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

This weekend I created the Blood of my World Boxed Set for Amazon Kindle, a collection of my paranormal romance series containing Discovery of Death, Memories of Death and Life of Death. It is Volume Two of the A.P. Fuchs Library, with Volume One being books from The Axiom-man Saga (coming this week). These boxed sets are a great way to grab a bunch of my titles and/or complete your collection for a great price. It is also on Smashwords, Drivethru Fiction, and should start showing up on the Nook and iPad shortly.

I wrote an introduction to the Blood of my World Boxed Set and want to share it here.

Hope you check the collected book sets out.

The intro:

Blood of my World Boxed Set Introduction
by
A.P. Fuchs

It seems to me that there is a direct correlation between love and horror, the both of which are two sides of the proverbial coin. They are extremes, where one is light and bliss, filled with goodness, hope, stability–physical, emotional, mental. The other is darkness, danger, pain and untold suffering. They also have a tendency to gel, namely in the arena of romantic relationships.
One can’t help but wonder how much different our world would be if these two elements–arguably one element–were not present. I suspect life would look more like a simulation than an actual experience, with folks walking around conducting business mechanically, without nuance–robotic.
Is it not true that human life as you and I know it are birthed and lived from either horror or love or a mix of both? Is not every other human emotion rooted in one of these?
Love is an especially dangerous thing. Beautiful, yes, but dangerous. While ascending to new heights with your lover, when during those early stages all is well in the world and inner peace is achieved–the fear of it all slipping away always lingers a little or a lot until, perhaps, that fateful day comes and your fear becomes reality. The darkness descends, hope is abandoned, and searing pain rips through your chest until you can barely stand. Once you collapse, you think it’s won and the hot coils of loss’s embrace will finally leave you, but instead, it continues to ravage you in waves, bringing you to the brink of apathy and beyond, into self-destruction and mental chaos. Life is looked at through fogged glass. All other emotions are felt through the jagged pieces of a broken heart. Cynicism sets in, walls go up and survival kicks in full gear and you do all you can to fill the void and repair the damage your loved one has done.
Love and horror. Life and death. It’s what defines us. It’s what’s defined my fiction since I wrote my first book twelve years ago. In fact, my entire career was born out of this bizarre relationship between love and horror, and if you’re a reader of my work, you would have noticed that everything I’ve written touches on this in some way, whether a little or a lot.
There’s my novel April, written under the pen name Peter Fox, which is a firm statement about how people get to you and you fall in love because they touch that secret part of you no one else has.
There’s A Red Dark Night, a tribute to B-horror summer camp movies in which the main villain is a creature comprised of blood and evil–the blood you shed when your heart is broken and knife is brought to skin. For some this is metaphorical, for others, it is not.
The Axiom-man Saga, my superhero opus about a man without self-esteem who, as one of the motives for donning a pair of tights, is simply to prove to himself and others that he is indeed something of value after a lifetime of always feeling rejected and second best.
My zombie fiction–books like Blood of the Dead and Zombie Fight Night–utter indulgences into the world of the walking dead. Is this not what we become after love has crushed us? Is not survival our primary concern? Do we not find folks who are fighting just like us, whether in our relationships or even through the music we listen to so we can feel better?
These are more, but let’s move on to what you hold in your hands.
This boxed set, Blood of my World. Three novellas. Three aspects of love and horror–Discovery, memory, life.
Vampires are the horror world’s romantic hero. They are the regular world’s romantic villain. They embody life and death, love and horror unlike any other creature in fiction.
I set out to tell a story about two romantics whose love for each other was thicker than blood and just as red with passion and devotion. The reader must know, I decided, that there are others out there who live in love’s stream, who have gotten burned yet who also have lived and are living because of it.
Who have grown.
The vampires in the novellas you’re about to read are ruthless. There is blood and pain and indifference to human life. They are monsters.
The people in these novellas are you and me, folks living in two worlds: the past and present; light and darkness; love and horror.
I want to thank you for reading these as you join Zach and Rose on their journey of love’s joy, love’s pain–
–love’s horror.

- A.P. Fuchs
Winnipeg, MB
February 25, 2012

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-927339-00-8 eBook ISBN: 978-1-927339-01-5 The war between Good and Evil has raged since before Time began. Now the battle continues with the Ultimate Good versus the Ultimate Evil. Metahumans vs the Undead Metahuman: one of the human species endowed with one or more powers beyond that of mortal men; a person who uses those abilities to serve either themselves or society. Typically branded by a codename and colorful costume. AKA Superhero. Undead: one of the human species endowed with life even after death; a walking corpse. Typically branded by their decayed form and appetite for human flesh. AKA Zombie. In a world where superheroes and zombies collide, only one can prove the victor. Featuring indie heroic favorites like Axiom-man, The Wraith and Shadowflame, while also introducing newcomers like Nightcat, Spectrolite, Midnight Angel and more, Metahumans vs the Undead is a terror-filled action adventure where Light and Darkness collide and only one can prevail. Contains stories by: Rebecca Besser, Eric S. Brown, Frank Dirscherl, Lorne Dixon, A.P. Fuchs, Anthony Giangregorio, Keith Gouveia, J.L. MacDonald, Joe Martino, Rhiannon Paille, Gina Ranalli and J.B. Robb.

