LOVE LETTERS STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART; BRINGING `DEAREST' EFFORTS TO LIFE ON PAPER, STAGE.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

It's not enough just to say ``I love you.''

You have to put that emotion into words, write it down on paper and deliver it just as lovers did in the days before telephones, faxes and e-mail.

So says Ronald Lee Moss, the 40-year-old North Hollywood man behind a unique book of love letters.

The burly martial arts expert with the dangerous look might seem a most unlikely spokesman for written expressions of passion. After all, he once worked as a nightclub bouncer and the stunt double for Mr. T, the mohawked muscle man with the ugly attitude on the 1980s TV series ``The A-Team.''

But these days, he's usually beaming at his 6-month-old daughter, Nadia, whom he cares for during the day, juggling child care with efforts to become a publishing mogul.

The slim volume of love letters - ``My Dearest Love: Love Letters From Him to Her'' (Moss & Moss Publishing; $12) - wasn't in his plans. But, Moss said, God came to him repeatedly in his dreams, telling him to get busy collecting love letters.

So he did.

``God wants us all to start loving and sharing love,'' said Moss, who describes himself as a spiritual, rather than a religious, person. ``Love's important, and it's important to express it. Think of how much better the world would be if we all did.''

So he wrote love letters to his long-dead mother, his 5-year-old daughter Claudia and Judy, his wife of nine years. Then he began collecting love letters written by his friends and acquaintances, by their friends and acquaintances and by young wards at a group home where he worked as a counselor.

As God kept urging him on in his dreams, he spent nearly his entire $10,000 in savings self-publishing the book after a deal with a major publisher fell through.

The result is a slim volume packed with manly emotion. The letters range from awkward to sophisticated, from ungrammatical to highly articulate, from juvenile to mature. The missives, which range from a few sentences long to pages and pages of highly charged emotion, aim to woo their recipients, apologize for past wrongs, promise wonderful futures or span the miles for lovers who are parted.

There's even one marriage proposal. (She said yes.)

Unlikely sources

Surprisingly, some of the most passionate prose came from the most unlikely sources, like David the butcher and Chris the farmer.

``Men generally don't write letters like this,'' Moss said. ``So these guys are heroes to the women in their lives.''

The letters will come to life on stage tonight and Jan. 21 as Moss and other actors take the parts of the letter-writers and their ladies; the readings will be interspersed with love songs sung by Moss' brother, Connell, and dinner prepared by his other brother, Jerome. (Both men also have love letters in the book.)

Performances begin at 6:30 p.m. both nights at Angel Lena's Soul Food Kitchen, 4515 Sepulveda Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Admission is $5, plus the cost of dinner ordered from the menu; books are discounted to $10 for those performances only.

Moss also will appear at a book signing at 3 p.m. Jan. 25 and a book signing and reading at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Book Grinder, 13321 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys.

The love letters in Moss' book prove that romance is not dead, even among the much-maligned (by some) American male.

In his own quiet way, her husband is a good example of a modern-day romantic, showing he cares for her through small, quiet gestures like buying her a favorite treat - licorice - every time he goes to the store, said Judy Moss, 36, an executive secretary for an insurance company.

``He's not the kind of guy who'd hire a skywriter and write `I love you' in the sky. Well, I guess he would if he could afford it. But he just does a lot of little things,'' she said. ``He walks on water, as far as I'm concerned.''

Moss, who recently was diagnosed with diabetes and an enlarged heart, hopes the book and the performances will be successful enough to enable him to publish more love-letter books: one from women to their men, to mothers, to fathers, and from gays and lesbians to their life partners.

The money he earns from the sale of books and from live performances will support his family in case his health fails and he's not around to take care of them, he said.

But he's not worried. The Lord will provide, Moss firmly believes.

The actor whose credits include performances in ``Predator II,'' ``Tango & Cash,'' ``Lock Up'' and ``The Deadly Breed'' has all but given up his film career to concentrate on his writing. When he looked over his on-screen work, he realized he didn't want his daughters to see any of his movies because he always played the heavy or a prisoner.

So, in between collecting love letters for his next book, he's devising TV shows, videos and movies - some of which he'd like to appear in, in small roles: in one as a genie, in one as a track coach.

``I'd like to be in something my kids could be proud to see,'' Moss said.

Like the idea for the love letters book, the ideas for the movies and videos come to him in his dreams, he said.

And he believes God is orchestrating what goes through his mind while he's sleeping.

He said he's had vivid dreams for years, so when a booming voice came to him in a bright light as he slept, telling him to write a book of love letters, he was a bit perplexed, but not totally amazed.

As he kept having the same dream, in which he talked with the voice behind the light, he began to wonder. So he asked: ``Who are you? Are you God?''

The answer was cryptic: ``I am what I am.''

Again, the question. Again, the same answer.

Frustrated, he said, ``Listen, how do I know this is what I'm supposed to do? Who ARE you? Are you God?''

``And this voice said, `Duh, Ron, yeah!' '' he laughed. ``At least I knew I was on the right track.''

Words of love `From Him to Her'

``My Dearest Love: Letters From Him to Her'' is available for $12 from Moss & Moss Publishing, 4821 Lankershim Blvd., F-331, North Hollywood, Calif. 91602; [phone].

Here are excerpts from some of the letters:

Dear Christina,

For now, we are apart and I miss you a great deal. But I have not lost you, nor am I without you, for your presence lives in my soul and dances in my mind.

- Alex, student

My love,

The smell of your hair consumes my senses and rolls through the caverns of my mind like smoke from a crackling fire ... The way your eyes sparkle and dance in the moonlight makes me delirious and giddy with delight.

- Dennis, actor

My dearest Jenine,

You have never stopped praising me for the little things I do for you. Thank you so much for a heart that is so easily pleased.

- Brent, telecommunications

Dearest Shannon, my shining star, The passion of your kisses makes my heart surge and my body ache with hunger to embrace you. I am a prisoner of your love, and I surrender.

- David, butcher

My dearest Raie,

Someday soon I want to take your hand and fly ... to the land of love. For in this land, there is no pain, no regrets, no pressure, no hurts, no worries, no sorrows, no yesterdays to clog your mind, no tomorrows to fret over - only the moment, only the love.

- Josiah, photographer

Dearest Ritsiyo,

My heart skipped a beat. I heard bells and music. All the corny things that I read in books happened to me when we first met ... I knew it was love at first sight ... Will you marry me? I will be out of breath 'til I hear you say yes.

- Bill, actor/jazz singer

My love,

When you walked out the front door, I didn't know you wouldn't be back. I wish I had told you how much I loved you and how I would do anything for you ... You were my life and if I could get you back somehow and do it all over again, you would hear every day how special you are and how much I love you ... I just didn't realize that something like a drunk driver could take you from me without warning. I'm laying this letter on your grave in hopes it will find you among the angels.

- Allen, actor

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: ``Love's important, and it's important to express it,'' says Ronald Lee Moss, who has self-published a collection of his own and his friends' love letters.

Terri Thuente/Daily News

Box: Words of love `From Him to Her' (See Text)