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

Those of you who are in my inner circle know that I keep very busy, usually with 7-8 projects on the go at any one time. Usually, those projects are not my own but those of whom I publish. Sometimes some of them are mine.

This year has been a hectic year, namely running from around July through September and into October in which I worked like a mad man, trying to get everything done for the C4 Comic Con. As a result, I burnt myself out and November was a hard month for me workwise. I’m anything but a lazy guy and in November I felt kind of empty inside, my drive and passion for what I do still there, but the desire to carry it out was muted. I was tired all the time. No matter how much sleep I got, it wasn’t enough. Something broke internally during the July – Sept. marathon and November was the month I paid the price for it.

Anyway, December was much more productive, and as we head into 2012, I’ve been thinking about what the beginning of the New Year will look like for me, both for my personal work and those that I publish. That said, I’m eager to get going, but am taking a Christmas break before getting back into the swing of things, ensuring I’m recharged to the max before going hardcore again.

As a starting point, I want to get back into daily blogging. I really enjoyed posting something daily for you guys and plan on getting back into that starting the New Year. Likewise, Zomtropolis will resume and will conclude. Free installments will be on Fridays like before. Then the book will be bigtime edited and prepped for publication. I’m still hoping to keep the book online for free once it’s done, whether as chapter-by-chapter like it is now, or a simple eBook download in a multitude of formats.

Also coming–I promise–will be the new Axiom-man book. I felt like a goon at C4 this year because I didn’t have a new Axiom-man story for the fans despite aiming to. Sure, I published a few new books this year, but Axiom-man is overdue for one–the last one, The Dead Land, was in 2008–so I need to get the latest adventure out before June 2012. I have to.

I also am going to wrap up The Undead World Trilogy.

Those aforementioned books are priority in 2012. Anything above and beyond that is bonus.

This is a little of what you can expect from me in the New Year.

In the meantime, Happy New Years, everyone. Hope it’s a good one. Stay safe. God bless.

Christmas has come and gone, but the Holidays are not over. Not when you can curl up with a good book and take a vacation between its pages.

Join us as we celebrate seven years in business with a Boxing Week sale from Coscom Entertainment!

All eBooks are 50% off at Smashwords, with most sitting in the $2.50 range.

Now’s a great chance to load up your Kindle, Nook or iPad with these great monster and superhero titles.

Book list, coupon codes and links below.

Thanks, and enjoy reading these discounted books, but hurry as the coupon is only good for one week and expires at the end of the year.

Coupon codes displayed after the book’s title and author.

A Red Dark Night: A Novel of Blood, Gore and Terror by A.P. Fuchs – DR33D
Animal Behavior and Other Tales of Lycanthropy: A Chilling Collection of Werewolf Horror by Keith Gouveia – UK46G
Anna Karnivora: A Vampire Novel by W. Bill Czolgosz – BN25J
April: A Love Story by Peter Fox – JM44Y
Axiom-man: A Superhero Novel (The Axiom-man Saga, Book 1) by A.P. Fuchs – NZ67X
Axiom-man: Doorway of Darkness (The Axiom-man Saga, Book 2) by A.P. Fuchs – KU48L
Axiom-man: First Night Out (The Axiom-man Saga, Episode No. 0) by A.P. Fuchs – BE35U
Axiom-man: The Dead Land: A Superhero/Zombie Thriller (The Axiom-man Saga, Episode No. 1) by A.P. Fuchs – EY48Y
Bigfoot War by Eric S. Brown – WU22N
Bigfoot War 2: Dead in the Woods by Eric S. Brown – QD32A
Bigfoot War 3: Food Chain by Eric S. Brown – XB84X
Blood of the Dead: A Zombie Thriller (Undead World Trilogy, Book 1) – SC39X
Born to Bleed: A Thriller by Ryan C. Thomas – UN38R
Children of the Dragon: A Fantasy Novel by Keith Gouveia – XT99W
Cult of the Damned (The Wraith Series, Book Three) by Frank Dirscherl – VR39R
Dead Science: A Zombie Anthology edited by A.P. Fuchs – ZQ26P
Don of the Dead: A Zombie Novel by Nick Cato – JT89H
Emma and the Werewolves by Jane Austen and Adam Rann- CC64A
Eternal Unrest: A Novel of Mummy Terror by Lorne Dixon – TZ24P
Flame of Surrender (The Ferryman and the Flame, Book One) by Rhiannon Paille – NN68D
Hound: The Curse of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Lorne Dixon – SF68N
Life of Death (Blood of my World Novella Three): A Paranormal Romance by A.P. Fuchs – QJ38H
Memories of Death (Blood of my World Novella Two): A Paranormal Romance by A.P. Fuchs – QJ52B
Metahumans vs the Undead: A Superhero vs Zombie Anthology edited by A.P. Fuchs – GU58K
Possession of the Dead: A Zombie Thriller (Undead World Trilogy, Book 2) by A.P. Fuchs – SK56N
Revolt of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (Death Puppet Trilogy, Book One) – VY65K
R.I.P.: A Zombie Novel by Harrison Howe – WS62N
Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers by Paul A. Freeman – PK65N
Snarl: A Werewolf Thriller by Lorne Dixon – UJ84F
The Black Cat and the Ghoul (Coscom Entertainment Monster Novella Series) by Edgar Allen Poe and Keith Gouveia – GU44Y
The Lifeless: A Zombie Thriller by Lorne Dixon – AT32F
The Summer I Died: A Thriller by Ryan C. Thomas – QS78Z
The Undead World of Oz: L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Complete with Zombies and Monsters by L. Frank Baum and Ryan C. Thomas – MD97P
The Weaponer (Coscom Entertainment Monster Novella Series) by Eric S. Brown – TS38V
The Wraith (The Wraith Series, Book One) by Frank Dirscherl – GK39Y
Valley of Evil (The Wraith Series, Book Two) by Frank Dirscherl – ZM55W
Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes: Zany Zombie Poetry for the Undead Head edited by A.P. Fuchs – VE42M
World War of the Dead: A Zombie Military Thriller by Eric S. Brown – HU49K
Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead by A.P. Fuchs – DP59A

