Canister X – A.P. Fuchs: Zombie and Superhero Novelist, Blogger, Superhero and Horror Movie Reviews

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4 out of 5

It is called the All Spark. Powerful. Incredible. Able to create robotic life and destroy it just as quickly.

On Cybertron, a planet far, far away, a war arose when a robot named Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, wanted the power of the All Spark for himself. Optimus Prime and his band of Autobots rose up against him and their battle destroyed their homeworld, sending the cube-shaped All Spark into space.

Lost.

The Autobots and Decepticons scoured the galaxy looking for it, knowing that whoever found it first would be the victor and would decide the fate of not just one world, but the universe.

The All Spark found its way to Earth, but not before Megatron tracked it there. It landed in the Arctic, and Megatron was frozen there until found later on by Captain Witwicky, explorer.

Decades later, his grandson, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), needs a car and after visiting a used-car dealer ends up coming home with an old Chevy Camaro. Little does he know the car is more than meets the eye and lurking beneath its yellow shell is an Autobot named Bumblebee. It’s not long till Sam finds out and is thrust into a robotic world where two teams of giant robots compete to find the All Spark.

Joining Sam is his high school crush, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), whom reluctantly is dragged on this journey with him but soon finds herself getting interested in this guy who she barely knew existed.

It’s robot vs robot in this giant epic of good vs evil, fireballs, bullets and vehicles that are more than meets the eye.

What can I say? When I heard they were taking the Transformers from my childhood and lifting them from the cartoon to “real life,” I was ecstatic. I was also concerned because I knew it’d take a crazy amount of CGI to make it happen, and not just any CGI either—good CGI. The last thing I wanted was for a bunch of cartoony robots with rubbery parts dominating the screen.

Boy, was I shocked when I saw Bumblebee transform and tower over all, shining his spotlight into the sky, or when Optimus Prime showed up and that glorious digital transformation sound roared and he stood proud, huge and detailed.

This stuff was real, and it looked like the makers of this movie actually made real Autobots and Decepticons to make it happen.

Good times.

Storywise, yeah, I liked it. The alien invasion thing worked. Very well done. Same with the notion that, unlike the cartoons (from what I recall), the Autobots had a vow of secrecy to keep themselves hidden from the humans while they searched for the All Spark.

Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky was funny, same with Kevin Dunn as his father.

The story also bodes well for a sequel, which has now come and gone, with more stories in the works. If you’re going to go epic, like Transformers did, you’re going to need more than one. Last I heard, they’re doing 5 or 6 of these things. Me? I’m all for it. I go into these things expecting a good time and not some life-altering film where, years later, I look back and see it as a turning point for me. Transformers is just that: a good time, and one that tickled my inner fanboy.

More than meets the eye? You betchya!

I’m on Christmas/New Year’s break right now and won’t be back into my regular routine until Jan. 11.

Normally, I’m plugged into the Internet 6-7 hours a day.

Since 1pm-ish Dec. 24, I’ve only been plugged in a grand total of roughly 6-7 hours, most of that being for my own leisure, Twittering, updating this blog, etc. I admit, I have done a bit of work, but I’m trying to honestly-and-for-real take a break as I haven’t had one in roughly 2 and a half years.

I got to tell you that it’s real peaceful to be withdrawn from constantly being wired in, especially since these days so much of the world depends on the Net, social networking, emails and more.

To be honest, a part of me has forgotten what it’s like to communicate with real, breathing people. Most of the time my communications are via words either in email, Twittering, this blog, and message boards. I speak without opening my mouth and spend 98% of my time alone.

Friends came into town over the past couple weeks. Got to see them. Had fun. But I had a hard time getting involved in the conversation and conveying my thoughts verbally. If you surveyed these guys, you’d quickly learn that had never been a problem before, but nowadays, since so much of my time is spent “virtually living” and only socializing with folks outside my family a handful of times a year–I’ve forgotten how to relate to real human beings.

I’m not complaining because I love my job and wouldn’t have it any other way, but perhaps, if anything, I just want to suggest that if you’re a Cyber addict or are constantly on your Blackberry, consider just unplugging for a while and getting back into the swing of relating to folks the old-fashioned way: by talking, by listening, by spending time together and doing more than just typing on a keyboard or a smartphone.

This holiday has been good to me that way so far. It’s nice to get back in touch with life and pull free of Web dependency and network addiction.

Peace.

