Links to my Books

Here's a link to my books

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Ghosts, Angels & Hauntings

Explanations relating to psychic matters, including how to set up ghost investigations, ghost walks, and questions & answers about ghosts, angels, clairvoyance and much more to do with the paranormal.

There are a few extracts from my book Choosing Your Psychic Pathway, and one or two ghost stories from Mysterious Happenings.

The book also includes readings and advice on how you can give readings.

112 pages, 40,320 words.
Available from Amazon Kindle please click  http://tinyurl.com/bvdlnze

The Other Place

I thought I would write about how The Other Place, came to be written.

I suffered from claustrophobia all my life. It worsened considerably a few years ago and began to affect my sleeping pattern, and I also began to experience panic attacks. This began to affect my daily life.
One day I mentioned this to a friend who said she also suffered from claustrophobia. I asked other friends, and began to realise just how many other people suffer from this problem, but find it embarrassing to talk about it.
I decided to research the subject. I found this absorbing and discovered that claustrophobia can lead to people suffering other anxiety disorders. I read that 5 -7% of the world population suffer from this condition, but fortunately there are treatments available. Treatments may include cognitive therapy, hypnotherapy – some therapists believe revisiting a past life can help patients find the cause of their problem. In fact, there is a wide range of treatments available to help sufferers of this condition.
I know there are many people out there like myself who are too embarrassed to admit their problem. We learn to live with it by avoiding situations which can bring on the anxiety.
It suddenly dawned on me one day my story could be the basis of an interesting storyline. The past life aspect appealed to my imagination. I contacted a few regression therapists who obviously could not discuss the client’s stories, but were helpful. I sat down, and Chrissie James and her family presented themselves to me. The Other Place was born.
Chrissie’s story is fictitious, apart from the claustrophobia and the sleeping difficulties. I did find the book emotionally difficult to write; the main characters have to deal with some tough issues, but I felt compelled to write it.
After finishing the book, I found my sleeping pattern improved, and other anxieties gradually disappeared.
Chrissie is a troubled soul: with family problems, unexplained phobias and a stalker to contend with, she seeks help with a hynotherapist. Whilst in therapy, Chrissie discovers she has led a past life.

Will living a previous life help Chrissie to discover the truth of what caused her fears and phobias, and will she find out who is stalking her?

Available from Amazon Kindle UK click here http://tinyurl.com/bslbetb

Available from Amazon Kindle US  click here http://tinyurl.com/ctn8f5b

Movie of The Other Place please click the You Tube link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9otYS778qFY

Why I wrote - Choosing Your Psychic Pathway

My reason for writing Choosing Your Psychic Pathway

It was following a serious road accident in the late 1980s that I decided as I could not return to work, I would write a book.

Having always had an interest in the Supernatural - I read the tarot cards for a while -I started to publish booklets of ghost stories.

My first ghost booklet Mystical Staffordshire appeared in the early 1990s. I actually only intended to write one, but as it was so popular I wrote another, and then another. Numerous ghostly booklets later I combined them into Mysterious Happenings. I have also written other books, Birmingham Girls, followed by Choosing Your Psychic Pathway.

I decided to write this book, because having read the cards for clients over the years, most of them had asked me questions regarding the Supernatural. I could only tell them the results of my findings, I have spent a lot of time investigating the different psychic sciences.

I realised that although I had settled on the tarot cards for my readings the other methods clairvoyants use might suit new students. I decided to write down what I had discovered. I have also written the meanings of the tarot cards that work for me in the book. A number of the meanings are different to the traditional ones, it is up to new students to the paranormal to investigate what works for them. It can take many years to become skilled at which path suits you best, it did me, but it was a fascinating, and at times exciting journey.

I was also privileged to meet a lot of people along the way, all with similar interests, I am still in contact with them. I’ve also had contact with readers of the book, another bonus. I consider I am fortunate to have met so many interesting, genuine, like minded people.

Excerpt from Choosing Your Psychic Pathway

This book gives an insight into how you can develop your psychic skills. It examines my involvement in the psychic world, and the ways and methods I discovered to help develop my psychic ability. There is a section on ghosts – including some ghostly tales that illustrate my points – tarot cards, mediums, time travel, and many more of the psychic sciences that I have discovered along the way.

There are discussions on all the above, allowing the reader to form their own opinions on whether they want to follow a particular pathway or not; it also shows how the various methods deployed by psychics may help improve their lifestyle.

For anyone who is new to the psychic world and wonders if they have psychic skills, this book can be used as a first-step introduction and will give an insight into how to proceed. There is advice on how to go about setting up as a psychic and how to avoid the pitfalls.

