Canister X – A.P. Fuchs: Zombie, Paranormal Romance and Superhero Novelist, Blogger, Artist, Publisher

“Spot” of the book blog See Spot Read has posted her interview with me along with her review of Discovery of Death, the first book in my Blood of my World vampire series. We talk about the Blood of my World books, of course, my biggest fears, advice to newbie writers, and more.

The interview is available here.

The review is available here.

Really glad she liked the book!

Completing some interviews that are due tomorrow. Working on pg 19 of the Axiom-man comic. Editing a book for Coscom Entertainment. Doing a little bit of book marketing. A real odds and ends day today.

Wish I had more to say, but we can’t be brilliant all the time now, can we? haha.

Have a good one.

For a short time, all three Blood of my World books are available on the Kindle for just .99 cents each.

Thumbnails and a short synopsis below. Just click on the thumbnail to be taken to that book’s page on Amazon.

Grab a copy for yourself, your friends, family–.99 cents is a sweet deal for a book, and make great gifts.

When Zach goes missing for three months, Rose is heartbroken. Zach awakens in the dark of a coffin, his memory erased. A strange group of people who identify themselves as his family reveal he has become a vampire. Rose has also learned of her secret heritage: she comes from a long line of vampire slayers. It is only when her path accidentally crosses with Zach’s does love surface again.

Now submerged in the world of vampire slaying, Rose must come to terms with what that means for her relationship with Zach and if it’s even possible for the two of them to be together. Meanwhile, every moment spent with Rose helps bridge the gaps in Zach’s memory. The countdown begins and Zach and Rose must come to a decision as to where their loyalties lie.

Now disconnected from their families, Zach and Rose try and make it on their own away from the war between vampire and slayer. Is love enough? Before the two can find out, the vampire’s family comes for Zach and Rose, and the two are swept into a nightmare where there will be only one survivor.

Now and then music has a huge influence on my work. I recently blogged about the song that seemed to be the anthem for my Blood of my World series.

Back in 2003, when I wrote my love story, April (under the name Peter Fox), there was one album that I listened to over and over while writing it: Hard Candy by Counting Crows.

Below are a couple tracks/music videos for the songs that stand out most to me.

(Not recommended if you’re undergoing a breakup at the moment. Unless you find melancholy music soothing.)

“Hard Candy”:

“Up All Night”:

My job is weird, in that I usually have around 5 projects going on at once, all being worked on silmultaneously, then that bizarre day comes along where I begin chopping each one off my to-do list and get the book out there. I’m in that season now. After several crazy weeks of editing and creating, I’m at that place where I can start saying good-bye to the production side of some of what I’m doing. With each item getting knocked off the list, the more empty my day gets and it’s a strange feeling knowing that I can use a whole day to finish something task-wise instead of dividing my time and attention over 5 separate things.

Anyway, it’s also a nice season to recharge, reassess and reorganize so the next batch of 5 can get underway smoothly. A season that is needed to avoid burnout.

I will say that one of the things coming off my list is the Axiom-man comic book as this is almost completely penciled and inked.

From today, each tweet separated by ***:

Was I ahead of my time? Every argument I made for indie publishing years ago are now the anthems of many writers now, even midlisters.
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But at the same time, I think it’s gone too far. It’s becoming an “us and them” thing again, only the players are switching sides. Dangerous
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No one path is better than the other; it’s a case of one path being better for YOU personally. That’s the secret to #publishing success.
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Dear Reader: Are u aware of how your favorite writers act outside of the book of theirs you’re reading? Sometimes, I get woefully embarassed
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and sometimes I get really proud. Ahhh, the Internet, where anything goes and everyone’s an expert.
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‘Tis a dangerous beast we created, and by we, I mean people with math a technical skills far more advanced than my own. I have no idea how..
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…to make bits of metal and plastic talk to each other; how to send invisible info through the air; how to make that which is not alive…
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…think and process for me. Am I the only one scared by this? As cool as all this tech is, I can’t help but wonder if somewhere someone…
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…or something actually holds the tech cards to the world. The more ground we give to machines, the more of ourselves we lose. It’s true.
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Balance is everything in this day and age. So I employ you, put books on the scales. Read. Most people don’t. Reading will put you ahead of
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everyone else. Don’t believe me? Read random bits of writing and see how folks can’t spell stuff on grocery lists, to-do lists, notes for…
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loved ones, etc. We’ve given up our intellect to a world of entertainment, the kind that numbs our brains (i.e. TV, video games, and more).
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Not that those things are bad in and of themselves, but I fear for our younger generation. Big time. If you’re a parent, uncle, aunt, etc.
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teach the little ones to read, to do math without a calculator. You’ll raise leaders that way because they’ll have to take charge when…
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the others can’t because they weren’t trained to use their God-given brain. Have a kid that doesn’t like reading? Start them on #comics.
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It’s a beautiful and underrated medium. Then feed them more comics and prose works. They’re life will be all the richer for it.
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Feel free to comment. I gotta go bag me some zombies.

Cooking has been a big passion of mine for the past year and a half or so, and with each meal I create, I try and do something different, improving on my last outing by at least one point.

A lot of my inspirtation comes from Food Network, my favorite shows being Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Chopped, Kitchen Nightmares, Chef at Home, Iron Chef America, and a few others.

Triple-D is usually part of my nightly TV winddown, and a while back I saw the following segment and knew I just had to try the recipe for Lemonade Porkchops. I did, and, yes, it is amazing. It’s no joke. The flavors are big and bold, easy to make, and put to shame any of my previous porkchop attempts. I recommend you give the following recipe a try, and if you don’t want to make fresh lemonade like below, you can either mix lemon juice, water and sugar–to taste–or make it from a can.

