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

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 We went over my superhero series, Axiom-man Saga, superhero and zombies as a metaphor, zombie fiction, my unpublished novel, how Keith Gouveia turned Coscom Entertainment into a traditional press, Bruce Lee, and lots more.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.

I debated whether I should post this or not, but then I figured, hey, can’t hurt and maybe someone out there will be inspired by this. This isn’t to brag or anything. In fact, that’s not the point here. So, after a harrowing couple of weeks of doing taxes, I finally was able to learn how many copies of my own books I sold last year. This doesn’t include anthologies I edited or any collaborations. Just stuff that I wrote and no one else.

1889 copies–if I did my math right–is what I sold across the board.

Is it a good number?

I think it is, and I consider myself blessed, for the following reasons:

- a solid portion of that number were paperbacks, in an age when eBooks are all the rage and, in my opinion, the easy way to self-publish. To be clear, I love eBooks and use the technology, but to be able to move a solid amount of paperbacks in a world where the standard bookstore is disappearing, I’m doing okay.
- half my catalog is superhero stuff–check that–independent superhero stuff, a genre that, on the whole, isn’t very popular, yet I moved a fair amount of books in the Axiom-man Saga last year.
- I don’t write “popular” or “fan-favorite” books like thrillers, suspense, erotica or romance (before you say anything, the love stories I do as Peter Fox are different and are not romance) I just write what I like.
- my main channel is the Internet, with some outside stuff like bookstores and conventions

Would I like to sell more? Of course, but almost 1900 copies of some independently-produced books is way better than the 200-or-less-copy average most self-published books sell over the course of their lifetime.

My goal for this year is to hit at least 5000. Are you willing to help? If so, there are a host of book links on either side of this webpage, Kindle on the left, paperbacks on the right. Thanks in advance for any and all support.

Hope everyone is having a good week. Me? My brain is mush from all the tax work, but I feel really good knowing I’m dropping everything off at the accountant’s tomorrow. Tonight I plan on taking it easy and spending time with my wife and kids.

Massive Kindle sale: AXIOM-MAN Superhero Novels on Sale for Just .99 Cents Each!

From Axiom-man Central:

For a very short time I’m offering my superhero novel series, The Axiom-man Saga, for just .99 cents a book for the Kindle. That’s a crazy discount, but I really want to spread the word about the character so I figure offering it cheap is the best way to do that.

Master link to The Axiom-man Saga on Kindle: http://amzn.to/gJd47V

Here’s a list of what’s available is (again, for just .99 cents, listed in reading order). I’ve also put an abridged synopsis beneath each title. Just click on the thumbnail to download your copy.

Axiom-man:

One night Gabriel Garrison was visited by a nameless messenger who bestowed upon him great power, a power intended for good. Once discovering what this power was and what it enabled him to do, Gabriel became Axiom-man, a symbol of hope in a city that had none.

First Night Out:

The messenger has fled, leaving Gabriel alone with mysterious abilities he knows little about. As he embarks on the path of discovery, Gabriel must try to understand why he was chosen to receive the most powerful of all gifts and, with the help from no other, come to a decision as to what to do with them. Even if it takes the death of an innocent to convince him.

Doorway of Darkness:

Gabriel Garrison’s secret identity has been compromised and the timing cannot have been worse. Redsaw has become more powerful than when Axiom-man last fought him, and he has determined to attain unstoppable power through the only means he knows how: murder. Chaos ensues and Axiom-man must find the means to stop Redsaw before the whole world is swallowed in a web of death.

Black Water (short story):

Bodies litter the sand of a friendly beach. Axiom-man flies down to Florida to investigate only to discover this isn’t your average series of murders. Something else caused the deaths of these innocent people, and something else has caused them to rise. Something unnatural, perhaps even supernatural. Something . . . from beneath the ocean’s black water.

Of Magic and Men (comic book):

For a time, people were going 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.

