Welcome to this week's Coffee Chat!
Our guest author is Southern Fiction writer, Ramey Channell, from the great state of Alabama. Nice to meet you, Ramey! How do you take your coffee?
RC: I drink my coffee black. I brew a pot of coffee every morning, using only organic coffee, and mix it half regular and half decaffeinated. I love it! I have early coffee memories, sitting in my father’s lap at the kitchen table, drinking a warm cup of his special coffee concoction: mostly milk and lots of sugar, with just enough coffee to produce a rich caramel color. The light above the table reflected in the cup, forming two linked semi-circles. He told me that was the hoof print where the cow stepped in the milk.
Ally: A nice memory. While I pour our coffee, why don't you introduce yourself to readers?
Our guest author is Southern Fiction writer, Ramey Channell, from the great state of Alabama. Nice to meet you, Ramey! How do you take your coffee?
RC: I drink my coffee black. I brew a pot of coffee every morning, using only organic coffee, and mix it half regular and half decaffeinated. I love it! I have early coffee memories, sitting in my father’s lap at the kitchen table, drinking a warm cup of his special coffee concoction: mostly milk and lots of sugar, with just enough coffee to produce a rich caramel color. The light above the table reflected in the cup, forming two linked semi-circles. He told me that was the hoof print where the cow stepped in the milk.
Ally: A nice memory. While I pour our coffee, why don't you introduce yourself to readers?
Bio:
Ramey Channell’s inspiration springs from a world where forests are inhabited by wondrous magical beings, backyards are visited by numinous creatures, and gardens are filled with echoes of enchanted song and laughter. As a child growing up in rural Alabama, she was spellbound by family stories of extraordinary beings and peculiar visitors, told in a setting so close to nature that the stories seemed natural and believable. An award winning poet and author, her stories and poems have appeared in Aura Literary Arts Review, Alalitcom, Birmingham Arts Journal, Ordinary and Sacred as Blood: Alabama Women Speak (1999), Belles Letters 2: Contemporary Stories by Alabama Women (2017), and many other journals and collections. She was awarded the Barksdale-Maynard Award for her short story, Voltus Electricalus and Strata Illuminata. She has two published novels: Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge (Chalet Publishers 2010) and The Witches of Moonlight Ridge (2016)
When she’s not busy writing, you can find her in her studio or at the kitchen table, painting and drawing, or somewhere out in the yard sword fighting and playing ambush with her eleven-year-old grandson.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: "Golly, something unusual about me … I collect rocks, they’re all over the house. I collect dead bugs; they’re on the china cabinet in my dining room and on the bookshelf in the den. I started writing before I could write! I remember, before I started to grammar school, being impatient to hurry up and get into the first grade and learn to write so I could write poems and short stories. I wrote a play in the 3rd grade, about a rabbit who was in love with a fairy. I’ve been writing ever since, and collecting rocks and bugs."
Author Contacts:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ramey.channell.9
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ramey2001
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4106665.Ramey_Channell
Blog: http://moonlightridgeseries.blogspot.com/
Ramey Channell’s inspiration springs from a world where forests are inhabited by wondrous magical beings, backyards are visited by numinous creatures, and gardens are filled with echoes of enchanted song and laughter. As a child growing up in rural Alabama, she was spellbound by family stories of extraordinary beings and peculiar visitors, told in a setting so close to nature that the stories seemed natural and believable. An award winning poet and author, her stories and poems have appeared in Aura Literary Arts Review, Alalitcom, Birmingham Arts Journal, Ordinary and Sacred as Blood: Alabama Women Speak (1999), Belles Letters 2: Contemporary Stories by Alabama Women (2017), and many other journals and collections. She was awarded the Barksdale-Maynard Award for her short story, Voltus Electricalus and Strata Illuminata. She has two published novels: Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge (Chalet Publishers 2010) and The Witches of Moonlight Ridge (2016)
When she’s not busy writing, you can find her in her studio or at the kitchen table, painting and drawing, or somewhere out in the yard sword fighting and playing ambush with her eleven-year-old grandson.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: "Golly, something unusual about me … I collect rocks, they’re all over the house. I collect dead bugs; they’re on the china cabinet in my dining room and on the bookshelf in the den. I started writing before I could write! I remember, before I started to grammar school, being impatient to hurry up and get into the first grade and learn to write so I could write poems and short stories. I wrote a play in the 3rd grade, about a rabbit who was in love with a fairy. I’ve been writing ever since, and collecting rocks and bugs."