I hope you all have an amazing day with family, friends and loved ones.

And if you’re alone this Christmas, or this time of year is difficult for you for any reason, remember that Christmas celebrates the One who came to Earth to connect with you and be with you. All you need to do is reach out and believe. Jesus’ll take care of the rest.

Merry Christmas.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and between that and Christmas day we celebrate the birth of Christ.

I’m a Christian, and though I write and publish darker material, most of my work has a Christian theme running throughout it, whether mildly or overtly.

A few years ago I was commissioned to write a story of Biblical speculative fiction for the anthology, Light at the Edge of Darkness. I did, and Undeniable was the result.

Now I am releasing this novella-length work as an eBook for the Kindle and/or other eReading device of your choice. If you don’t have one, you can download the Free Kindle app for your PC, iPhone, Blackberry, Android and more here.

And please don’t let the fact that it’s Christian fiction scare you. This is not rainbows and flowers, nor is it pulpit-preaching Christian fiction.

This is a story about a man willing to die for what he believes in, a story of angels and demons, a story of terror.

Thanks, Merry Christmas, and God bless you.

Undeniable by A.P. Fuchs is now available as an eBook at the following on-line retailers:

Amazon Kindle
Smashwords
Fictionwise

Synopsis:

When Duncan and his son Kyle are arrested for their faith, they are subjected to bloody and horrific torture that brings them to sanity’s edge and death’s door.

Physically broken and emotionally spent, the real threat is if they will finally break spiritually.

His eyes removed by his tormentors, Duncan is blind, and it’s only when he asks God to see again is it revealed to him what is really going on beyond the natural realm.

Amidst all the blood, the pain, and the hissing of demons, will Duncan break, or will he prove that Jesus is Undeniable?

Recommended for fans of Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker.

Just FYI, but I’ll be starting holidays this Friday beginning at noon CST, and will be resuming business as usual January 10.

That means:

- Zomtropolis will still be posting on Fridays during the break
- daily blog posts will probably cease and be replaced by sporadic blog posts
- Coscom Entertainment is on temp hiatus, however I will be checking email periodically
- I won’t be online as much but will probably still be Tweeting regularly

Thanks for spending your time here at his blog throughout 2010, and for your support in reading my books and those of Coscom Entertainment.

Can’t wait to get back into daily blogging starting in January.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

A.P. Fuchs Free Zombie Book Offer (Buy One, Get One)

Get an eBook PDF of Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead or Axiom-man (or both) for free!

All right, folks, here’s the deal:

Snag a copy of either Undead World Trilogy books, Blood of the Dead and Possession of the Dead by A.P. Fuchs in paperback, then email your receipt to coscomentertainment at gmail dot com and weI’ll email you back a free PDF of Fuchs’s Zombie Fight Night. If you grab BOTH books in the trilogy, then we’ll sweeten the deal by not only sending you a copy of Zombie Fight Night, but also a free PDF of Fuchs’s first Axiom-man novel as well.

Offer valid until December 4, 2010, so this is a good chance to get an early jump on Christmas shopping.

Just click on the thumbnails below or the links above to go to the books’ Amazon pages.

Thanks.

What are these books about?

