Ramey Channell's Blog, page 8

What kind of music drifts across the mountain ridge above the tiny rural Alabama town of Eden, and what are the secrets hidden on the mountain paths, under the ancient trees, and under the mysterious moon of Moonlight Ridge?

Discover a family history filled with a legacy of curiosity, courage and delightful eccentricity, in a setting where the natural fauna and flora of the woods of Alabama create a wonderland for two unusual children.



Can you hear children's voices, singing and laughing as they dance beneath sweet gum, dogwood, and sycamore trees, with the gentle Alabama breeze murmuring leafy music around them?


















Wouldn't you like to see what these two precocious cousins see, hear the whispery secrets, and feel the ancient magic in the deep woods and on dusty red-dirt trails, as they look for answers and follow their hearts 'out on the mountain?'
All these secrets and mysteries come to life on the pages of Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge .
Read it and discover an enchanted world you'll not soon forget.

I've been reading books about Jimi Hendrix. I finished "Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius" written by Steve Roby and Brad Schreiber. Although I found a really confusing typo on page one, I found the book to be mostly informative and very readable.


And I just finished reading "Jimi Hendrix, a Brother's Story" written by Leon Hendrix, Jimi's younger brother. This book contains astonishing details of the childhood of Leon and Jimi, known to the family as Buster throughout his life.

I recommend both these books to anyone interested in learning more about the surprising life and mysterious death of this talented, shy, conflicted young man, one of the most talented musicians ever.
Jimi Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix in Seattle Washington on November 27, 1942.  His name was later changed to James Marshall Hendrix by his father. 

He died on September 18, 1970, at the age of 27.
Here's one of my favorite Hendrix songs, The Wind Cries Mary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj-29BAv0dw&feature=related

I'm sad to report that my friend, sweet Winston the Possum, has passed away and now resides in Possum Heaven. This week, to commemorate Winston’s lasting legacy at Ruffner Mountain Nature Center and to celebrate the great work done at Ruffner Mountain, each ebook sale of Ramey’s novel Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge, from Vanilla Heart Publishing, will earn a donation to the Nature Center, now through September 10th.


Kindlers and Nookers take note!

       Also on Smashwords!

A special thanks to KC Sprayberry for hosting a Blog Tag Party. This is such a great way to meet other writers and new friends. KC's blog, Out of Control Characters,  can be found at  http://outofcontrolcharacters.blogspot.com/

KC asked us to let others know what we are currently working on. I'm currently working on two exciting projects.

First, I'm writing the second book of the four volume Moonlight Ridge Series. You can check out all the Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge excitement below, on my blog entry from yesterday.

The four books in the series follow the seasons of the year, and this second one I'm currently working on is set in the beautiful backwoods of Alabama in autumn. You'll want to read the first book first, which tells the story of two children and their summer adventures in a magical world called Moonlight Ridge.

My Moonlight Ridge Series is very definitely Southern fiction. It's published as adult Southern genre, but crosses over as YA fiction as well. Young people of all ages love Lily Claire, Willie T., and all their peculiar relatives and neighbors. Magic wands, friendly animals, singing possums and mysteries on the mountain are just a few of the unusual attractions.
Which actors would I choose to play my characters in a movie rendition? I've thought about this a lot! Because the main two characters are 8 year-old children, I believe there would have to be a talent search across the South to find two talented youngsters for those parts. And just maybe, now that we've seen his stellar performance in the Hatfields and McCoys saga, we could get Kevin Costner to play Granddaddy W.T. Greenberry. That's for the already published Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge. For the "work in progress," we'll need a beautiful dark haired young lady to play the mysterious apparition that Lily Claire and Willie T. discover haunting the ruins of a 19th century landmark near their home.

My second Work In Progress is a YA supernatural mystery, with the working title Lovely, Dark and Deep. The first chapter won an award from Alabama Writers Conclave. The main character is a teen age girl who lives in a rural setting where mysterious events and night-time intrigue lure her into the woods at night.  It's about dreams, a young girls attempts to figure out the meaning of her dreams, and a cute boy named Buddy who may not be as simple as he seems.


 If you're visiting from the Blog Tag Party, please leave a comment. Happy blogging!

I'm so excited about the new Kindle and Nook editions of Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge. So many of my friends and fans have the marvelous Kindles and Nook Readers, and now it's easier than ever to see just what sort of magic is transpiring "out on the mountain!"
The wonderful folks at Vanilla Heart Publishing have done an outstanding job with this new edition. Thanks to Kimberlee for all the dedication and hard work.
And all the possums agree!
Right now, with every ebook purchase of Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge, Vanilla Heart Publishing will make a donation to Ruffner Mountain Wildlife Center, home of our sweet Winston the Possum.