Author Contacts:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ramey.channell.9
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ramey2001
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4106665.Ramey_Channell
Blog: http://moonlightridgeseries.blogspot.com/
INTERVIEW:
Ally: When readers open one of your books, what can they expect?
RC: My two published novels are Southern Fiction, cross-genre adult/YA. My books were published as adult fiction, but are appropriate for all ages from Middle School up.
Ally: Give us a peek at your writing day.
RC: I write where ever and whenever I get a chance. So often, I have a sudden flash of inspiration while driving! I write barely legible notes on scraps of paper, receipts, old envelopes. I often sit up in bed at night, writing page after page in spiral notebooks. Then I put it all together at the computer in my den, situated between a big white-curtained window and an open French door. I can look out and watch the trees moving in the wind, birds looking for bugs and birdseed, watch the crows and hawks fly over. Sometimes green trees and blue sky provide ideas and inspirations when the white page is not giving me what the story needs.
Ally: I'd love to hear about your main character. What makes her worthy of a leading role?
RC: The main character in my Moonlight Ridge books is the narrator of the stories, Lily Claire Nash. She has a unique voice and a talent for remembering and describing details of her life and the stories told by other members of her family. Lily Claire, 9 years old in The Witches of Moonlight Ridge, tells everything she knows about her ancestors, her family, and the world around her. The reader is given a fresh look at an environment that is familiar to some, but a totally new and challenging landscape to others. Her grasp of the realities in her 1950s hillbilly environment, what is truly important and what should be accepted with a laugh and a shrug, is both revelatory and charming. Lily Claire tells a story that is both heartwarming and surprising, and she doesn’t shy away from those subjects that leave more questions than answers as she reveals the twists and turns of everyday life as she knows it. Lily Claire is accompanied by her companion, best friend and “identical twin” cousin, Willie. T., as the mysteries and magic of mountain life lead the dauntless pair into strange and sometimes dangerous adventures.
Ally: Can you paint a word picture of Claire, her style, way of life, her pets, etc.?
RC: Lily Claire Nash, is a precocious 9 year old in the backwoods of 1950s Alabama. She has straight brown hair, bright brown eyes, and a glowing tan complexion, as a result of her mixed ethnic heritage and from spending most of her time outdoors, summer and winter, under the Alabama sun. Lily Claire’s favorite color is red, the color of the Drunkard’s Path patchwork quilt on her bed. She wears homemade sundresses with sandals in the summer, and typical 1950s school dresses in the fall. Lily Claire and her rambunctious cousin, Willie T., adopt a stray brown dog and name him Witch Boy, and they end up in dangerous territory when they go on a search for their grandmother’s lost cat, Lucinda. They are also pestered by a huge black crow named Midnight, who isn’t their pet but who plays a big part in their search for a loved one who is lost on the mountain.
Ally: Have you pictured your stories as movies? Who would play the parts?
RC: I have thought about my books being made into movies! After seeing him in The Hatfields & McCoys mini-series, I would love to have Kevin Costner play the role of Great Granddaddy W.T. Greenberry, a naturalist who collects bugs and possums and who is described by Lily Claire as a crazy man! There would have to be a great talent search to find two talented and agile children of mixed ancestry, Native American and Caucasian, to play Lily Claire and her cousin/best friend, Willie T. Yaya Alafia played Black Panther Carol Hammie in The Butler. She would be beautiful as Evergreen, aka Bessie Penny, in The Witches of Moonlight Ridge. And Erskine Batson, the school teacher who falls in love with a beautiful witch: would have to be some young unknown skinny musician.
Ally: How did you choose the title of the book you're featuring?
RC: The Witches of Moonlight Ridge is the second book of the Moonlight Ridge Series. I was about halfway through the writing process when the title became apparent. I resisted for a while, wondering if there could really be witches on the mountain, as I had been told as a child, and wondering if witches were involved in the old legend of the ill-fated highwayman and his beautiful sweetheart. But it turned out to be true!