Blood of the Dead (Undead World Trilogy, Book One)

One year ago, the world came to an end.

First came the rain.

Then came the screams.

Then came the undead.

The Haven became the only place in the city free of the walking dead. A place of community. A place to be safe.

Now, things have changed.

The zombies are coming to the Haven, seeking out the remaining survivors of the human race.

Joe Bailey prowls the Haven’s streets, taking them back from the undead, each kill one step closer to reclaiming a life once stolen from him. Billie Friday and Des Nottingham soon have Joe to thank for their lives.

As the dead push into the Haven, the trio is forced into the one place where folks fear to tread: the heart of the city, a place overrun with flesh-eating zombies.

They soon discover they are not the only humans there. After meeting an old man with a peculiar past, Joe and the others must make one last stand against the undead or unwillingly meet the same fate.

A desperate escape leads them to a place thought impossible to exist and to a discovery that will shake the future.

Welcome to the end of all things.

Possession of the Dead (Undead World Trilogy, Book Two)

Angels.

Demons.

Giant Zombies.

Things have changed.

Ever since returning through the Storm of Skulls to the present day, Joe, Billie and August have discovered the world they now inhabit, is not the world they left behind. The zombie threat has evolved to gargantuan proportions. Now aided by giant undead—massive monsters with phenomenal strength and power, with deadly appetites just as vast—the zombie population moves to devour any and all life.

Separated from his friends, Joe learns that not all hope is lost for humanity when he meets, Tracy, a woman who exudes a strength to rival his own. Tracy brings him to the Hub, an underground sanctuary where life continues in a dead world, but his thoughts linger on his missing friends.

August and Billie have problems of their own, and soon learn the same plight that affected a past friend of theirs now affects many: zombies with shapeshifting capability. Now, anyone is suspect. Yet even with this newfound knowledge, more is heaped upon them when the agenda of the undead is revealed and humanity is the one caught in the crossfire.

A war is raging, one between angels and demons, monsters and man.

And it’s only escalating.

Zombie Fight Night

In 2027 A.D., the Zombie Apocalypse took the world by storm and no one was prepared. Countless lives were lost as humanity battled to regain control of their planet. Eventually, they did, and out of the ashes of fallen civilization rose a new world, one bent on revenge against the hordes of the undead that took everything from them.

Enter Tony Sterpanko, entrepreneur extraordinaire who found a way to capitalize on humanity’s thirst for vengeance against the zombie. He created Zombie Fight Night, a worldwide craze where the undead men and women who remained from the apocalypse faced off against people and beings that once existed on Earth or were existing for the first time.

It is ten years later and at Blood Bay Arena, fortunes are won and lost. Men are made millionaires over night. Others are not so lucky and find themselves broken and destitute.

Mick Chelsey is one such man: gambling addict, lousy husband and Zombie Fight Night fanatic.

Except now, in order to still watch the fights and try to win back all he’s lost, he needs to bet fast and big otherwise death will come for him.

Let the battles begin.

Zombies fight Bigfoot, werewolves, vampires, Axiom-man, Bruce Lee, samurai, kickboxers, robots and more in this ode to blood-and-guts action from Blood of the Dead author, A.P. Fuchs.

You ready to get it on

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.

One night after a routine patrol, a mysterious black cloud appears over the city. Flying over to investigate it, Axiom-man is stopped short when the cloud’s presence shakes him to the core. An electrifying fear emanates from the cloud and he can barely get near it. Quickly, the cloud takes flight and leads him on a wild goose chase throughout the city, only to flee from him in the end. Almost immediately after the cloud’s appearance, a new hero arises, Redsaw, clad in a black cape and cowl. The people, now enamored with this new super-powered marvel, seem to have forgotten about Axiom-man and all he’s done for them.

Except something’s wrong. That same fear that emanated from the cloud drips off Redsaw like a foul smell and Axiom-man can barely get close to him without feeling ill.

What is Redsaw’s agenda and who is he? And why is it every time Axiom-man gets close to him it feels as if his powers are being sucked away?

As if that wasn’t enough, Gabriel’s day job hasn’t gotten any easier. His co-worker and the woman he adores, Valerie Vaughan, has little interest in him, and his boss has made it clear that one more day late to work will be the day he cleans out his desk. Then there’s the new trainee, Gene Nemek. What is his fascination with Redsaw and why is he never around when Redsaw appears?

From flying over city streets and soaring at dizzying heights, to balancing a secret identity with destiny, Axiom-man must discover what Redsaw’s presence means and how it ties into the messenger’s life-altering visit before the city—and the world—are enamored with an evil that has haunted the cosmos since the dawn of Time.

Thanks again.

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.