Kindlers and Nookers take note! Also on Smashwords!
I'm so happy to announce that my beautiful new VHP edition of Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge is now available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
My new publisher, Vanilla Heart Publishing, is totally fabulous! If you like mysteries, nature trails, Southern folk tales with a generous helping of humor and supernatural happenings, you'll love  the adventures of Lily Claire and Willie T. in the woods of Alabama.
From a family background filled with haunting images and delicious mirth, a couple of eight-year-old adventurers discover their own world of mischief, music, and magic in a special place called Moonlight Ridge.
Follow these two witty and wise youngsters as they find out that sometimes the greatest treasures are found in the most amazing and unexpected places.

"Protecting land is only successful if people understand their reliance on and connection to the earth."
Sometimes we're lucky enough to find out about good people doing good things. Here are a couple of people who are receiving recognition for their good work.
Two Social Venture Network (SVN)  members are being recognized for helping lead a global shift to create a world that is sustainable, just, and thriving for all beings.

For their work in the Amazon and across the globe, Lynne and Bill Twist are being inducted into the Social Venture Network Hall of Fame as Visionary Social Entrepreneurs. Bill and Lynne are among 25 SVN members who will be honored during the network’s Hall of Fame celebration in New York City on November 13th.

Bill and Lynne co-founded the Pachamama Alliance in 1995, after an historic meeting with the Achuar people, a remote tribe living in the Amazon rainforest. The organization has helped preserve 1.8 million acres of Amazon rainforest by empowering indigenous people to advocate for the protection of their land, not just for themselves but for the future of all life on Earth.
Since first developing their workshops in 2005, Lynne says thousands of volunteers in more than 70 countries have participated, as people are waking up to their responsibility. Lynne says they educate participants on the environmental, social, economic, and spiritual crises affecting humankind, helping people move from guilt to action.

“The picture is pretty confronting," Lynne says. "People move from what I will call denial up to despair. That sounds terrible, but it is up. Going from numb to despair means you really start to face the crises you’re living in."

From feelings of sadness, despair, and anger, the workshop challenges participants to rethink “unconscious, unexamined assumptions,” such as throwing things away — where is away? — to discover their own responsibility in bringing forth an environmentally sustainable, socially-just and spiritually-fulfilling world.
                       "It's not a burden, but a huge opportunity."

“People come out of the symposium and they change their jobs, they change the energy systems in their house, they reduce their garbage, they start visiting people in prisons, they start including new people in their circle of friends,” says Lynne.

“It’s not a burden but a huge opportunity to make a difference with the life that you’re living, and ennoble your life by making choices that are so inspired, so responsible, so filled with a commitment to future generations that you live a life of profound meaning.”

Bravo!! Lynne and Bill Twist!

       Winston's home,  Ruffner Mountain Nature Center                                     1214 81st Street South Birmingham, AL  (205) 833-8264

Visit Ruffner Mountain Nature Center for an unforgetable, relaxing and educational treat.

The new ebook edition of Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge is now available from Vanilla Heart Publishers. And now through September 10, Ruffner Mountain Nature Center will recieve a donation from every sale! Winston is virtually wild with glee!

So, y'all hurry and purchase a copy for your Kindle, http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Music-Moonlight-Ridge-ebook/dp/B008MUF2UI/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1343080979&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=sweet+music+on+moonlight+ridge and visit Ruffner Mountain for an unforgetable, relaxing treat.
         Winston's home, Ruffner Mountain Nature Center
                                                     1214 81st Street South Birmingham, AL (205) 833-8264

"We had been walking about half an hour, following an old logging road through the lower meadow, up the side of the hill, then across the high meadow and into the woods."
That's the first sentence I wrote when I began creating my novel, Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge.  Six years later, that sentence appears on page thirty-five of my published book. When I started writing, I knew the characters; I could see them in my mind, and I could hear their voices. I created a setting, a home for these two adventurous children. I could feel the summer heat, smell the grass and the pine trees and the honeysuckle, heavy and verdant. I watched the children toiling over rocky paths, under sheltering trees, and out into blazing sunlight, heard their laughter, felt the summer breeze on their sun-burned cheeks.
But I had no way of knowing what these two living, breathing creatures were about to do, how their story would evolve. That was still a mystery to me.
The creationism thrilled me; the evolution amazed me! When you turn a couple of wise and wonderful kids loose on the written page, you're in for some unexpected revelations!
And the book continues to evolve.. Here I am with the first edition, published in 2010.
And now Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge will soon be available as the first book in a four-volume Moonlight Ridge Series from Vanilla Heart Publishers.
And what is all this excitement about possums? Where do those marsupials fit into the grand scheme of things on the evolutionary chart?Read Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge and find out!
I hope all my fellow writers are lucky enough to have a muse as amusing as mine!