Welcome to Halloween

 Recently (just today as I pen this post). I've had yet another short story of mine posted on the internet. The story is Halloween-Themed, and was posted to a Facebook site entitled, Writers Unite!  

I had joined the site a year or so back, and in the intervening time I've has three short stories published by them in three separate anthologies (A Western, A Fantasy, and a Romance story).

Each of those stories appeared in print, whereas, this most recent story appears only online, as stated, in the Writers Unite! Facebook page. 

 To locate this Spooky tale, one need to go to Facebook, log into the Writer's Unite! page, and find the WU Witching Hour post, then navigate to the WU! Witching Hour Part Six which is where my story resides. My story is entitled "Cat Got Your Tongue", which is the final story of the set.

Hope you enjoy it.

Welcome to the Bizarrechats of Michael F. Housel, Author of the Abstract, Amazing and Arcane: : ROBERT J. SODARO: GRAPHIC GENIUS FOR HIRE!

Welcome to the Bizarrechats of Michael F. Housel, Author of the Abstract, Amazing and Arcane: : ROBERT J. SODARO: GRAPHIC GENIUS FOR HIRE!: In my worldly estimation, Robert J. Sodaro  is a genius, a man with an aesthetic eye when it comes to mapping, editing and polishing any pro...

Romance is in the air!

So here I am, Some 40+ years writing professionally and I'm — quite honestly — having perhaps one of the best years ever. I have several projects in print, as well as several more awaiting publication. 

This past week I just finished off laying out a book project for a new client, and am starting on the layout of a magazine for one of my longest-running clients. I have three prose short stories out for publication, five comicbook scripts in various stages of production. I'm getting set to launch a comicbook Kickstarter with a new publisher, as well as brand new offer to script a one-shot (with the possibility of sequels). 

Still, none of that is what I really want to write about today. As of the 1th of this month (just two days ago as I type this, 8/15/22) I'll have my third (yes, third) prose short story out in print with Writers Unite (a Facebook group to which I belong). The anthology Writers Unite: Dimensions of Love, is a two volume set of short stories.

My story, entitled The Way Back appears in the second volume of the set, and I'm very excited to have it appear in this set as penning a romance story is so far outside the type of writing I've been doing for the past four decades. 

Over the years I've written ad copy for radio, print, direct mail, and the web; I've written marketing material as well as technical and procedure manuals. I've worked as a journalist, done hundreds of interviews, written reviews of films, books, comics and more. Still. This romance story is honestly one of the coolest things I've ever written. Hopefully others will enjoy not just my story, but the full run of stories in the series.

The anthology is available on Amazon in both print and ebook editions, the links for both editions are below. (The links will lead to both version of each volume.)

Writers Unite: Dimensions of Romance, Volume One:

https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Unite-Anthologies-Dimensions-Love/dp/B0B92R1MDV/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1660659855&sr=1-1&fbclid=IwAR3FkDE2NbLHLgVwRRkwCo94GYu9zr8PieM2xo6oHnuOWMrSiAfTw9Qp_JA

Writers Unite: Dimensions of Romance, Volume Two

https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Unite-Anthologies-Dimensions-Love-ebook/dp/B0B8QKWQ93/ref=sr_1_1?crid=282ELDNTBFQ33&keywords=Writers%20Unite!%20Anthologies%20Dimensions%20of%20Love%20Volume%20two&qid=1660659890&s=books&sprefix=writers%20unite%20anthologies%20dimensions%20of%20love%20volume%20two%2Cstripbooks%2C52&sr=1-1&fbclid=IwAR1bcj5sJ17_tNeMiPp-7w61oE8acP7UzZmjtoE82khV4e7CPGTcqp0j58w

As an aside, a second romance story of mine has been posted online over here:

https://bardsy.com/stories/story-reader/?story_id=3682&utm_source=pocket_mylist

John Romita, Sr, Gerry Conway, Spider-Man, Gwen Stacy, & Me!

So here is a bit of my own personal history in comics.

Back in 1973 (when I was just a mere lad of 18) I attended my first or second NY Comic Con. For context this was shortly after the release of Amazing Spider-Man #121 when Gwen Stacy died at the hands of the Green Goblin. While at the show, I wandered into the Pro room to find to John Romita (Sr.) doing sketches and signing autographs. (No lines, no charge, just JRSR sitting at a table signing for the kids.) 