The Dead Land:

A young boy goes missing. No clues. Nothing except the remnants of a black cloud, like the one coughed up from inside the Doorway of Darkness. A black cloud that takes Axiom-man to a world not his own. A dead world, where a gray and brown sky shrouds an entire city in a miasma of decay. The streets are empty. The young boy is nowhere to be found. Those he does find…are dead. And walking.

A full synopsis of each story is at the links above.

What’s also cool is you don’t need a Kindle Reader to read these books! Amazon has a free Kindle app available for a ton of devices, everything from your PC to your Blackberry to your iPad and more! Here’s the link to whatever you need: http://amzn.to/hJG7t1

Again, the .99 cent deal is only going to be on for a short time so please jump on this as soon as possible. I’ve been known to change prices within days of announcing a sale.

I hope you enjoy The Axiom-man Saga. It’s the most favorite thing I do and it’s my hope my love for superheroes really shines through its pages.

Recommended for fans of Spider-Man, Superman and Batman.

Here’s the master link to the entire saga once again: http://amzn.to/gJd47V

Thanks again.

If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you know that for the past week or so I’ve been drawing a comic book. If you haven’t read or heard any interviews with me, then you won’t know that comics was my first choice of profession. As life went on and the animation school I attended didn’t deliver on teaching its students, I withdrew from my art and focused solely on writing. The plan for Coscom Entertainment was always to self-publish my stuff. At first comics, then books. Now Coscom is a traditional book and comic publisher as I now publish other folks’ material.

For the past few years I’ve really wanted to get back into comics. There have been a few false starts (most due to restrictions on time), but for the past, I don’t know, half year or so, I’ve been into comics big time again and having been soaking up inspiration everywhere I can.

Upon reflection–and I’ve said this many times over the years, actually–I’m all about comics. Even my books and writing are about comics. I have my Axiom-man Saga, a superhero novel series. I have my Undead World Trilogy, which–and I just got a two-star review on Amazon criticizing it for being such–is a zombie comic told in book form (hence why I took no offense to the review); my recurring villain Magic Man, whose a comic book villain if there ever was one and who also faced off against Axiom-man in Axiom-man: Of Magic and Men.

Talk to the guys I talk shop with and they’ll tell you that superheroes and comics come up in our conversations time and time again.

Comics. The foundation of all I do here at Coscom Entertainment in some way, shape or form.

That said, I decided to really buckle down and get to work on making comics again. I’ve only ever completed one full comic book (featuring Axiom-man before he was Axiom-man; just found this in my archives the other day, in fact), but have loads of artwork around the office and in storage showcasing my love of a genre that has been part of my life in some way since I was three years old. Maybe even before.

The name of my project? Canister X, so named after this website and, like this website, is a kind of A.P. Fuchs experience, everything ranging from writing to publishing to comics to superheroes to zombies, and more. Now the book isn’t all scattered like that. It is autobiographical and filtered through fiction, and at the same time brings in elements from my fantasy world of Axiom-man and whatnot into the “real world” of the comic. When I wrote the script, I thought, Wow. This is really good. If I pull this off beyond just the words, this is going to be super cool. And as I draw it, especially after the page I drew today (Pg. 7), I’m feeling that vibe even more. I realize doing a comic about me really comes off as vain. I actually make fun of that in the book. But I believe the presentation takes the spotlight off me and onto the story, where it matters most.

As a sneak peek into the project, I give you a picture of the first three penciled and inked pages to Canister X No. 1. They are not yet lettered and not yet colored in grayscale. The final pieces, when done, should be really cool. These finishes, of course, won’t be tackled until the 20 pages of comic is done and the pages are shrunk down via photocopier then scanned.

Here you go (and, yes, I intentionally left the image small):

Canister X No. 1, Pgs. 1-3

The Axiom-man Saga has been made available for eBook readers in various downloadable formats at Smashwords.com

The best part? They’re less than $2 each. That’s good readin’ for dirt cheap.

Click on the thumbnail below to be taken to the book’s page over at Smashwords.com (displayed in reading order).

Thanks.