"Song of Fire" started out as musical passages based on stories from the ebook of the same name (available from Smashwords.com, the iTunes bookstore and other online retailers). The stories explore how music infuses everything around us and may even be the essence of the universe itself. Centered around the piano, the 12 instrumental songs create a laid-back mood that varies from meditative piano arrangements to jazzy combos featuring sax. The songs are thematically grouped according to the four elements. The first section -- "Fire: Tales of Music, Love and Passion" -- is represented by two songs. "Fire Dance" is a lively romp inspired by the origin of the universe. "Crossroads" is a jazzy arrangement in 7/4 time about life's yearning for motion. The second section -- "Earth: Tales of Appetite, Desire and the Body" -- is represented by three songs. The techno-lounge sounds of "The Chocolate Factory" capture the smooth experience of chocolate. "Loma Prieta" recounts the 1989 San Francisco Bay Area earthquake. "Sailboat and Sun" is a lyrical duet between piano and cello about desire and loss. The third section -- "Water: Tales of Soul, Spirituality, and Compassion" -- is represented by four songs. "Rock Garden" is inspired by a visit to the renown Zen rock garden Ryoan-ji; "The Blue Grotto" by a visit to the sublime sea grotto on the isle of Capri. In "Letters from New England," the plaintive piano melody expresses both the hopefulness and the conflict inherent in the origins of American religiosity. The Latin American rhythms of "Rio Dulce" take the listener down a gentle river to the Guatemalan coast. The final section -- "Air: Ghosts, Spirits and Tales of Passage" -- is represented by three songs. "Orpheus in the Underworld" is inspired by the mythic journey of Orpheus in search of his beloved. The haunting "Uncertainty" is inspired by a painting about a ghostly figure on a deserted pier. "Death Valley" opens with the quiet peacefulness of the desert, and ends with an uplifting melody of yearning and hope.