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

All righty, so we have about four months left in the year. Back at the beginning, I made you a list of all the personal projects I wanted to accomplish before year’s end. What I’ve learned is that even while you work like a dog to get things done, the way they get done isn’t always what you envisioned. However, I’m pleased to say I’ve delivered on almost all of what I mentioned back at the beginning of 2011.

This is where we’re at on my checklist.

Zomtropolis: Temp. hiatus. Paying projects first, like I’ve always said. There are some things (see below) that take priority and need completing before I can get back to the weekly schedule with this. Apologies to those who’ve been waiting. This book will be done.

Axiom-man Comic Book: In the coloring phase. Low priority because . . .

Axiom-man: City of Ruin: This needs to be done and published by Halloween weekend. Plan to go hardcore on it first two weeks of September and finish this badboy. For those following the saga, this will be a full-length adventure ala Axiom-man and Doorway of Darkness.

Redemption of the Dead (Undead World Trilogy, Book 3): Like last update, currently in idea phase. Just needs to be written. Book 2 was released 2 years after book one, so I figure I have a bit of leeway with this installment considering Book 2 was released October, 2010.

A Red Dark Night: Reissue The revised edition with a new cover was published this month.

Discovery of Death (Blood of my World Vampire Trilogy, Book 1): Published in April.

Romance of Death (Blood of my World Vampire Trilogy, Book 2): Published in April.

Life of Death (Blood of my World Vampire Trilogy, Book 3): Published in April.

Canister X Comics No. 1: 13 pages roughed and written. 7 more to go. Will be published by October 1. Wait ’til you see the cover.

Canister X Comics No. 2: Complete except for scanning. Canister X Comics will be published quarterly, this one due Jan. 1, 2012. However, I might just date the comic that and have it out for comic con anyway.

Canister X Comics No. 3: Done. Needs scanning. Same deal. Thinking of having the first three comics available for comic con, but not technically releasing them until their quarterly due date.

All in all, I’ve had a very productive year publishing-wise. And these are just my personal projects. For everything else I’ve had a hand in, take a look at the new releases at the Coscom Entertainment website.

Last weekend I picked up the Tragically Hip’s latest album, We Are the Same, for a mere $5 at HMV. Sweet deal. I’ve been listening to it non-stop all week. I posted one of the songs on this blog before, but below I put in a montage I found on Youtube, which I’m hoping you’ll enjoy as much as I do.

This band and their music makes me proud to be Canadian. They’ve pulled me through hard times, given me good times, and put on heck of a concert.

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-926712-90-1 eBook ISBN: 978-1-926712-91-8 “Fuchs is an exceptionally fluid writer with a keen inventiveness and proficiency sadly lacking in the works of many writers of today.” – Nicholas Grabowsky, author of Halloween IV and The Everborn Many summers ago, an evil presence known as a Bloodan visited Camp Silverway, a peaceful summer camp for teenage girls, and nearly killed a young girl named Shelly. Mary Thompson, a girl on a bunk bed near Shelly, watched as the creature made from blood and darkness, began to sink into Shelly and begin to feed. Through tears and cloudy vision, she also saw her friend rescued by a stranger in a black cape, with blue fire blasting from his hand. Never forgetting that night, Mary was tormented for years by the memory of what she saw, and now, twenty-two years later, she has returned to Camp Silverway as a camp counselor, trying to face her fear. However, what starts out as a fun summer soon comes to an end when not one, but several Bloodans return to the camp and begin killing again. As before, the man in the black cape, Tarek, reappears, yet he hasn’t aged a day since he rescued Shelly long ago. Shock upon shock ensues as Mary learns not only where the creatures and her hero come from, but also when. The Bloodans enclose the camp in a liquid red dome made of blood, and as everyone around her gets killed and the monsters multiply, Mary, her friend Sarah, and Tarek are left with no place to go. Except for maybe one.