Just found out today that McNally Robinson, a large bookstore here in Winnipeg, is closing its doors on Sunday. It started with two locations, one in Grant Park Shopping Mall (the bookstore’s huge) and a smaller one at the downtown mall, Portage Place. The Portage location moved in April of 2008 to the Polo Park mall.

It was a nice store. I even had a booksigning there in November of 2008. Lots of fun. Sold a bunch of books.

Now that store is closing its doors, putting 100 people out of work.

The cause? There were a few factors, according to today’s article in the Winnipeg Free Press. One was that sales were down for the whole store and not enough was being brought in to keep the doors open (McNally’s has even gone so far as filing for bankruptcy protection). The second was online book sales were taking part of their market. It was also stated in the article that their moving their store during 2008′s recession/economic downturn wasn’t a smart move.

To be honest, I’m really split feelings-wise over this store closing. I genuinely feel bad for those who are now out of work as a result of this, especially since most, if not all, who worked there were probably bigtime book lovers and the thought of working anywhere else where books aren’t a part of their job is probably terrifying. The other part of me is happy, in the context that the closing of this store proves what I’ve been saying for years in that the traditional way books are being sold is changing rapidly, with brick and mortar stores now only one of many outlets for buying books and no longer the sole way to get them. More and more online bookstores are becoming the places where folks shop for books. Also, as the Free Press article stated, eBooks were also to blame for this store’s closing. According to that article, online bookstore giant Amazon.com stated that on Christmas Day eBooks outsold their paperbacks. How crazy is that? The Kindle was a big deal this Christmas, so no doubt new Kindle users were downloading books left, right and center.

Reading these kinds of things, as said, leave me torn. I’m sorry for those negatively affected by these changes. I’m also glad that myself, Coscom Entertainment and my authors are in on the ground floor of these changes, using new media and technology to reach readers in new ways. Case in point: Coscom Entertainment has sold many thousands of books this year across all formats thanks to utilizing non-traditional systems of marketing and book formatting. I’m very proud of what we’re achieving here at Coscom and I’m hoping for the sake of the industry and those working for it that booksellers will keep adapting to these changes. Such a move would bode very well for the small press. In fact, just this past Christmas Eve, I was talking with someone who is an avid reader and she said she was sick of mainstream fiction, most of it, she said, feeling very cookie-cutter in nature. I told her about the small press and how, though we do take market into consideration, we don’t have to adhere to formulas in storytelling and can pretty much tell whatever story we want without fear of making things more “like the last one” just for the sake of sales. It’s my hope that after that conversation I have turned a new person to the small press, a place where stories aren’t like what you find in your regular bookstore, ones that are more risky, explore unusual themes and bring a breath of fresh air to old or familiar ideas.

The Internet has changed bookselling big time, as McNally’s closing can attest to. The selections available is mind-blowing. You can pretty much find anything you want nowadays thanks to those presses who take advantage of new media to create and market their titles.

I challenge you in 2010 to do two things:

- seek out niche areas of fiction, ones that you’d really love to read about, and purchase those books in a format of your choosing
- suggest those titles and their ISBN numbers to your local booksellers and encourage them to not just bank on mass market houses for their titles but also to give small press titles a try

It’ll help the businesses on both ends because not only will the publishers and authors of those books benefit, but the store will too because the moment a small press author finds out their title is carried by a traditional brick-and-mortar store, they will refer anyone who’ll listen to them to go there and buy that book and who knows what else they might find there while seeking that book out.

I used to freak out over not being part of the mass market system. Nowadays, I consider myself an Internet/New Media publisher/writer and am thrilled that more and more readers are seeking other avenues to get the stories they want to read. The traditional system that I once so coveted is now not particularly desireable to me.

All I can say is that it’s been a wild ride and I’m excited to see what happens next!

Merry Christmas, folks! Hope everyone has a good time tonight, tomorrow and on Boxing Day.

Eat, drink, be merry. Just don’t get sloshed so your holidays are nothing but a blank!

This morning my four-year-old came into our room and lay down beside us. I reminded him that Santa Claus was coming tonight.

“Does he have a key to our house?” my son asked.

“No,” I said. “He comes in through the chimney.”

My son thought about it for a moment. “Does he smash it and come down?”

“No, he doesn’t smash it. He just goes down it.”

My son thought about it again. “That’s dangerous.”

I love the reasoning of a child, their thought processes and, despite how “simple” we sometimes think they make things, there is wisdom in that and their simplicity in viewing the world is something we can all learn from. Our lifestyle nowadays dicates everting as go-go-go, info-overload, press-a-button-and-we’re-immediately-entertained, me-first-you-next, be-pretty-or-die, if-it-feels-good-do-it–and, ultimately, never leaves us satisfied, which is why we keep doing the things we do, constantly going back to the well, hoping the water will finally quench our thirst.