While wearing my über-cool Spidey T-shirt (with art by JRSR), I eagerly held out my convention book. For John to sign. Looking up from his last drawing, he spotted my shirt, smiled and reached out past a couple of other fans, for my book and asked who I would like for him to illustrate for me. "Gwen Stacy." I said. 

"I can only draw her head," He replied.

"OK, that's fine with me." I responded.

So he drew her face. Upon completing the sketch and autographing it, I reached for my program book, to take it back, only John wasn't quite done with it. He then drew a big word balloon, and wrote "You did it Gerry C.!" And then handed back to me.

I laughed at the cool moment. (Remember, Gerry Conway was the writer who famously wrote the story in issue #121 of Amazing Spider-Man where she died.)

About an hour or so later, I was back in the pro room to see who else I could get an autograph from, and lo and behold who was there, but none other than Gerry Conway himself. Knowing I simply couldn't pass this moment up, I turned to John's autograph in my program booklet, and handed it to Gerry as I asked for his autograph. 

"Sure kid," He said taking the booklet from me. Then when he noticed the page he was asked to sign, he did a double take and laughed, then he too autographed the page, adding "Yeah, and I'm glad I did!"

Needless to say, this was an even cooler moment for me. 

I still have that booklet with both autographs in it. 

A week or so back I attended TerrifiCon at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT. where Gerry Conway was one of the guests. I hadn't crossed paths with Gerry in nearly 50 years, but I again couldn't pass up this moment. I went up to his table and said. "Gerry, you certainly don't remember me, but I hope you remember this." And I showed him the photo of the page from that old convention book that was on my phone.

"I absolutely do remember that!" he exclaimed, then he asked if he could take a picture of it off my phone, which I agreed to letting him do. I then got to chat with him for a few minutes to tell him how much I always enjoyed his writing.

A little later in the show John Romita, Jr showed up to sign autographs for the fans, and I—once again—wanted to share my 50-year-old story. So I approached JRJR's table and got his attention, saying "50 years ago I got your father's and Gerry Conway's autograph, and this is how they signed my book." showing him the photo on my phone.  

As can be expected, JRJR also loved the story, and I entreated him to also take a picture of my phone and send it to his father (who had never seen the response autograph that Gerry had gifted me with.) Which JRJR did. So his dad got to see the image before he passed.

To Gerry and John Jr. after telling them the the original story of the autograph, I then related the story how, when I showed up to see the 2nd Andrew McCarthy Spider-Man film, my friend, Shawn, who worked at the theater, told me "You're gonna hate this film." To which I replied, "Why, because Gwen dies in it?" (Shawn knew of my decades fanboy crush on Gwen.) 

Have you already seen the film?" he asked. 

"No." I said, "She died when I was 18 and I'm still not over it!"

Here now is that autograph that JRSR and Gerry did for me back in 1973, when I was 18.

Honestly, it is probably the coolest thing I own.

* * * Unfortunate Update * * *

I just learned that in April 2026 it was announced that Gerry had passed away. Gerry, as a writer of Spider-Man and other comics, was a big part of my childhood. Years later, while I was watching the TV show Law & Order, I discovered that he was the head writer for the show. 

And now, another little bit of my youth is gone. So long Gerry, thanks for all the good memories. 

Call me "Storyteller" Part the 2nd!

For years  I've been referring to myself as (alternately) a Journalist and as a storyteller. While both are true, a more accurate descriptor would be that, even as a journalist, my best articles were, in fact stories. 

Part of this reason is that, where my own learning has taken place, I've always been better at learning/remembering something if it was related to me as a story, rather than simply as a fact (probably why I was always better at English than Math). Needless to say, I've always been able to spin a good yarn. 

A short while back, in an earlier post, I shared a few links for some print stories that I had written. Well, since that time, I have penned a few more stories that reside online, and I would like to share those links with you now.