I have included my interpretation of the Tarot cards, dream interpretations, and other helpful suggestions as to how you can develop your psychic skills.

I have not gone into great detail with any of my ideas as I think it is far better that an individual chooses their own way of developing their skills and ideas. Too much information when a person is starting out can be confusing.

I hope the book gives the reader a clear insight into the different pathways of the psychic world.

Please click below for the Amazon Kindle Link - Choosing Your Psychic Pathway -

Amazon UK link http://tinyurl.com/cmf8roh

Amazon US link http://tinyurl.com/d7lwwak

How I came to write The Mine by K. C. Ryeland

The Story Behind the Story of The Mine by K. C. Ryeland

Having spent several years in West Africa during the turbulent sixties, it occurred to me that many of my fellow countrymen would never have experienced some of the the trials and tribulations of living and working in a country with a culture so dramatically different to that of Western Europe. Therefore, after retiring, I found time to reminisce on some of the things I had experienced whilst in residence there. The most prominent being the almost total absence of any kind of law enforcement (except in the pursuit of illegal gain), a country teetering on the edge of civil war where corruption ruled the daily lives of many and tribalism blighted the lives of millions of its oppressed citizens.

With the advent of online publishers and the convenience of e-books, I decided to write about my time in West Africa and conjure some exciting adventure stories from the memories of that unique experience.
TheMine is littered with typical situations and events that actually occurred, though of course in many instances these have been embellished and made exciting. Because of my position as the manager of a British company dealing in Land-Rovers, Leyland trucks and Massey Ferguson agricultural equipment, I had access to many important people, including military governors, their ADCs, permanent secretaries, senior police officers and all grades of civil servants. Travelling around the country brought me into contact with High Commission staff and of course the largely illiterate private soldiers manning the thousands of road blocks. Some of the characters in the book are, therefore, composites of these people and the situations, such as the advent of civil war and the constant rioting egged on by agent provocateurs from the tribal factions, a reality.

After independence, many of the ex-British colonies in the region flirted with the Eastern Bloc with disastrous results. I well remember seeing scores of brand new Russian jeeps on the docks destined for the army, only to see them a few months later rotting at the side of the roads and in Motor Transport compounds when they had broken down due to their incompatibility with the tropical environment and there being no spare parts available. The deprived and subjugated citizens of the new republic could only watch and wonder at the colossal waste of money and plundering of the treasury by the various military governments as the country lurched from one crisis to another under the continual tribal purges that occurred every time there was a bloody and violent coup.

Therefore, it was with a desire to enlighten and entertain that I embarked upon my stories of Nibana, a fictional West African state shortly after gaining its independence from the British in 1962.

Excerpt from The Mine.

Chief Inspector Bello Akure, Police Sergeant Hassan Rufai and the First Secretary Commercial from the British High Commission, Charles Alexander, are at the Yula rest house.

...On Sunday morning, Bello, Charles and Hassan Rufai met in the dining room of the Yula rest house and ordered their breakfasts. It was only six o’clock and the room was empty. This gave the three colleagues the opportunity of discussing their next move openly.

Bello told the other two that the uranium mine was located three or four hours drive to the south-east of Yula and explained how difficult the track was the last time he and Mike Stevens had traversed it some three years ago. Bello also warned them that the entrance to the mine was, at the time of his last visit, guarded by at least one sentry.

“In order to discover whether the professor and his students are at the mine, it will be necessary to climb up into the hills and view the complex from afar. Mike Stevens and I did that the last time we were here and it was very easy to see if the mine was occupied, even at long range,” assured Bello.

“Fine,” said Charles, “but what do we do if the professor and his colleagues are there and the place is swarming with soldiers or bandits or whoever?”

“Well, I do not think my letter of authority will be much use to us under those circumstances, so if there are just too many of the opposition guarding the professor we will need support. However, if we send for the police from Ugune they may not wish to interfere if there are Obi troops there. Furthermore, it would be difficult to have Usmar police officers from Yula rescue the professor. The Obi police would see it as an incursion into their region; likewise with the army if we requested Usmar soldiers from the Northern Region. It is a real problem and clearly illustrates the evils of tribalism,” said Bello, exasperated with the politics of his country.

“Right, if we need assistance, then the only way to get it is to contact the British Deputy High Commission at Ugune and let the deputy high commissioner sort it out diplomatically with the regional military governor,” declared Charles triumphantly.