Available as a paperback at: Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk Barnesandnoble.com Other On-line Retailers Available as an eBook at: Amazon Kindle Drivethruhorror.com Mobipocket.com Smashwords

The Last Coscom Entertainment Release: Eternal Unrest: A Novel of Mummy Terror by Lorne Dixon
For the Entire Coscom Entertainment Monster Fiction Catalog, please go to www.coscomentertainment.com

The other day I decided to widen my distribution on Sean Simmans’s and my 40-page comic book, Axiom-man: Of Magic and Men. I did the story. He did the art. Think Superman and Spider-Man meet Jigsaw from the Saw movies and that’s what it’s about. (But too be clear, my character, Magic Man, was around before the Saw films.) Now the comic is up at Amazon to make it easier for people to add to their collections.

Here’s the official synopsis:

For a time, people went missing, without a sign or trace as to their whereabouts. Then, for a time, they resurfaced, mutilated and broken, some with bizarre attachments surgically grafted onto their severed limbs. One name has surfaced as to the architect of these twisted acts of violence: the Magic Man. Axiom-man takes it upon himself to bring the Magic Man to justice, and uses the only bait he has to draw out this deadly maniac: himself. Welcome to the underground. 40 B&W pages.

Easy links to pick up the comic are:

Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
Barnes and Noble
Other On-line Retailers

Hope you snag a copy. Thanks.

Click Here to Order From Amazon.com

Jon F. Merz goes hardcore in this brief–but all-too important–guide on how to build your readership via Twitter.

And that’s the beauty of this eBook: it’s niche. This is about increasing your readership and overall eBook sales via Twitter, focusing on that one method of delivery. A “crash course,” if you want.

Look, I’ve been on Twitter a long time, and the sad truth about social media is–right now–there is no “for sure” way to do anything in terms of generating sales. Jon tells us this, so instead offers what’s worked for him. And if it’s worked for him, odds are it’ll work for many others who follow the advice in this book.

Everything is covered from how to sell your eBooks on Twitter, how to gain more followers, how to format your links and so on.

On a personal note, what I really appreciated was Jon not including any hype about the “eBook revolution.” As someone who’s been publishing eBooks for seven years, it drives me nuts when folks treat eBooks as a big deal and hype it up to the extent that it’s “go indie or bust.” Instead, Jon sits down with you over a cup of coffee–or maybe a beer due to how loose and relaxed he seems in this book–and just flat out says, “Hey man, this eBook thing is working out for me. Hadn’t always. Now it is. This is what I’ve done differently, and here’s where I’m at today.”

I’d recommend this book to anyone looking to sell eBooks more efficiently, quickly and properly on the Web.

Kudos to Jon for providing a down-to-earth guide on how to use Twitter to its utmost in every author’s quest to sell more books.

I’m blown away. Speechless blown.

This costume is perfect.

A breakdown:

- the S is nice and big, and has a classic design
- its a 3D S, but doesn’t look like it’s something he couldn’t hide beneath a shirt
- the cape is regal
- the colors are right
- the blue suit is detailed enough, perhaps a piece of Kryptonian technology
- his hair–though I’m partial to the combed-to-the-side-from-the-left look with a curl, this works as I suspect Clark will have his hair parted to further act as a disguise
- he looks big and powerful
- the red trunks seem to be gone; I’m old school so like the trunks on the outside
- he has an intensity that’s only appropriate for the Man of Steel
(Click for larger version)

The other week I was interviewed for The Genre Traveler podcast and the interview is now live.

We talked about how I got started in publishing, going from comic artist to writer to eventually a writer/publisher. We went over my superhero series, Axiom-man Saga, superhero and zombies as a metaphor, zombie fiction, my unpublished novel, how Keith Gouveia turned Coscom Entertainment into a traditional press, Bruce Lee, and lots more.

The interview is available here or by clicking the image above.

Unfortunately, there was a slight issue with the phone connection, but I listened in just now and it sounds pretty clear save for the occasional blip. Check it out, though. Probably one of my most favorite interviews I’ve ever done.

Thanks.