First up, is a story of a slightly different genre than I've been writing in, this one a romance story. This was in response to a writer's prompt in the attempt to get the story included in an anthology. Unfortunately, the story didn't make the cut, but it still is readable online, here. The story is entitled Good Morning Cupcake, and is the tale of a woman approaching 50 who is a widow, and on the cusp of a relationship with an older male friend whom she has known professionally for well over a decade. Part of my reasoning for making the couple older, is that so many "love" stories are about young teens or 20somethings, and I really just wanted to write a story about an older couple (finally) finding true love.

illustration by Carl Morgans

The second story Night of the Owl, operates on more familiar ground, as it is the backstory of a Golden Age superhero whose adventures I've been chronicling (along with others) in InDELLible Comics. Those of us who are working on stories for InDELLible are playing in a sandbox of Public Domain characters that were once published by Dell Comics back in the '50s & '60s. These comics and prose anthologies can be found on Amazon. We've written a bunch, and more are on the way.

The third story is an original piece that I penned while officiating a flash fiction story writing exercise at a comic con several years back. (To be sure, my piece wasn't so much entered in the contest I was proctoring, as it was done to pass my time while the actual contestants were writing their stories. My story sat around all these years with no where to go, until I discovered this website where I could post it.

Currently I'm writing more short stories, and just may wind up posting them online in one of these two sites. So, keep your eyes open as there is more to come, so stay tuned!

Just call me "storyteller"

I was first published in 1981. An article I wrote about Steve Ditko's Spider-Man which appeared in issue #5 of Amazing Heroes. My second professional published  article appeared in Marvel Preview, also in 1981. My first professionally published piece of fiction appeared in a Marvel Year in Review in the late 1980s/early 1990s (it was a short essay about either an imagined origin to the X-Men or the Avengers — I forget which as my writing partner (John A. Wilcox) and I submitted both but the editor only used one). 

(Prior to both of these, I had actually been previously been published in the newsletter (both fiction and non-fiction) from my local library, where I was working at the time.)

My first solo fiction piece was a comicbook entitled Agent Unknown which was published by Renegade Press in 1987. That particular comic lasted three of the six planned issues (the B&W implosion of the late ‘80s killed it). it wasn't until 2006 that I once again had a piece of fiction of mine published, this time in the comicbook series, Psychosis (Guild Works Productions). 

In between that first published article in Amazing Heroes and the publication of Agent Unknown (Renegade Press). I had literally hundreds of articles published. since then I have had hundreds more published, as well as a few books, and, well a handful of fiction short stories (both illustrated and prose. 

As I pen this piece, it is the beginning of March, 2022, and already I have had an article and three fiction pieces published online. An Illustrated story and a prose piece both slated for publication, as well as written a script for a second illustrated piece. I have more stories and articles in me, and I haven't slowed down. 

The best is yet to come. 

New Amsterdam & "Defund the Police"

 If you've ever railed against the "Defund the Police" effort, I strongly recommend that you stream the NBC TV show New Amsterdam The Crossover (Season 2 episode 12). If you've never seen the show, that shouldn't be an issue, as the bit I want all'y'all to see occurs sporadically throughout the episode, with it occurring at the 5:13, 13:51, 22:15, and 28:43 marks).

The sequence in question is between a psychiatrist from the hospital is interviewing and then doing a ride-along with a police officer patient of his. What we witness is their initial consultation in his office, and then a pair of incidents where two separate homeless people with psychological issues are causing two disturbances outside public places.

In the first one, the officer essentially forcefully confronts the individual, and then man-handles them to remove them from the public place. In the second the shrink interjects himself into the incident, and manages to deescalate it before it becomes explodes into violence (The officer has drawn her sidearm).

After the second incident, the psychiatrist and the officer are sitting down on a bench and the psychiatrist explains that THIS is what is meant by "Defund" the police, as the officer simply was neither equipped, nor properly trained to handle that type of situation.

"You’re doing your job. You’re doing what your supposed to do. But Officers aren’t equipped to handle a mentality unstable person who isn’t committing a crime. That’s not your job, That’s my job. That’s a social worker’s job."

The entire sequence was not only well-written, but well-performed, and (to me at least) clearly explained what is meant by "Defund". It isn't "eliminate" it is simply putting resources in their proper perspective, and giving proper training to those involved.

Watch New Amsterdam Season 4 Episode 12 Online