The simplicity of child-like wonder and belief–Mom and Dad say something is so . . . and it’s final. When you and I were young, if our parents told us something, we accepted it and moved on. If we wondered why something was, we knew that even if we didn’t understand it, Mom and Dad knew best (even everything) and we called it good.

A little over 2000 years ago the greatest event in the universe occurred in the most simplest of places: an old stable. God became a man, inserting Himself into the human race on a rescue mission to save us from our “me-first” selves. It was, after all, our me-first seeking that brought sin upon us and is the root of every single thing you and I do wrong each day. And we would all agree that selfishness is never a good thing and has caused more problems than any other. Sadly, we don’t change because we’re too full of pride to admit we’re selfish, and the cycle continues.

Thank God He came into this world to set us free. Thank God He came to show us a better way. Thank God He came to save us . . . because He knew what was best for us. If you believe in Jesus, if He is indeed your Lord, then I don’t have to tell you the why of God’s redemption makes sense. Why He came as He did. Why He reigns on High and simply wants to be friends with those He created.

But if you don’t believe and this Holiday Season is just about friends, family and giving–and especially if you’re all alone this Christmas–I challenge you to just simply believe the Father in Heaven and take Him at His word even if you don’t understand it. You did it when you were a kid and, as time went on, you learned that Mom and Dad were right about what they said. I challenge you to just simply believe on Jesus like a child. Today. Right now.

As time goes on, you’ll learn that He was right, too.

Why not just believe and understand what tonight and tomorrow are all about? Instead of going me-first this year, let’s go you-first and me-last. C’mon, I’ll do it with you.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

R.I.P., a young adult zombie novel by Harrison Howe, is now available at the following on-line retailers:

Paperback:

Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Amazon.co.uk
Barnesandnoble.com
Other On-line Retailers

eBook:

Amazon Kindle
Drivethruhorror.com
Mobipocket.com

Synopsis:

Be careful what you wish for . . .

Lonely, overweight Billy Barton’s birthday has come except he has no friends to share it with. So he wishes upon a shooting star for a friend and is almost immediately granted his wish. His friend: a zombie named RIP.

Chaos and blood-soaked mayhem ensues as Billy, with RIP’s help, seeks to level the playing field between him and the school bullies who make fun of his weight. But all is not what it seems, and when a new girl arrives at the school who piques Billy’s interest, it soon becomes apparent that RIP has an agenda of his own.

What Folks Are Saying:

“R.I.P.‘s mad cocktail of Night of the Living Dead, After School Specials, and coming-of-age drama is sure to plaster lunatic grins on the faces of horror fans of all ages.”

- Lorne Dixon, author of The Lifeless and Snarl

“Harrison Howe has crafted a hilarious, action-packed, and occasionally moving ‘be careful what you wish for’ tale.”

- Tom Piccirilli, author of A Choir of Ill Children

“Harrison Howe takes readers on a fast, funny, and gruesome ride. R.I.P. is a treat for twisted kids of all ages.”

- Lee Thomas, Lambda Literary Award- and Bram Stoker Award-winning author of In the Closet, Under the Bed and The Dust of Wonderland

“Harrison Howe writes as if he’s channeling nightmares, which, for ordinary writers wouldn’t be possible, but because Harrison is no ordinary writer, it works achingly well.”

- T.M. Wright, author of Blue Canoe

The last Coscom Entertainment release: Alice in Zombieland

For our full list of books, please see: www.coscomentertainment.com

The Winnipeg Free Press ran my Letter to the Editor in today’s paper.

I searched for it online so I can share it here, but to no avail.

However, if you got the Free Press today, it’s on the Opinion page, roughly in the middle of it.

It’s very much a shortened version of what I wrote (and I have no control over how they edit it), but still, it was cool to see my name in the paper since it’s been awhile, and also Coscom Entertainment mentioned.

For the full unabridged version, you can read it here.

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4 out of 5

When military partners Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) get involved in the super covert ultra team G.I. Joe thanks to botching up supervising the delivery of nano-mite war-heads on behalf of the US Army, they join the team to try and track the war-heads down before they’re unleashed on the world. To make things even more difficult for Duke, his ex-girlfriend, Anastasia “Ana” DeCobray (Sienna Miller), also the “Baroness,” is part of the team responsible for stealing the nano-mite war-heads, and he is torn between trying to figure out what happened to her and also doing the right thing not just for his country, but for the whole world.

