Although I did write this past week, I am forgoing my regular weekly PROGRESS REPORT in favor of sharing with all the readers and fans out there my thoughts and future plans concerning my writing career.
I've been teasing and talking about it as much as I can for awhile now, but at this point I seriously doubt there will ever be an official, public announcement so here goes.
That MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PENDING that I've often mentioned in recent months?
What was Pro Se Press/Productions is no more.
Kaput. Gone out of business. Permanently closed.
It's dead Jim.
It's no longer pining for the fjords like Monty Python's Norwegian Blue Parrot.
ANYWAY...
Those of us with any connection to the company were notified earlier this Spring on the matter.
I won't get into all the whys, wherefores and other legalities.
It was fun while it lasted.
So long and thanks for all the fish.
If you find an active link to anything Pro Se once published, it's either on the Back Issue Market or they accidentally missed something delisting everything.
In the process, all rights to everything reverted back to their original creators.
In my case, HUGH MONN PRIVATE DETECTIVE, ALPHA the superhero and various short stories are now orphans looking for a new publishing home.
Unfortunately that does not also include the original cover art and logos since other people made them, and I really liked David Russell's art on HUGH and Sean Ali's ALPHA logo.
On the other hand I had originally only wanted to call ALPHA's first book PROJECT ALPHA and not use that as an umbrella title for the entire series.
I guess you've got to take the good with the bad.
SO WHAT NEXT?
While I am open to the option of another publisher if I can find the right one, I am also looking into the possibility of self publishing under my own imprint.
Whichever route I take, I am hoping to have something totally fresh available for everyone to read by this time next year at the latest.
I am starting with HUGH MONN first, because that has the most material to work with.
I am writing a BRAND NEW PREQUEL NOVEL that will set up the entire series anew.
After that I will be incorporating the short stories from the original collection that either had been or were scheduled for publication in Pro Se's Masked Gun Mystery magazine with new material for at least the next two books in the series.
The next novel after that will be a rerelease of what was HUGH's first full length adventure: CATCH A RISING STAR.
Then there will hopefully be a brand new novel before the rerelease of FEMME FATALES.
Afterwards, whether or not there will be another new novel first, I will then finally finish writing what would have been HUGH's fourth novel for Pro Se, had things not gone south when they did.
Please note that when I talk about reviewing what was previously released, I intend to base everything on the original manuscripts and NOT what was actually published.
While my ego is firmly in check as I type this, I do think that I have grown as a writer since HUGH was first published and I did not always agree with some of the edits that my printed material previously experienced along the way.
Yet while HUGH will kick things off, that does not mean he will be the only project I tackle.
There is ALPHA and that SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL that I never found a publisher for.
Plus I still have all those short stories and who knows what else I will come up with along the way?
In any event, I better get back to work on that HUGH PREQUEL now.
Take care.
STAY SAFE!
Have a great week and I'll see you around the Internet.
Lee Houston, Junior
7 September, 2025
