the crash of a cargo plane. Over one hundred of the Consortium victims were on their way to the training and auction center for sale to their membership. The two pilots died in the crash, and the Consortium lost all of its cargo.

more “Exposure nears completion” …
Missing Person, Adult Female

Missing Persons, Human Trafficking

October 8, 2017

Reviews

I recently received a review of my book, ‘The Trafficking Consortium’ a story about missing persons and human trafficking. As much as I love five-star reviews, this reviewer gave a single one, and I love it.

The Trafficking ConsortiumSo far, readers are on one side of the fence or the other. To date, there have been zero mediocre reviews. They don’t comment on the writing, the grammar, or other such vital issues regarding a book. They all write about the story, either it’s terrific, or they’re too horrified, denying to themselves to think it might be genuine. Awesome. People are reacting to my story. Nice!

The latest review states:

“I don’t think this crazy sadistic world needs someone giving them horrific ideas to make people even worse.”

And the one that especially makes me smile is:

“Hope and pray this is truly fiction since it made me sick to THINK that a human could treat another human this way. “

Missing Persons

I have to tell you. It concerned me to write this novel, but probably not for the reasons you may suspect. The concept of the story may seem so far out there that it couldn’t possibly be real. While it is a pure work of fiction, I hope and pray that the agency I write about, ‘The Consortium,’ does not exist. Yet, I fear that I am wrong. I honestly believe that they might be real.

Look at the evidence. Each year, thousands of missing persons disappear, forever. No trace of them is ever found. No evidence shows what might have happened to them. And this is just in America. Similar numbers per capita exist in every developed country on the planet. Horrifically, most of the missing are children. Since I won’t write stories involving children, I will keep my numbers to adults.

Adult Missing Persons by race

According to CBS researcher, Tanita Gaither, published May 9, 2013, in Atlanta Updated, “Of the 900,000 reported missing persons each year in the U.S., 50,000 are over the age of 18.” The chart breaks down the missing by race. It seems to me that none of us is immune.

Fifty thousand adults in America, gone. most are never found. The rate of the missing person incidence is growing, from 150,000 in 1980 to over 900,000 each year. Those figures are just those in the U.S. They do not include those reported missing overseas. I can say with certainty, that thousands more go missing and unreported to authorities. I can’t even fathom the 850,000 being children under the age of 18. I’m appalled.

In 2008, 481 British adults disappeared while abroad, and 401 in 2007 and 336 in 2006. (Carole Moore, ‘The Last Place You’d Look,’ [Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2011.]

Where are they now?

Missing Person, Adult FemaleIn researching this article, I wanted to find an appropriate image or two to use supporting the evidence. I was astounded and perturbed to see the sheer volume of pictures of missing people, from all sects of life, race, gender, nationality, what have you. Google images using the tag ‘missing persons’ and you will discover yourself just how fucked our species is. God help us from ourselves.

What happened to them? Are they choosing to disappear? Do they not want to be found? If not, who is culling them from their homes? Were they kidnapped, stolen off the streets? Where are they? Are they dead? If so, where are their bodies? If they are still alive, where did they go? Are they, in fact, slaves for someone’s amusement? Are they bound servants, performing to fatten their owner’s wallet?

A Ring of Truth

While writing my story, I started looking over my shoulder, wondering whether I was being watched and followed. I can’t tell you how many times I debated with myself whether to finish the story and then again, to publish it. I may not fit their profile of acceptable prey, but I believe that if I get too close to the truth, they may want to remove me as a threat.

You may think I am crazy, but I cannot control my feelings. They just happen, and I would be a fool to ignore them. I’ll be honest with you. I am scared and you should be too.

It’s true, I fear that my story may have more than a ring of truth to it. I wrote the story with the idea that the Consortium only culls a few hundred people a year, out of the billions who live on the planet. Could I be understating the number? I hope I am wrong.

I’m not saying that an organization like the Consortium is out there, snatching people for personal gain and satisfaction. I just raise the possibility that there may be such a global outfit.

