A New Novel

Earlier this year, I finally completed my new Novel, Zuvia. If you like to read any Fantasy or Adventure books, you might enjoy this one. The book is about a strange group of creatures who get discovered by some humans. They find that the Zuvians have been put on this earth to help humanity to manage the earth's ecosystem. Odd tree-like creatures, the Zuvians are quite friendly to the ones that have discovered their existence.

Zuvia takes place in 3 different time periods ... starting in the 1800s, moving through the 1900s, and then finally ending in the 2000s. The first two sections are basically primers to help readers better know and understand the Zuvians. Part three is the brunt of the story and is where I will continue as I write other novels in the future.

Octaria, the sequel to Zuvia, is already underway. I hope to have it all done by end of 2022.

Hope you enjoy ... and, as always, THANK YOU for looking, listening, and reading!

R, Starmer

Something From Nothing

I've always loved music! I started writing songs when I was 13, most of which were just silly songs. As I continued to write, however, I got better at it. Today I am in my 60's and although I am not a big fan of my own voice, I do love to take music notes and create something from "nothing". In that same kind of creative drive, I also write stories and complete a watercolor painting on occasion. Something from Nothing! Although I have given musical concerts here and there in my life, today I am "over" caring about "performing" on stage! It's the creation that fascinates and drives me most! That said, as far as music is concerened, I think of myself more as a songwriter than a musician.

My love of music blossomed when I watched the Beatles perform one Sunday night on the Ed Sullivan show. Not long after, I got my first guitar. It was a Silvertone flat top acoustic and it hurt my fingers so badly that I quickly lost interest in it. But my love of music grew while listening to bands like The Stones, The Monkees, and The Animals. When I was 12 I got a Ludwig orange sparkle snare drum for Christmas. We started our first neighborhood band where my friends wailed away on their Silvertone electrics playing stuff like "Louie, Louie" and "Wipe Out". My love of music quickly brought me back to the guitar after I bought my first folk music book and started learning some basic chords at 13. My dad saw my interest and did whatever he could to encourage me. He took me to a music store one day and bought me a guitar that was much easier to play. As my abilities grew, I made several more trips to the Music Store, each time getting a better and better instrument. Thus, at 13, I wrote my first song. Over the years music became one of my greatest passions. I have written well over 200 songs, recorded a few personal "albums", and was one of the founders and primary songwriters for Messenger, a Christian Rock group in the Southeast US back in the '80's. Messenger released 3 albums between the years of 1983 and 1993, was featured on local radio stations, and played over 200 concerts at churches and music festivals. I have always seen music as a direct gift from God to be shared with others. I've never been really interested in selling my stuff or making a lot of money from my music. To me, it's more about the "creation" process. However, there have been folks who have shown interest in some of my songs, so I set up a site on ReverbNation.com, a site dedicated to songwriters, and set the fees low ... just to help me cover costs of equipment and/or internet space needed to maintain that presence. If someone wants to purchase rights to a song ... hey ... I'm game. I mean, I'm retired now, and could use some extra cash. But if it ever becomes burdensome or too much like work .... I'll take it down and move on ... After Messenger dissolved in 1993, I continued to write songs and play my music for friends and family. Front Porch Stories was completed in 2004 as a gift for my father, who was withering away from the effects of Parkinson's disease. It is a compilation of some of his favorite songs that I had written at an earlier age. I wanted to return the gift to him and see him smile at my music one last time. Thankfully he was able to listen to the songs before he passed away in December of 2005. As days go by there usually is not one second of the day that a song is not playing in my head. I continue to write my stories as songs. Hopefully I can share them one day with my great grandchildren in person. But if not .... at least they are now recorded for my future gens.

UPDATE 2019: I am Currently building 4 more albums of songs They will consist of old songs I wrote over the years but never had a chance to record

I also uploaded a very old album “nuclear child” that was released back in the ‘80’s Nuclear Child was a solo album I recorded back when I was playing in Messenger ...a Christian Rock & Roll band in the ‘80’s-‘90’s I often recorded songs I had written as “demos” for possible Messenger tunes and in order to preserve them for the future Nuclear Child was recorded on a 4-track cassette deck, so the quality isn’t up to today’s standards But I had some friends who requested the upload, so I hope others can see through the clouds of “analog” recordings and just enjoy the songs It’s a Christian album, so either it will offend you or it will change you!

For those that prefer not to be bombarded with my faith .... hope you can enjoy Front Porch Stories, or one of the new, upcoming albums in progress!

UPDATE June 2019: After going through all of my songs I realized that it was gonna take more albums than I had originally thought to house them all I divided them into four categories: Easy Listening, Fun songs, Blues, and Christian.

- I just released “Down To The Fire“ to cover the 1st category.

- I‘m 70% done with the 2nd category (to be released as “Way Out Yonder...”

- I hope to finish the more bluesy set by end of 2019 (Screen Door Slam!) - Then, in early 2020 I hope to complete my final Christian collection, entitled “Under The Rainbow”

Thank you for all of the encouraging words, and I hope you enjoy listening!!