Sunday, July 22, 2012

The magical Moon Tree world from "MOON TREE MAGIC"


This is a map of the fictional Moon Trees that reside in Yellowwood Forest.

There is a real Yellowwood Forest in Indiana and several spots have been the inspiration for scenes in Moon Tree Magic. You should be able to find web pages for at least two of these areas: Stepp Cemetary and Gobbler's Rocks.  There are several web sites that mention Stepp Cemetary. One is: Ghosts in Stepp Cemetary

Stepp Cemetary is off the map to the north/west. However, there is a real Stepp Cemetary in the 'real' Yellowwood forest area and it is said to be haunted. 

Gobbler's Rock is in the trees, to the north. It is featured in one scene in book one, but will feature prominently in book two. It is also based on a real phenomena of huge boulders that have somehow gotten placed in the tops of trees. While, one of the Gobbler's Rock Trees toppled over a few years ago, there are purported to be two others in the area. You can read more about these huge rocks in the tops of trees by googling: Gobbler's Rock Trees, or visit: Gobbler's Rocks

Another spot shown on the map is the Moon Trees campfire. Once a month, the children celebrate holidays, lunar eclipses, meteorite showers, and life in general by having a dinner of foods they enjoyed in their previous lives. Since their world's technology is basically that of the pre-1800s, and the fairies who cook their food are very concerned with the ecology of the earthy, they eat many foods that are plant based on a day by day basis.

The eagle's tree, the bottom item on the left, is the tree where our protagonist, Austin must collect an aetite.  On his second attempt, he retrieves the stone within a stone, but falls and dislocates his hip. Now, he must find out what it is for.

The Moon Trees were an idea that sprung up partly from reading about Astronaut Stuart Roosa, who took tree seeds on his orbits around the moon. As with most of my writing, it starts with a "What if?" Read the full story by googling Astronaut Roosa and the Moon Tree Seeds.  One, of many, interesting sites regarding this is: The Moon Tree seeds

The actual seeds grew perfectly normal, even though some containers burst during decontamination, but what if they had gained magical powers from their orbits in space? Read Book one, Moon Tree Magic, and find out what could happen.