Bello looked at Sergeant Rufai and said, “I am afraid he is right. It really is the only way if we are to avoid a serious tribal conflict between the police or the army of the two regions.”
Rufai, simply nodded his approval and said, “But only if we need help to get the white men away from their captors. If we can do it ourselves, then we must do it.”

The three men nodded their agreement and then became silent as the steward approached and served their breakfasts.

After breakfast, Rufai took the Land-Rover into town and purchased fresh fruit from the market, while Bello filled their water bottles with ice-cold water from the kerosene fridge at the rest house. By seven-thirty they were driving along the track that would lead them to the mine.

The day began quite cool, but soon after nine it began to warm up considerably. The dry season had already started and the days were getting hotter as the month wore on. The track, Bello noted with dismay, had not improved one iota since the last time he used it, and in many places it had deteriorated considerably.

The three men had to endure thick, choking dust, loose surfaces, broken bridges over streams and the incursion of the forest on each side of the track. However, despite all the obstacles they made good time and were soon driving through the gently rising strip of grassland at the foot of the Omdu Hills. At just after one in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day, Bello suddenly recognised the area and was able to direct them to the place where, three years ago, he and SDPO Mike Stevens had parked their Land-Rover and climbed up the steep slope to reconnoitre the layout of the mine and its outbuildings. The three men agreed to park the Land-Rover in the small clearing under the same grove of palms, eat some fruit and then tackle the hill on foot after they were suitably refreshed.

Rufai opened the gun cabinet in the back of the Land-Rover and loaded a clip containing ten rounds of ammunition into each magazine of the two Lee-Enfield rifles. Bello checked his Mk IV Webley pistol and unloaded the water canteens.

“What about me? Don’t I get to carry a gun?” protested Charles.

“Oh, well, I am not sure about that, Charles; you are a civilian and a white man, there are strict rules about that sort of thing you know,” said Bello teasingly.

“Oh, come on, give me that spare pistol. I know how to use one. I have been trained properly,” replied Charles, pointing at the Webley lying in the gun cabinet.

“Well, all right, Charles, but do not position yourself behind us, stay in front at all times, do you hear?” replied Bello, still in teasing mode.

“I bet I could outshoot the pair of you on the shooting range. I have medals for my shooting,” said Charles as he took the revolver from Sergeant Rufai.

“Yes, earning medals for shooting on a range is not quite the same as facing a gang of smugglers, rioters or looters, is it, Sergeant Rufai?” retorted Bello.

“When we get back to somewhere civilised, I will challenge you both to a shooting competition with any weapon you care to name,” said Charles checking that the Webley was loaded.

“Right, now let us get up this hill and see if we can detect any sign of the professor and his men,” said Bello, as he handed a canteen of water to each of the two men...

Available in Kindle format from
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Mine-ebook/dp/B007PFE4OG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354981933&sr=8-1

Available Lulu (paperback)

http://www.lulu.com/shop/kenneth-c-ryeland/the-mine/paperback/product-20394557.html

Why I wrote the Up Country Man by Kenneth C Ryeland

  

The Story Behind the Story of The Up Country Man by Kenneth C Ryeland

When the “Winds of Change” began to blow through the African colonies in the late fifties and early sixties, I began to take a deep interest in these vast territories. Even after leaving school, I nurtured a secret desire to live and work in the ex-colonies of Africa. My ambition was eventually fulfilled shortly after my 25th birthday.

Having finished an engineering apprenticeship and obtained the necessary academic qualifications, I joined a British company with commercial interests in the West African state of Nigeria. In the six and a half years since independence in October 1960, the long-suffering people of this ex-British colony had already experienced civil unrest and two military coups. Now the country was on the brink of civil war, because of an argument over oil revenues between the Federal Military Government and the Military Governor of the Eastern Region.

I arrived in Nigeria in April 1967, just as the Biafran crisis was about to enter its final and most devastating stage. Because of the instability of the country and the fact that the culture and climate was so very different from anything I had experienced thus far, I decided to keep a diary.

After almost 20 years in Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, I “found” my diary some years later and began transcribing and expanding it into note form. When I finally retired, I started to write about my Nigerian/Biafran experiences. I called it The Up-Country Man and it was first published in 2005.
The memoir deals with the culture shock that everyone experiences when arriving in a country where the lifestyle, customs and climate are vastly different to their own. It also looks closely at the relationship between the Africans and the Europeans who lived and worked in Nigeria, reflecting the reality of post-colonial Africa in the nineteen-sixties in what I consider a sensitive and yet honest way. Despite being resident in Biafra for only one hundred days, the book captures the mood and relates some of the incidents that occurred during the build up to war in July 1967. These include the close surveillance of all foreigners by the Biafran secret police (an activity that caused me many problems); the difficulty I experienced with the Biafran military when the company driver was beaten close to death by drunken soldiers; the illegal and barbaric activity of the police and army personnel who manned the hundreds of road blocks; and the effect that all this chaos had on the lives of the people and the economy of Biafra. I also reflect on the feeling of vulnerability that pervaded my daily life as the Federal Nigerian Army penetrated the northern and western sectors of the new republic and began to advance inexorably towards Enugu, the seat of power of the rebel regime.