Put this on your menu. It’s now a part of mine.

Johnny Saturn is a longtime-running webcomic by Scott and Benita Story. It’s an epic superhero tale with stellar art and a strong story, and while the book is called Johnny Saturn, it features a wide cast of other metahumans, their journeys and struggles.

Johnny Saturn: Synns Of The Father collects the first 5 issues of the series, when the evil Dr. Horatio Synn strikes and the aged Johnny Saturn has to step in and set him straight.

Please support a solid indie comic and grab a copy of this graphic novel. If you go to the website–and hopefully click on some banner ads while you’re there to support the comic–you’ll see this is a quality story that is a must-have on your shelf.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

Good morning,

Just a heads up that I’ll be on the BlogTalk Radio show, Secrets of the Avid Reader Blogger, today, starting at 3pm PST/5pm CST.

We’ll be talking about my new paranormal romance series, Blood of my World. Be sure to tune in, even call in and participate.

The direct link to the show is right here.

Hope to talk to you later.

Copyright 2010-2011 by A.P. Fuchs. All rights reserved.
46: Plastic Swords
The blade’s hard plastic tip connected squarely with the zombie’s temple, knocking his undead head to the side. It was enough of a distraction for him that I was able to push the creature to the side, get past him—only to be surrounded by three others: one in front, one to the left and right. I kicked to the right, getting myself some distance from the closest undead. The one on the left grabbed me, her filthy hands and sharp nails digging into my arm. With a quick twist of the waist, I managed to bring the plastic sword across the head of the one in front of me. His skin was so rotted around the neck that the blow was enough to knock his head off his shoulders. Talk about a break.
The light coming in from the door to the shop was mostly covered in shadow, undead bodies blocking the sweet scene of the empty street beyond. The girl who held me on the left pulled my arm close to her mouth. With a shout, I jerked my arm free from her grip, felt a hot sting across my bicep, adrenaline quickly wiping the pain away. Like a madman, I swung the sword left and right, hacking my way through the undead like a safari guide plowing my way through the jungle. Of course, the blade didn’t cut them down, but was sturdy enough to send them a step to the side, buying me enough room to push my way past them to the street beyond.
A gunshot went off in the distance. I whirled around; Jay sprinted toward me, lumbering zombies on his tail, something small and dark in his right hand.
When he caught up to me, he said, “I hate this.” That was all. I think he was my new King of the Understatement.
“We gotta go,” I said.
Jay dipped his head between his knees for a couple seconds, took a deep breath, then straightened. “God be with us.”
“No kidding.”
We ran down the street, the calls and moans of the dead rising behind us. A skyport was just off to the side down the next street. We headed there and hoped that folks had left a vehicle or two parked inside when the outbreak hit.
Each zombie that came our way, our first goal was simply to avoid them and run past. Except for the two near the skyport. The walls around the light gray, spiral-shaped garage were too high to climb. Two undead blocked the entrance though I doubted they actual realized that’s what they were doing.
Jay and I cautiously approached them and when the dead old geezer with skin that flaked off his face like dry pastry saw me, he raised his arms and came right at me, moving much faster than expected. I wound up my sword, ready to hit him as hard as I could.
A loud CRACK echoed through the air, rocking my insides. The old man’s head burst open at its top in a spray of blood and bone, and he fell to the ground. Another CRACK and a thud and the other undead was down, too. Jay stood by the one at his feet, raised his hand and showed me the gun.
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
“One of the dead had it. He got hold of me and as we wrestled, I noticed he was once an Enforcer. Old school, if he’s still using bullets. Could have been a ceremonial thing, for all I know. Doesn’t matter. I noticed the gun in the holster so fought into him to get my hands on it. Fortunately, it was still loaded. Blew his head off, too.” He said that last bit with a grin that made even me unsettled.
“How many shots left?”
Jay cracked open the old revolver and checked the cylindrical chamber. “Two.”
“Better keep them as last resort, then.”
“Good idea.”
More undead appeared down the street.
“Come on,” I said.
We jogged into the skyport and began the long, winding ascent through the lot, looking for abandoned zipscars or skyvans. On the third level, we found an old “hauler” tucked into the corner. Haulers were kind of like large skyvans meant for families with too many kids. They were also used as repair vehicles around the city for skylights and hoversigns.
Jay and I approached the vehicle with caution. He held the gun aloft; I had my sword ready, and suddenly felt like a kid trailing his daddy on a hunt with a toy just so he felt like could actually contribute something even though that wasn’t true.
We kept our heads below the back windows, one of us on either side of the rear door. With a slight nod to each other, we quickly peeked into the hauler’s windows.
It was empty. But was it open?
Jay checked the handle. Locked. We each took a side of the hauler and checked the other doors.
All locked.
We met up again at the vehicle’s rear.
“I need a break,” Jay said.
“Me, too.”
There was only one thing to do, then. I took the plastic sword and smacked it against the rear window. The sword bounced off.
“Nice,” Jay said.
“Hope this Sword of Omens isn’t trying to tell us anything.”
“A ‘Sword of What’?”
“Nothing.”
With a quick flick of his arm, Jay used the gun to bust open one of the back windows. He reached in and unlocked the door from the inside.
We got in and closed the door and caught our breath in the dark. After a few minutes, my racing heart finally slowed, and a sharp, heated sting ripped through my arm. I touched the skin and felt fresh blood on my fingers.
“Oh no,” I said quietly.
Jay cleared his throat. “What?”
“They got me.”
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