Yesterday was the 47th anniversary of the release of Superman: The Movie. His daughter told me that, at the premiere, she sat between her parents holding both hands. When Jerry's name zoomed across the screen, he squeezed her hand and began to weep. I wrote about it for my book, The Superman Wars.

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Today is the birthday of our greatest American poet, Emily Dickinson, so I'm sharing one of her best poems. If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.

Ralph shared some of the photos he took in the Philippines (after he escaped the typhoon, flooding, and kidney stones). The Temple of Leah is in Cebu. It was built in the Roman style in 2012 as a tribute to the architect's wife Leah, and as a museum for her collections of artifacts.

In addition to the big tree, I put two smaller ones in the living room. For the lights, I had to string an extension cord between the two, then used cat toys and houses to disguise the cord. Winifred got there first, but Bustopher is waiting patiently for his turn.

Bustopher has had enough of my continuing incompetence. He's taking over. Check out the video—it's only ten seconds. Cats tend to be succinct...

My friend Steve Younis has just released “Man of Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow: A Calendar of Significant Birthdays, Premieres, and Milestones in Superman’s History." I've already got mine. Highly recommended. He's going to be our guest on the WriterCon podcast. www.amazon.com/dp/B0G348W94...

While the family was shopping on Black Friday, the boys stayed home and worked. I wrote two chapters. Bustopher reviewed my pages and told me it needed more scenes with Ben's cats. Then I think he got bored...

Yesterday I posted a $50 off code for the WriterCon Cruise. Now I'm doing the same for the conference. We have the best lineup of headline speakers we've ever had! Over 60 presenters. Over 100 sessions. Contests. Agents. Publishers. Join us Sept 4-7 and advance your writing career! www.writercon.com

Register for the upcoming WriterCon cruise, May 7-15 from Ft Lauderdale, with over 20 hours of writing classes led by me and several other authors, plus a fabulous agent who will meet with everyone.Save $50 by registering this weekend! Use code BFC50 when you check out! writercon.com/writercon-cr...

Ralph is home safe. Still a bit under the weather, but we're hoping that will change soon enough for him to eat Lara's delicious homemade cinnamon rolls tomorrow. He hasn't had time to work on new photos, so I'm sharing this gorgeous pic from the Faroe Islands. Enjoy your Thanksgiving prep!

Lara has been in Dallas for several days with Kadey and Madeline having a spa/shop holiday. Meanwhile, I'm at home with the cats. Alas, the workers have started on our new roof and the cats do not like the noise. Bustopher is currently hiding in my clothes closet under a row of hanging shirts...

Ralph is flying back from the Philippines today, weather permitting (it's still terrible), so fingers crossed, everyone. Meanwhile, here's a lovely double rainbow photo from the Ralph Archives.

Yesterday was National Adoption Day, so I (unwittingly) posted about the world's most famous fictional adoptee. I liked that last summer's movie emphasized that although Krypton gave him powers, he is who he is because he was raised by two loving Kansas farmers. www.amazon.com/Superman-War...

Thanks to everyone who responded to my free book offer (which is still active one more week—Pre-order The Superman Wars and I'll send you an autographed hardcover of my best novel, The Florentine Poet). The April release went up to #18 in Biographies on Amazon! www.amazon.com/Superman-War...

BIG THANKS to Steve Younis for mentioning my forthcoming book, The Superman Wars. It's about Jerry Siegel, the "originator" of the idea who wrote the strips while Joe Shuster drew them. If you think you already know everything about this story—you don't. www.supermanhomepage.com/new-book-the...

OIur beautiful orange cat Winifred escaped! Then late Wednesday night I saw Bustopher rush to the front door and press his nose against the window, screeching. Lara shouted, "It's Winnie!" So the cats are together and playing again, and Bustopher has reminded us that he's the best WatchCat ever.

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Ralph's birthday was Monday but I didn't post then because he was in a Philippines hospital. Turned out he had kidney stones. He's fine now and photographing to make up for lost time. He spent most of that hospital time making graphics and AI videos. Even in pain, he didn't lose his sense of humor.

Harry recently returned from a trip to Laos. He described it as one of the most beautiful places he's visited, full of lush green landscapes and waterfalls and ancient temples. I've attached some photos. If you'd like to see more, visit his YouTube channel! www.youtube.com/@burnheartsw...

Alice had her gall bladder removed about three weeks ago, but I'm pleased that she's recovered and is back to her habit of walking Turkey Mountain trails every day after work. I like walking with her because she's consistent and energetic and doesn't require small talk.

ONE WEEK ONLY, if you pre-order my forthcoming book, The Superman Wars, I will personally send you a copy of The Florentine Poet (by far the best novel I've ever written) in hardcover and autographed! After you pre-order Superman, send me an email: [email protected]. www.amazon.com/Superman-War...

Ralph is in the Philippines and has seen first-hand all the devastation they are suffering, floods and typhoons (one caused his plane to suffer terrible turbulance). He asked me not to share some of the photos because he didn't want to be insensitive, but I think these will tell the story.

The William Bernhardt Newsletter is completely free! You can subscribe by visiting Substack and searching for it, or by clicking the link. Desperate to know who my favorite Disney character is and why? There's also some stuff about books in there... williambernhardt.substack.com/p/william-be...

