Unto Dust: A Mindfire Prequel starts with 19-year-old Sue Sanchez (the superheroine called The Cat) in 1992. This is before the time travel takes place. She is an up-and-coming model who is secretly a member of The AR-MEN superhero team (thus the double life through the need for a secret identity). I wrote the lyrics for this song based on events in the book (which is complete, just needs edits and that may take a bit) and made the 1990s pop music and vocals with Suno A.I.

I’m going to be sharing some music I made recently to accompany a novel I’ll be releasing at some point. The manuscript for Unto Dust: A Mindfire Prequel is complete, it just needs editing, a cover, and other preparations. It’s a Christian fiction superhero time travel novel. Here’s the book trailer to introduce it.

Writing update: I’ve recently updated Moon Tribe, a Christian fiction Science-Fantasy novel that is Book One in a duology. It started out as a short story idea then evolved into a full novel that allowed for a sequel. Originally, it took place in Joanna White's Republic Chronicles galaxy but she and I discussed it recently. Per her suggestion, I have adapted the duology to occur in my own fictional universe. This was an entirely amicable agreement and I appreciate her support and friendship in this endeavor.

The Moon Tribe manuscript is now complete and only needs editing. I don’t have a release date in mind yet but I have been working on Book Two for the last week. Yesterday, I reworked the book trailer for Moon Tribe with new graphics that reflect some of the changes. I hope you enjoy it!

Sometimes, you just gotta do things different. Back in 1992, I wrote a lot of tunes and a number of them ended up being instrumentals. This one is called "Half Past Midnight" and it originally had a kind of surf rock feel. But after I uploaded it to Suno A.I. and started making some remixes, I was inspired to see what it would sound like as an upbeat, groovy Reggae song. And that's the one that worked best. Enjoy!

I used to be a big fan of the Alan Parsons Project (I still am to a degree), so in 1992, I wrote an instrumental homage to them called "The Long Journey." I used keyboards, a drum machine, and a four-track recorder to make it (YouTube link to the original recording will be in the comments). I recently uploaded that recording to Suno A.I. and decided to try using orchestral instruments with it. And it turned out wow!

In 1988, I made lyrics for a song I called "In A Burning Cloud." I wrote the music on acoustic and electric guitar. The lyrics and mood of the song concerned the fears of nuclear war that were very prevalent at the time. I went into the studio with Tony Roberti and Leslie Steury and we recorded it. Tony played expert drums and had some spoken lines while Leslie lent some vocals. I played electric guitar, electric bass and sang on the original version (I'll put the link to it in the comments).

Recently, I uploaded the original version to Suno A.I. and decided to give it what I call "A Jazz Reimagining."

And let me say, you will never hear a prettier sounding song about nuclear war.  It turned out very smooth, give it a listen. Isn't it worth it for the thumbnail alone?

In 1988, the little band/recording project called The Edge of Slumber which I'd started with Tony Roberti had a third member, Leslie Steury. She wrote the lyrics for this song. In the original recording, Tony played drums and sang. I played electric guitar and electric bass guitar. I uploaded the original recording to Suno A.I. and remixed it.

I wrote the lyrics and music for this song in 1987 using a keyboard, its built-in drum machine (it was a Casio) and a four-track recorder. I performed and sang it on the original recording. It's a strange dystopian-sounding song. Maybe I was a little influenced by George Orwell's 1984 and didn't know it. Anyway, I recently uploaded the recording to Suno A.I. and this is the resulting remix. 

On a lighter note, this is a 2026 Suno remix of a song I made with Tony Roberti back in 1987 (when we called our recording project/band The Edge of Slumber). This song is called "We The People" but it's not political. Basically, it embodies the idealism of my 17-year-old self. It's a cool little tune and the remix is pretty fun and very upbeat. I would do a very different version on my solo album.

he following song represents a definitive piece of my history. I wrote and recorded the original version in 1989 after the breakup with my first love named Robin. Why this is significant is that she was instrumental in helping me turn my back on the occult at the end of 1988 (literally on New Years Eve). Then in January 1989, I asked her to be my girlfriend.

We'd been friends, we worked together at the Health Department and she was my first interracial relationship (she's Black). I was 19 and she was 23.

There were problems (working together being one of them). I was sincere in my feelings and attraction but inexperienced and immature. Also, my parents were against interracial relationships for racist reasons and I wasn't strong enough to stand up to them at the time. So, I hid a lot about the relationship from them while Robin introduced me to her family. At the same time, Robin had serious trust issues and I later learned she was struggling with her own sexuality. After six months, she broke up with me.

Any breakup hurts but I had to get therapy for this one. I wrote several songs to help process the emotional loss but two stood out: "A Distant Soul" which I wrote in 1989 and "Robin" which made it onto my studio album in 1990.

I did learn from my mistakes and the experience. Going forward, I did defend my interracial relationships, especially with Angel. That's a completely different discussion for another time.

The story with Robin has a twist, though. In 2010, I reached out to Robin when I found her on Facebook. I sent her a friend request and she accepted it. We exchanged 20 emails over the course of several days (I kept Angel in the loop the whole time) and not only settled things, but became friends again. And when Angel's and my daughter, Jeyli, was born in 2011, Robin congratulated us on Facebook. Sadly, Robin died of cancer in April 2012. I am grateful that after such a long time, we'd both matured. It showed me that maybe we should have just stayed friends but everything happens for a reason. And good did come of it.

I debated posting the song but "A Distant Soul" was never about casting aspersions or blame at Robin. I didn't use her name in the song, go into specific details or distribute the song back then. I was sharing my feelings about the relationship in music now that it was over. I made the original recording in late 1989 using electric guitar (with a lot of flanger and effects), electric bass guitar and I sang the vocals. I recently uploaded it to Suno A.I. and with this 2026 remix, you can understand the lyrics I wrote (it's not my vocals on the remix) and it turned out really nice.