Worth Dying for (A Dying for a Living Novel Book 5) (27 page)

Author's Note

Any one of my close friends can vouch for my dark and twisted imagination. It’s been a source of amusement for years. And if you’ve made it this far, you probably have a sense for how I prefer to handle difficult truths—with sarcasm. But this once, I cannot take credit for inventing the horrific circumstances that Rachel, Nivedha, or the others suffered at the hands of Chaplain.

What happened to Rachel in the cold basement of a house in St. Louis was not nearly as fictitious a circumstance as you may believe. Nor can I impress upon you the real and immediate danger of the issue.

Many of you have heard the term human trafficking. In fact, the word has been thrown around so much recently, that it is becoming one of those terms the eye can slide right over. Yet, I’m going to ask you to sit up and pay attention, at least for the next thirty seconds. And in those thirty seconds or so, I’m going to separate the fiction from the facts.

Fact
: Over thirty million people are living in slavery today. That’s almost three times the number of slaves taken from Africa before the civil war (12.5 million). Over 80% of them are women and girls. And children.

Fiction
: This only happens in impoverished, so-called “third-world” nations.

Fact
: It’s happening right here in America. If you live in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, or another airport hub, it’s happening in your backyard.

Fiction
: There’s nothing you can do about it.

You don’t need to take my word on any of this. Educate yourself. I suggest an amazing
TedTalk by Jimmy Carter
for starters. It’s only 16-minutes and we both know that you spend more time than that watching cat videos in a given sitting.

And if you’re feeling
really
ambitious, I challenge you to question your own assumptions about human trafficking by watching
another video
(just 19 minutes). Or if another video seems like too much, read
a powerful testimonial
from a sex trafficking survivor.

Then let’s pretend (I really hope we
aren’t
pretending) you’ve watched all the videos, read the articles, and feel that you can stave off the cat-video craving for just a little longer.

What next? Ask yourself: “What can I do?” How can you use your unique skills and abilities to fight the Chaplains of the world?

Yet again, if you have no idea where to start, I’ve got a fancy list of
20 things you can do
.

Because this isn’t an issue you can just throw money at. A great deal of it is wrapped up in the decisions you make every day.

So educate yourself. Make educated decisions.

Use your power to speak up for the voiceless.

Acknowledgments

W
e’ve done it again! I am both expectant and surprised when a book is finished. On one hand, I think “of course the book is done! I worked so hard!” and on the other I marvel that somehow I’ve managed to do it. But not alone. Never alone.

Thanks to the fans first and foremost. If it wasn’t for your enthusiasm for Jesse, Ally and crew, I’m not sure I would have the fortitude to continue with their story. You hold me accountable in all the right ways, and there’s nothing like a piece of fan mail to bolster my spirits when the writing gets tough. So thank you for reading the book, liking the book, telling me you like the book, and showing your enthusiasm for the next one. All of this is more important to me than you know.

Some fans of particular importance (though in no particular order) are Leslie Church, Elizabeth Poole, Sharon Stogner, Louise Villeneuve, Kriss Morton, Tiffany Halliday, Rebecca Poole, Colleen McGuire, Andrea Cook, Joe Thomas, A.B. Shepherd, Bill King, Marcia Roeder, Mike Billington, Rachel Menzies, Ashley Ferguson, Wendy Nelson, Katie Robbins, and CC Ryburn. You’re always excited about the latest installment and are usually the first ones to spread the word and post reviews. Thank you for that.

Victoria Solomon, your “list” of what you wanted for Gabriel and Rachel were immensely helpful. I hope I have fulfilled all your requests to your satisfaction. If not, there are two more books coming…so give me another chance?

Special nod to my critique group, The Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse: Angela Roquet, Monica La Porta, and Katie Pendleton. You’re awesome midwives. Thanks for steering Jesse and I in the right direction.

John K. Addis
did it again! How he keeps turning out these lovely covers despite my inept and convoluted requests, I have no idea. He must be magic. Pure magic. Maybe that’s why his daughter calls him Princess Unicorn.

Last but not least, my love Kimberly Anne. I’m going to marry you so hard in October. Prepare yourself.

About the Author

K
ory M. Shrum lives in Michigan with her partner Kim and her ferocious guard pug, Josephine. She is very fond of naps and foods made of sugar, which is, as you can imagine, a deadly combination. But she tries to compensate for her extreme physical laziness with her overactive imagination. She's an active member of SFWA, HWA, and the Four Horsemen of the Bookocalypse, where she’s known as Conquest.

When not writing, she can be found teaching, traveling, and wearing a gi. She’s very likely to tempt you to an ominous tarot or palm reading—anything spooky-foo to pass the time until Guardians of the Galaxy or Sherlock return. She’s not-so-secretly dying for the next season to begin. She loves hearing from fans on
Facebook
,
Twitter
, or her
website
.

If you like free stuff, be sure to sign up for Kory’s
mailing list
, and be the first to hear about giveaways, new releases, and updates on her work. You can also follow her
Bookbub
page. And don’t forget to leave a *very much appreciated* review (however short! Good or bad!) for this book wherever you can. Your voice matters!

Also by Kory M. Shrum

Dying for a Living
Series: The Jesse Sullivan Novels

Dying for a Living (Book 1)

Dying by the Hour (Book 2)

Dying for Her: A Companion Novel (Book 3)

Dying Light (Book 4)

Worth Dying For (Book 5)

Dying Breath (Book 6) Coming November 2016

Other work

Badass and the Beast: Ten “Tails” of Kickass Heroines and the Beasts who love them
(with Angela Roquet)