Follow-up

And still based upon the feedback I’ve received, I’m writing a sequel, to turn Avril’s story into a series. She is one such missing person, a slave to someone’s amusement, and is the main character and victim of the book. It is unlikely that anyone ever reported her missing. The Consortium is superb at covering their tracks. I told her story from her point of view, and at the end, she seemed to accept her new station in life. But did she?

Did she really accept a life as own property, to do someone’s bidding or suffer the consequences? Can she accept her new life as someone’s slave? Can she willing suffer anguish and even learn to do the same to others? Will she learn to torture and kill another human being? Her owner seems to think so, but will she really?

I can’t wait to finish writing her new story.

If you read the first book, you’ll understand why I’m calling the sequel, ‘Perfect Prey.’

The Trafficking Consortium

Hello my Fans

June 16, 2017

Hello my fans,

Please accept my apologies for not writing for almost two weeks. These past days have been quite hectic as a result of my PCS (post concussion syndrome) and the release of my latest novel, ‘The Trafficking Consortium.’

The Trafficking Consortium
Copyright (c) Richard Verry 2016

 

Let me tell you; there is good news on both fronts.

First, let me tell you about my book. Avril’s story about being kidnapped and sold into the underworld of human trafficking is doing quite well. In the first two weeks, more readers than I can imagine are reading it, and I received my first review yesterday.

reviewsreviewsreviewsreviewsreviews

Five stars! Can you imagine? I am ecstatic. You can find the review on Amazon’s website. Click any of the book titles and it will bring you right to it.

The reader/reviewer, Bibs wrote:

Another Winner, Another Panty Melter
“You did it again Richard. I couldn’t put it down. A very fast paced read. If you have not read a book from this author, you’re missing out. Every book I read of Richard Verry’s has been excellent. Please pick one up today, and you will be hooked. Thank you, Richard!!”

Wow! What an endorsement.

Bibs has reviewed many of my books, but by far and large, I believe that this one is by far the best for my career as a writer. Personally, I agree with the reviewer, but then again, I’m biased. Thank you Bibs.

If you haven’t yet read ‘The Trafficking Consortium,’ I suggest that you do. I’d be interested if you concur with the review or not.

There is more good news regarding my PCS. Over the past two months, I’ve been miserable. I was suffering near unbearable pain, at times moaning and screaming in a poor effort to deal with my headaches. They reached new highs during that time, and if you have read my recent posts, you already know this. Last week, I hooked up with yet another new doctor, this time, a chiropractor. He did a full assessment on my issue, concentrating on my neck and skull. Using a CBCT (a type of 3D cat scanner), he found that my C1 and C4 vertebrae were out of position, and not just on one side but both. The doc reported that discovering both sides out of position is rare. My C1 (also called Axis) was both skewed and rotated out of whack, making the opening for my spinal column smaller, pinching nerves.

CBCT - 3D Cat scan
Rich’s CBCT 2017-06-06

After getting my first adjustment to pop them back into the correct position, I felt better almost immediately. Within hours, my headache dropped to low levels. On my second adjustment appointment, he reported that both C1 and C4 were still in the correct position and no adjustment was necessary. I was both ecstatic and disappointed. The later because he denied me the opportunity to be adjusted again. How dumb is that? That’s what expectations can do. Yet, I was happy that his prior adjustment held. After all, the vertebrae had gotten used to being out of alignment and may very well want to get back to its old position. He tells me that this is very possible. On my third adjustment appointment, he needed to adjust me once more, which he took care immediately. The funny thing, over the past two days, I knew that I was out of adjustment, my headaches were growing worse and a bad fatigue had set in.

 

What really excites me is that someone finally found a physiological cause to my perpetual headaches. With the vertebrae out of alignment, they were pinching the nerves of the brainstem and spinal cord. The nerves have to transgress a very snug opening, so to have the vertebrae shrink their pathways even smaller, well, I could have been suffering from a host of issues. The brain, after all, controls the entire body.

I’m in good spirits and anxious to see whether this is the right treatment for me. If so, I can drop seeing the voluminous doctor and therapy appointments I attend each week. Better yet, I hope I can wean myself off the pills I’ve been taking to manage the pain. Wish me luck!

Well, that’s it for the time being. I look forward to today and tomorrow, getting back to writing and the like. Have fun.reviewsreviewsreviewsreviewsreviews