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The Superman Wars, is now available at online stores. This is the story of Jerry Siegel, the man who invented Superman and with his friend Joe Shuster produced the original stories, only to lose control of the character... But there's a lot more to it than that. www.amazon.com/Superman-War...

Lara and I and Kadey and Joe attended the Billie Eilish concert last night. She put on a terrific show, and we were on the floor, up close and personal. We could feel the heat from the fire jets and got sprayed with confetti. Very entertaining evening with a performer who is making her own rules.

Here's my November Superman Minute: Superman inventor Jerry Siegel created "K-Metal," a chunk of the home planet that was deadly to the hero... All this and more in my forthcoming nonfiction book, The Superman Wars: A Battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. www.amazon.com/Superman-War...

Well, it's November, so Ralph is once again photographing squirrels, the subject that won him the Washington Post award. Here's his first official squirrel portrait of 2025.

One more Halloween post! Ralph has always loved animals, but sometimes I'm surprised by how much they love him! Here he is innocently setting out Alice's exquisite carved pumpkins for Halloween...when a bird lands on his head. I think my reaction would've been much more dramatic!

An annual Halloween tradition—showing off Alice's carved pumpkins. She did all the work freehand. I particularly like the very literary Headless Horseman art. I'm also posting a pic of Ralph handling treat of treat duties so you could see how great the pumpkins looked outside.

Since she's appropriately pumpkin orange, we're letting Winifred wish you a spooooooky Halloween! (Photo by Ralph Bernhardt)

I don't know how I missed this, but apparently yesterday was National Cat Day. Bustopher was very disturbed that he wasn't featured in my social media posts. See the look he gave me, with those big sad eyes? So I'm compensating today. (Photo by Ralph Bernhardt.)

Did you know Superman helped build the Hubble Space Telescope? Pete Simmons was having trouble getting Congress to approve it. DC agreed to include the telescope in a story. Pete distributed copies of the comic to every senator. And in 1977, they approved the telescope. Superman saved the day!

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I'm mourning my friend and fellow writer Jon Meyers, who died unexpectedly yesterday. He co-wrote the nonfiction book Writer Better Together and was very proud of having finished his first novels. We will miss his enthusiasm and knowledge, but mostly we will remember him as a warm, generous friend.

Yesterday we celebrated my mother's 97th birthday. I'm pleased to say she's still walking and just as smart as ever. She requested no gifts so we all brought homemade cards. The group photo has, from left to right, Alice and several of my nieces and nephews, Michael, Elizabeth, Corey and Lane.

Alice and I have been in Orlando the past few days. We had great time. I enjoyed seeing DisneyWorld decorated for Halloween. And meeting characters (you can tell Alice is my daughter because she's wearing a Superman t-shirt). But the highlight was hanging with my Main Duck.

Lara is in Connecticut visiting Madeline and Beth. Sounds like they're having a great time, going to pilates and Mystic pizza and shopping and apple picking and getting attacked by insects. Yes, you read that right. Lara was minding her own business when the mantis attacked her. Can you spot it?

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The Superman Wars PR has officially begun thanks to Kara Kavensky and her Record Scratch podcast. We talked about Jerry Siegel, the inventor of Superman, his struggles, and why I can relate profoundly to his life.You can get this anywhere, but you can also listen here: www.karakavensky.com/podcasts/

My always industrious son Ralph was sorting through some storage boxes and found a treasure trove of old photos. This one is from 1991, when I was trekking through the Annapurna range of the Himalayas (something Harry also would do about 27 years later). I was never more tired in my life.

Congratulations to my dear friend Barry Friedman on the publication of the third book in his "four-book trilogy" with the usual unpublishable title. This collection of affectionate and hilarious anecdotes about his late father is, in my opinion, the best volume yet. www.amazon.com/Jack-Sh-Im-F...

Yesterday, Lara and I attended the Grand Opening of a new indie bookstore in Moore, OK—The Last Page. Charming little book nook. If you're going to the Warren Theater, stop there first. Support indie bookstores!

Consider this my Superman Minute, leading to the release of my book The Superman Wars on April 28.Jerry Siegel had no idea what he started when he named Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. After that, almost every significant character in Superman's life had the same initials. www.amazon.com/Superman-War...

Lara and I saw Japanese Breakfast last night at the Tower Theater and had a great time. This was my first time at the Tower since it became a concert venue and my second time to enjoy a concert from a musician who has also penned a NYT-bestseller. Care to guess who the other NYT musician was?

Bustopher had to get his annual shots on Monday, so yesterday we was feeling pretty punk and spent most of the day in my lap. Fortunately, my laptop is quiet and i still managed to write two chapters. Don't you wish we all had someone we could flop across when we're not feeling well?

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What would I post if I didn't have Ralph sending me great stuff? He spent a long weekend with us and we had a great time, yakking and eating Qdoba bowls and watching obscure art films (like The Toxic Avenger). Here he's mixed together two of his favorites—Lovecraft and ALF.

I got a surprise as I unloaded the groceries. I think this look means, "There's no cat food in this bag..."