Yet Duke and Ana aren’t the only ones with a past. Opposing ninja warriors Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) go back to when they were children and trained under the same sensei. It wasn’t until a tragic event in their youth drove the two apart, only to meet now, years later, and settle their conflict once and for all.

With only the safety of the world resting in the hands of the best of the best of the best, team G.I. Joe has their work cut out for them as they try to save the world from the rising C.O.B.R.A.

This movie is lightning. Seriously. Right from the first minute straight through to the last this sucker moves at breakneck speed with non-stop action, fireballs, lasers, bullets, super-powered armor, kung-fu, car chases, car crashes, aerial battles and a whole ton more.

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a movie where I felt like I was moving at the speed of light and G.I. Joe delivers that in spades. I went in expecting an action movie. I got it. I went in expecting a military movie. I didn’t get that but instead got something between the Avengers, Desert Storm and James Bond. It didn’t feel like an army movie and for that I was thankful because, though I like history and military fiction, I have a hard time watching army movies. Don’t know why. Just can’t get into them. Also, all that olive green is nauseating after a while. Thank goodness that stupid color is absent in G.I. Joe. They wear black, thank you very much.

The overall plot was cool. The problem was the pace. It was just way too fast. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the flashback sequences throughout the movie and even the fact the movie starts off in 1641 instead of the present day. More specifically, I was impressed the flashback sequences didn’t happen to just one character, but to several, each segment adding to that character’s history and giving us something more than a man or woman with an agenda. We actually get to understand their motivations because we get to be there with them and see how they came to be what they came to be.

There was something else I had a hard time buying, but I’ll leave it there because I don’t want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen it yet.

In the end, this film delivered a lot and truly embodied the idea of “rise of the cobra.” There was origins galore, the ones not mentioned above being Destro and the Doctor. There will no doubt be a sequel because there’s obviously way more story to tell.

Rating this film was tough because there’s no way to be critical of it without coming off unfair. I mean, really, the effects were 5 out of 5. No challenge there. The explosions alone were awesome never mind the Eiffel Tower falling, the nano-mite green mist effect, those blue electro pulses–craziness. The story? Well . . . how’s 3 sound? Yeah? Okay. Tell you what: I’ll meet you halfway and we’ll settle on 4. Cool? Cool.

Oh and one more thing . . .

Go Joe!

The official Iron Man 2 teaser trailer has been released.

It’s really cool and it’s right here.

Enjoy.

On December 15, 2009, David Curtis wrote in to the Winnipeg Free Press expressing his dismay over the lack of titles available for Amazon’s Kindle, a hot new item here in Canada, and something as an independent publisher I stand behind completely.

Here’s what I emailed to the Free press this morning in reply:

In response to David Curtis’s letter dated December 15 regarding the lack of titles available for Amazon’s Kindle to Canadian customers, I utterly agree with his statement.

To be clear, I am not a Kindle user. It is on my wishlist, but I have yet to take the plunge. However, I am more than familiar with them and their formats because as an independent, Winnipeg-based publisher (Coscom Entertainment), I’m creating Kindle titles all the time, and Kindle sales have proven healthy for our bottomline.

I do agree with Amazon that other publishers are to blame for the lack of titles available in Canada because they are the ones who buy certain rights from authors at the point of a manuscript’s sale. Why any publisher–US-based or otherwise–would forgo the market the Kindle allows is beyond me. See, as a house that operates primarily outside of traditional marketing channels and relies heavily on the Internet and the digital revolution for book sales, the embracing of new technology is what we do. Anyone who publishes independently and/or in the small press will tell you the same.

I’ve been saying it for years and I’ll gladly say it again: there’s a war going on right now between the old way of how books are published, and the new. The traditionalists typically stick to the old system of distribution, whereas those of us who enter the publishing arena on our own terms sometimes need to create our own rules or lead the charge in terms of innovative ways to market our titles.

Since Coscom Entertainment committed to embracing new technology as it comes along, we’ve seen a 1000% increase in our bottom line. No, that’s not a typo. It’s called progress and, sadly, US-based houses that aren’t taking advantage of all that devices like the Kindle have to offer will miss out in the long run.

Mr. Curtis was right that it is upsetting and I hope, for the sake of the industry, that other publishers large and small will wisen up and get their books out to readers in as many ways and formats as possible.

I’m proud to say Coscom Entertainment’s catalog is available for the Kindle and is available to Kindle users wherever they live.