However, it is not all gloom and misfortune. Many passages touch on the humour and grit of the ordinary citizens trying to cope with the chaos around them. The sections of dialogue written in the style of spoken Pidgin English will provide the reader with an intriguing insight into the use of English as a means of communication in a country where 250 languages are in daily use.

The climax of the book describes my evacuation by road from Enugu. During that journey the civil defence volunteers manning the roadblocks subjected me and the other Europeans in the vehicle convoy to many threats and humiliations before our arrival at Port Harcourt. Several days later, together with over 800 other expatriates, I was eventually evacuated from Port Harcourt to Lagos by sea on the MV Isonzo, a small, 7,500-ton Italian freighter, which was the last vessel to leave rebel held Port Harcourt.

Excerpt from The Up-Country Man

On arrival at Ikeja airport.

...My passport and work permit were dwarfed in the hands of the huge immigration officer who stared down at me across the tall, pedestal-style desk. After studying my documents for a moment, he addressed me in a version of the English language that was entirely alien to my ears.

“You dey, dey for dissy Landrober pepol, na so? Whatin you go do wey you dey, dey for dissy Nigeria?”

Thoroughly dumbfounded, my brain began to work overtime trying to decipher what the man had said, but without much success. Obviously impatient at my lack of response, he spoke to me again.

“Na make you talk me, Oga. Na plenty pepol him dey, dey an dem no fit wait.”

My confused state did not prevent me from knowing instinctively he was urgently requesting some sort of answer. However, since I did not even know what the question was, it was difficult for me to react appropriately.

An English voice in my right ear made me turn quickly.

“He knows you have come to Nigeria to work for the Land-Rover people, but he wants you to tell him what job you will do for them. He also wants you to hurry because there are many people waiting.”

My eyes met with those of a middle-aged European man dressed in a very sensible two-piece suit of a style unknown to me. I learnt later that it was called a safari suit. The man displayed that ‘cool as a cucumber’ appearance and smiled kindly. Mumbling hurried thanks, I turned back to the immigration officer and quickly provided what I thought were the answers to his questions; well aware of my sweaty, dishevelled appearance in contrast to the calm, unruffled images of my helper and the immigration officer.

The huge African stamped my passport and work permit. He then thrust them back into my shaking hands, muttering something as he did so. My ears were still not tuned to the strange sounds and therefore the words meant nothing to me. My one desire was to remove myself from his presence and get out of the sweltering heat of the terminal building as quickly as possible. My first close encounter with a Nigerian official had unnerved me...     

Available here on  Kindle
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Up-Country-Man-ebook/dp/B0043RSEHC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1353881480&sr=8-5

Paperback available
http://www.lulu.com/shop/kenneth-c-ryeland/the-up-country-man/paperback/product-20324528.html

My other fiction books are set in post-colonial West Africa include: The Last Bature, Tribal Gathering and The Mine.

Tribal Gathering

The book contains eight short stories. The stories are set in an imaginary West African republic, Nibana, which has been given independence by the British, and is undergoing the painful process of finding its own feet. The problems of bribery, corruption and governmental incompetence are typical of almost every newly-independent African country. The people described are typical of the peope in those countries.

Below is an extract from a review for Kenneth C Ryelands, book Tribal Gatherings.


Reviewer’s Comments:
I enjoyed each of the short stories in this compendium. The situations and characters are very real to those who have lived in Africa, and the stories allow the reader to understand many things in a new way, whether one is an African or an expatriate. The situations are clear expositions of ordinary events in Africa, not only of that time, but also now, and the handling of these situations is realistic and an accurate rendering of how things are. Reviewing this book has given me a desire to read all of Kenneth Ryeland’s works. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more of the reasons why the situation in Africa is as it is, as well as to anyone who simply wants a good read.

To read more of this review visit
http://readersebooksclub.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/tribal-gathering-by-kenneth-ryeland.html

The book is available from
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tribal-Gathering-ebook/dp/B0045EONOQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1352562959&sr=8-3