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
RC: I’m working on The Winter Book, number three of the Moonlight Ridge series. This episode is set in the frozen backwoods winter in the hill country of Alabama. There will be more ethereal visitors, humorous predicaments, and unsolved mysteries as icy winds and plunging temperatures make the mountain a hazardous place for all outdoor adventurers. I predict that the eccentric young teacher, Erskine Batson, will once again find himself face-to-face with the beautiful and mysterious Evergreen, who may or may not truly be a witch. And the intrepid pair, Lily Claire and Willie T., will once again find themselves up to their ears in intrigue. Anticipated release date, spring or summer 2018.
Ally: Try these short answer questions...
Ally: It was great sharing book talk and coffee with you, Ramey. Before you tear off to work on that next book, show us a little of The Witches of Moonlight Ridge.
Ally: When readers open one of your books, what can they expect?
RC: My two published novels are Southern Fiction, cross-genre adult/YA. My books were published as adult fiction, but are appropriate for all ages from Middle School up.
Ally: Give us a peek at your writing day.
RC: I write where ever and whenever I get a chance. So often, I have a sudden flash of inspiration while driving! I write barely legible notes on scraps of paper, receipts, old envelopes. I often sit up in bed at night, writing page after page in spiral notebooks. Then I put it all together at the computer in my den, situated between a big white-curtained window and an open French door. I can look out and watch the trees moving in the wind, birds looking for bugs and birdseed, watch the crows and hawks fly over. Sometimes green trees and blue sky provide ideas and inspirations when the white page is not giving me what the story needs.
Ally: I'd love to hear about your main character. What makes her worthy of a leading role?
RC: The main character in my Moonlight Ridge books is the narrator of the stories, Lily Claire Nash. She has a unique voice and a talent for remembering and describing details of her life and the stories told by other members of her family. Lily Claire, 9 years old in The Witches of Moonlight Ridge, tells everything she knows about her ancestors, her family, and the world around her. The reader is given a fresh look at an environment that is familiar to some, but a totally new and challenging landscape to others. Her grasp of the realities in her 1950s hillbilly environment, what is truly important and what should be accepted with a laugh and a shrug, is both revelatory and charming. Lily Claire tells a story that is both heartwarming and surprising, and she doesn’t shy away from those subjects that leave more questions than answers as she reveals the twists and turns of everyday life as she knows it. Lily Claire is accompanied by her companion, best friend and “identical twin” cousin, Willie. T., as the mysteries and magic of mountain life lead the dauntless pair into strange and sometimes dangerous adventures.
Ally: Can you paint a word picture of Claire, her style, way of life, her pets, etc.?
RC: Lily Claire Nash, is a precocious 9 year old in the backwoods of 1950s Alabama. She has straight brown hair, bright brown eyes, and a glowing tan complexion, as a result of her mixed ethnic heritage and from spending most of her time outdoors, summer and winter, under the Alabama sun. Lily Claire’s favorite color is red, the color of the Drunkard’s Path patchwork quilt on her bed. She wears homemade sundresses with sandals in the summer, and typical 1950s school dresses in the fall. Lily Claire and her rambunctious cousin, Willie T., adopt a stray brown dog and name him Witch Boy, and they end up in dangerous territory when they go on a search for their grandmother’s lost cat, Lucinda. They are also pestered by a huge black crow named Midnight, who isn’t their pet but who plays a big part in their search for a loved one who is lost on the mountain.
Ally: Have you pictured your stories as movies? Who would play the parts?
RC: I have thought about my books being made into movies! After seeing him in The Hatfields & McCoys mini-series, I would love to have Kevin Costner play the role of Great Granddaddy W.T. Greenberry, a naturalist who collects bugs and possums and who is described by Lily Claire as a crazy man! There would have to be a great talent search to find two talented and agile children of mixed ancestry, Native American and Caucasian, to play Lily Claire and her cousin/best friend, Willie T. Yaya Alafia played Black Panther Carol Hammie in The Butler. She would be beautiful as Evergreen, aka Bessie Penny, in The Witches of Moonlight Ridge. And Erskine Batson, the school teacher who falls in love with a beautiful witch: would have to be some young unknown skinny musician.
