Canister X Newsletter Vol. 1 No. 3
June 2010
About mid May CanisterX.com switched hosting packages and in turn allowed me to install WordPress onto my hosting platform instead of running the freebie version from WordPress.com. As a result, it has made the site more powerful and more capable than its predecessor, paving the way to a more interactive website and one to soon carry much more free media for you, the reader.
I’m really excited about the stuff I have planned for the new site. All I need now is the time to implement it which, as anyone thickly immersed in the publishing business will tell you, is sometimes hard to come by. However, my schedule this year as compared to last year should allow the extra hours required to take things to the next level in my career and also for my press, Coscom Entertainment.
Speaking of Coscom, I want to thank those of you reading this that have purchased our books for doing so. Your support makes it possible for Coscom Entertainment to keep putting out books for you and to keep bringing you stories. I do ask that, if you haven’t read any of my books or those of my colleagues, I kindly request that you consider it. As much as we love our craft, we, like everybody, have bills to pay and families to feed. We do that by providing you with entertainment, and really hope to keep doing so in the years to come.
Thank you in advance for your continued support.
As of this writing, the contracts for the Simon and Schuster deal went out this past Friday (May 14) and the first book, The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies by H.G. Wells and Eric S. Brown, is due out in December. The second book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz, is due out in April 2011.
Also as of this writing, Coscom Entertainment agreed to a mass market deal for another mashup. A publishing date for this one has yet to be set. More details will be revealed when I’m allowed to inform you.
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In other publishing news, things are going well for Coscom Entertainment. This year, after last year’s whirlwind, I’m slowing things down a touch and not publishing as many works by other people. Time is needed to finish up some stuff of mine that has been put on the backburner.
So far, 2010 looks to be a 3-book year for me. April saw the release of Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead. July will see the release of my first-ever horror short story collection called Magic Man Plus 14 Tales of Terror. September, if all goes to plan, will see the release of the second book in the Undead World Trilogy, Possession of the Dead. I’m writing that last one now and it’s coming along quite well, the scenes easily unfolding before my mind’s eye, transferring quite readily to my fingertips. It carries the same flavor as Blood of the Dead, but the story itself has a different feel as Joe and the gang go up against more than just zombies in this installment.
There is the possibility of a fourth book from me late this year, and that is the print edition of Zomtropolis. As of now, I still plan on maintaining the weekly schedule and leaving the chapters up for free even when the print and eBook editions come out. For those not yet reading Zomtropolis, it’s a zombie-meets-love-story-meets-futuristic tale following a guy who’s blogging about the experience of living in Zomtropolis after the city’s been pretty much wiped out by the undead, and his surviving therein along with dealing with the crushing heartbreak from an ex-girlfriend named Selena. New chapters are posted every Friday. The book can be accessed at www.CanisterX.com right here.
I’m giving some careful and serious consideration to doing a lot of anthologies coming up shortly, most of them zombie ones. More news on how this develops. I enjoy editing anthologies and reception for Dead Science and Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes: Zany Zombie Poetry for the Undead Head has been positive overall.
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In terms of household stuff, my garden is growing very well, and the vegetables are having noticeable gains daily. I have no doubt this is owed to the crazy amount of compost I added to the garden prior to seeding. I took last year’s compost and buried it in the garden before winter. When everything thawed, I took the compost created during the winter season and buried that as well. I let that sit for a few weeks and then topped the garden off with some new soil (containing a special compost blend), raked that in, and then we seeded.
We’re also attempting pumpkins this year and have 8 or 9 shoots coming up. Never grown pumpkins before so this should be an adventure, especially since I had to dig a new patch for them right by the house. The idea here is once the pumpkins themselves begin to show, my boys can pick one or two each to take care of as their own special project. Teaches them responsibility and how to care for your environment.
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Been obsessed with Batman: Arkham Asylum recently and have been playing it religious. I beat the game (on easy mode so far) and am now just doing the side missions and picking up the rest of the Riddler’s riddles and also other tiny challenges that unlock for you as you go along. Once done, I’ll try and beat it again in normal mode.
The sequel is coming out this year last I heard, so my wife and I are eager for that as she is just as hooked on the game as I am. Today, she beat the game in normal mode so she’s got one up on me in that department, I suppose. Then again, she’s always been a hardcore gamer whereas, though I used to play Nintendo and N64 a lot as a kid, I’ve been out of the video game scene for the past dozen years or so. I sound like an old-timer here but, man, yeah, they’ve changed a lot. Almost like controlling real life now instead of blocky 3D items that still looked like cartoons.
Speaking of video games, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions is also coming out this year so that’s another one that’s on my must-buy list. Comes out September, I think? Somewhere around there.
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Back in book news, since the last issue I’ve done two book signings with my third to be done this Friday (June 18), all of them in an effort to promote Zombie Fight Night. I’ve also tugged along to each outing a giant zombie vs werewolf cut-out, life-sized, where you can step in behind it, stick your head through the holes above each character’s shoulders, and get your picture taken. This thing generates a lot of buzz around the mall, I can tell you that much.
Not sure how many more signings I’ll do for Zombie Fight Night. We’ll see, though I would like to set up another with one or both of my local Chapters stores.
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Lastly, after reading and editing Magic Man Plus 14 Tales of Terror, my eyes were really opened to something about my writing that I knew about but perhaps, on some level, didn’t accept.
See, ever since I began putting words to paper, my work has consisted of a similar theme throughout each story, most of them containing a certain kind of character and situation. For those who have read most of my stuff, it’s probably been apparent to you. For those who haven’t, well, I won’t spoil it, but yesterday I made the decision to make a change in my work, one that’s hopefully for the better. So though that old theme might recur now and then, it certainly won’t be as prominent as it has been for the past 10 or so years.
I do, however, want to thank you all for reading my work. There’s great pleasure in knowing that what a writer creates has made its way into readers’ hands and has been received positively overall. So again, thank you. Truly.
- A.P. Fuchs
Winnipeg, MB
June 17, 2010
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