Ally: How did you choose the title of the book you're featuring?
RC: The Witches of Moonlight Ridge is the second book of the Moonlight Ridge Series. I was about halfway through the writing process when the title became apparent. I resisted for a while, wondering if there could really be witches on the mountain, as I had been told as a child, and wondering if witches were involved in the old legend of the ill-fated highwayman and his beautiful sweetheart. But it turned out to be true!
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
RC: I’m working on The Winter Book, number three of the Moonlight Ridge series. This episode is set in the frozen backwoods winter in the hill country of Alabama. There will be more ethereal visitors, humorous predicaments, and unsolved mysteries as icy winds and plunging temperatures make the mountain a hazardous place for all outdoor adventurers. I predict that the eccentric young teacher, Erskine Batson, will once again find himself face-to-face with the beautiful and mysterious Evergreen, who may or may not truly be a witch. And the intrepid pair, Lily Claire and Willie T., will once again find themselves up to their ears in intrigue. Anticipated release date, spring or summer 2018.
Ally: Try these short answer questions...
- a. Favorite Book: No short answer for this. There are too many to name. I would say The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is at or near the top of the list. And The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a story about a mysterious book found in the Cemetery of Lost Books in Barcelona.
- b. Book you're currently reading: The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero by Timothy Egan. I just finished reading News of the World by Paulette Jiles, one of the best novels I’ve ever read.
- c. An author (living or dead) you'd love to take to lunch: Truman Capote, of course!
- d. Favorite TV show: Downton Abbey
- e. Favorite movies: Mr. Church, starring Eddie Murphy, based on a true story; The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington, a post-apocalyptic action film with an intense message; Dances with Wolves, an epic ground-breaking movie
- f. Do you believe in love at first sight? Yes.
- g. Favorite song: Once again, more than just one. All the Way up to Heaven by Guster, Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer, and everything by Dan Fogelberg.
Ally: It was great sharing book talk and coffee with you, Ramey. Before you tear off to work on that next book, show us a little of The Witches of Moonlight Ridge.
Blurb:
Second book in the Moonlight Ridge Series follows the adventures of Lily Claire Nash and her cousin, Willie T. Nock, two precocious children in the woods of 1950s Alabama. Ghosts, hauntings, scary tales told 'round the evening fire, witches, and famous legends weave a story of mystery, romance, and tragedy.
What people are saying:
"The Witches of Moonlight Ridge is storytelling at its very best. Ramey Channell has a voice that rings true — lyrical, compelling, and southern." Vicki Marsh Covington, author, The Last Hotel for Women
"Ramey Channell is a Southern writer with the chops of Harper Lee and the sometimes bawdy humor of Mark Twain. In The Witches of Moonlight Ridge, Willie T. and Lily Claire are back, and as delightful as ever. You'll laugh, you'll cry, but most of all, you'll be completely charmed." Smoky Zeidel, author, The Storyteller’s Bracelet, and The Cabin
Buy Link:
https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Moonlight-Ridge-Novel/dp/0991187717/
Second book in the Moonlight Ridge Series follows the adventures of Lily Claire Nash and her cousin, Willie T. Nock, two precocious children in the woods of 1950s Alabama. Ghosts, hauntings, scary tales told 'round the evening fire, witches, and famous legends weave a story of mystery, romance, and tragedy.
What people are saying:
"The Witches of Moonlight Ridge is storytelling at its very best. Ramey Channell has a voice that rings true — lyrical, compelling, and southern." Vicki Marsh Covington, author, The Last Hotel for Women
"Ramey Channell is a Southern writer with the chops of Harper Lee and the sometimes bawdy humor of Mark Twain. In The Witches of Moonlight Ridge, Willie T. and Lily Claire are back, and as delightful as ever. You'll laugh, you'll cry, but most of all, you'll be completely charmed." Smoky Zeidel, author, The Storyteller’s Bracelet, and The Cabin
Buy Link:
https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Moonlight-Ridge-Novel/dp/0991187717/
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