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 DrivethruFiction.com Fictionwise Mobipocket Smashwords Other Zombie Anthologies Edited by A.P. Fuchs: Other Coscom Entertainment Books by A.P. Fuchs

The Last Coscom Entertainment Release: Bigfoot War 3: Food Chain by Eric S. Brown

For the Entire Coscom Entertainment Monster Fiction Catalog, please go to www.coscomentertainment.com

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-926712-99-4 eBook ISBN: 978-1-927339-06-0 15 years ago . . . The world fell. Armies of the dead swept across the globe, toppling civilization and bringing humanity to its knees. Now, as the dead virus has ran its course and is fading away, those who survived face a new terror: the ever-growing numbers of the Sasquacth species. The Earth is an apocalyptic wasteland, survivors barely managing to make it day-by-day. Food is scarce, hope is hardly found. Yet all turns on a dime when a secret base is discovered underground and it is learned that it might hold the hope for victory in this deadly world. War breaks out, and this time man and machine combine as the struggle between humanity and the beasts wages anew to see who will hold the top spot on nature’s food chain.

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 DrivethruFiction.com Mobipocket.com Smashwords

Other Books in the Bigfoot War Series:

Other Coscom Entertainment Books by Eric S. Brown

The Last Coscom Entertainment Release: Flame of Surrender by Rhiannon Paille
For the Entire Coscom Entertainment Monster Fiction Catalog, please go to www.coscomentertainment.com

Copyright 2010-2011 by A.P. Fuchs. All rights reserved.
43: Spam
It’d be nice if I had any booze left. No, check that, it’d be friggin’ awesome! But, alas, here we are, dry as cold toast, just waiting for things to make sense.
After the big ordeal with Selena dying again, I just paced my apartment until my heels were sore, all the while ignoring Jay’s door banging and shouts in the hallway. Part of the time I heard him; part of it I didn’t. Eventually I tired myself out so much I took a short nap right there on my living room floor. When I awoke, I got up, peed, then walked across the hallway to where Jay was staying. Pride told me to just forget about it, but I’m smarter than that.
Selena’s body still lay there, a big shard of glass sticking out of her head. I looked away, unable to stomach it. Not for Selena.
I rapped on Jay’s door. He opened it, didn’t say anything and let me in. You know you have a good friend when you act like a jerk and they take you back, no questions asked.
The suite he stayed in used to belong to this Spanish guy, Hernandez somebody. I never got to know him, not that he was all that friendly to begin with. Very much one of those people who only left their place just to go to work and get groceries. Come to think of it, I was pretty much like that, too, because right now I can’t say I knew my neighbours all that well despite living beside them for a few years.
“Any food kicking around here?” I asked after sitting at the kitchen table for a few minutes.
“Found a can of spam, a couple packs of dried noodles,” Jay replied.
“I’m not picky.”
Jay got up from the table, pulled the can of spam from the cupboard above the sink, then rummaged around in one of the drawers and found a can opener.
“You don’t need that, you know,” I said. “There’s a tab-key-thing on the side.”
He picked up the can, tilted it left and right in his hand, then said, “What do I know? Never ate this stuff. Probably makes good spackle.”
I chuckled. “Or window caulking.”
He smiled, and fiddled with the key on the can until he figured it out. He opened another cupboard and pulled out a plate, then dumped the contents of the can onto it. After grabbing a couple forks from the drawer, he sat down, gave me one, and said, “Dinner is served.”
“Beats nothing,” I said.
Jay paused before eating, bowed his head and closed his eyes. Out of respect, I waited until he was done, then the two of us divvied up the spam. It was like half-dried baby food cut into chunks. We ate in silence–guys do that–and when we were done, Jay said, “Want to talk about it?”
So much for forgive and forget, I thought. “Not really.”
“I’m not talking about us,” he said. “The girl. Want to talk about it?”
I sighed. “There’s not much to say.” My eyes met his. “She’s the love of my life, you know.”
“I can tell.”
I wrinkled my brow.
“I saw it in the way you looked at her, the way you defended her. No shame in that.” He paused then added, “But she’s dangerous . . . or, at least, something’s not right with her. Sorry to say that.”
It was true I didn’t want to hear it, but Jay was right. There was something wrong with Selena. No one kept dying and coming back, not in the way she did.
“You said you’ve seen her before, yeah?” I said.
He nodded. “Lots of times while I was out and about. Sometimes she was downright pretty, even normal-looking except for a mouth covered in–” He made a circular motion with his hand in front of his lips. “Other times . . . other times the only thing that gave her away was her eyes. Eyes don’t change. They’re beautiful and easy to pick out.”
“Yeah . . .”
“It doesn’t make sense, though,” he said.
I mulled over his words for a moment. “Something’s up. Something weird. She’s come here several times now. She’s also died several times.”
He simply looked at me, his expression reading: Obviously. Tell me something I don’t know.
“Okay,” I said, “have you seen anyone else? I mean, anyone else repeatedly who looked different each time? I don’t go out much, but so far as I know, I haven’t seen any familiar faces.”
“Hard to say. Big city. But for me, no, she’s the only one I’ve noticed.”
“So, what, she’s either got a pile of twin sisters, or she’s regenerating somehow or . . .” I didn’t know what I was saying. None of it made sense.
“When you were together, was she, you know, normal?”
“Yeah. Of course. Everything was normal back then.”
“Family? Sisters?”
“Nothing that would indicate a plethora of look-alike siblings.”
“Superpowers?”
“What?”
He was dead serious, which I didn’t expect from him. “You know, some kind of special ability. Able to multiply herself or something?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “If she did, she never told me.”
“Just going through the possibilities.”
“I know.”
“And she keeps coming to you?”
“Yeah.”
“Know why?”
“No. We broke up before all this started. The only thing I can guess is that everyone else she knows is dead or a walking corpse, and when we split, I promised her I’d always be there for her no matter what she needed. Maybe I’m her last resort.”
“Could be.”
“And I’m fine with that,” I said softly. “At least I get to see her.”
He tapped his index finger on the tabletop. “We need a plan.”
“For?” I coughed. “I mean, aside from the obvious shelter, food, and all that.”
“What if she comes back?”
“Can’t really stop that.”
“No.”
“Would you attack her again?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ll beat the hell out of you if you do.”
His face went rigid.
“Sorry.”
“No problem. I get it. But if she does come back, we need a plan.”
“I think what we need to do is figure out where she’s been. She’s come back in that gown, hospital coat thing each time.” I nodded to myself. “Yeah, that’s our starting point. We’ll find out where she’s been, then take it from there.”
“And if she turns?”
“She’s gotten sick first every time before now. We’ll use that as our warning.”
“Well” –Jay stood up from the table– “you can stay here if you want or go back to your place.”
It would have been nice to have company, but I needed some time to just stew and reflect. “Thanks, but I’ll go home.” I headed to the door. “Make a big fuss if you need anything.”
“Sure.”
I went into the hallway and closed the door behind me. My sweetheart’s body lay by my door. Heart aching, I walked past it and into my apartment, tears in my eyes.
< Last Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter >

Attention eBook readers: all of Coscom Entertainment’s eBooks are on sale for 50% off at Smashwords.

Use coupon code RAE50 to get half off our already affordable prices. Perfect for those looking for a solid dark thriller and some chills. We got monsters, horror, superheroes and more!

Some notable titles include Bigfoot War, Possession of the Dead, The Black Cat and the Ghoul, Praise the Dead, Magic Man Plus 15 Tales of Terror and more!

Look here for our entire catalog!

Happy eReading!

As part of my previously-mentioned experiment regarding cover art for books, last night I did up new covers for the two books currently on the market for my Undead World Trilogy (the third’s not out yet, aiming for later this year). At present, these new covers are available for the Kindle and Drivethru Horror only, however will start showing up for the Nook and elsewhere as soon as those distributors update their listings with the new art. If the new covers prove to move more copies in eBook format, then I’ll be updating the paperback versions as well.

To be honest, I really love the original covers to Blood of the Dead and Possession of the Dead. The artists did a fantastic job. I even have promotion posters of both covers in my office. The thing is, my personal tastes fall more into the comic book-style covers, whereas most readers enjoy the photo/traditional covers gracing most books these days. That was kept in mind when making these new covers last night and I’m interested to see how these eBooks fare with the new covers, everything else about them staying the same.

Here they are below, the new covers to Blood of the Dead and Possession of the Dead. Click on the book covers to be taken to their page for Amazon’s Kindle.

Thanks.

ALICE IN ZOMBIELAND by Lewis Carroll and Nickolas Cook Mass Market Edition Now Available!

Coscom Entertainment and Source Books are pleased to present Alice in Zombieland by Lewis Carroll and Nickolas Cook, now available at your favorite online retailer (see below) and bookstores nationwide.

Alice in Zombieland, complete with interior illustrations, is available at the following online retailers:

Paperback:

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

eBook:

Amazon Kindle

Synopsis:

When little Alice follows the Black Rat down into the open grave, she falls and falls, and soon finds herself in an undead nightmare. Following the Rat, she ventures further into this land of monsters, encountering characters both creepy and madcap along the way. But there’s something else troubling poor Alice: her skin is rotting and her hair is falling out. Can Alice escape Zombieland before the Dead Red Queen catches up to her?

Have a seat at the table for the wildest tea party of your life and explore the unforgettable adventure that is Alice in Zombieland.

The last Coscom Entertainment release: The Black Cat and the Ghoul by Edgar Allan Poe and Keith Gouveia

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

The Black Cat and the Ghoul by Edgar Allan Poe and Keith Gouveia, the second book in Coscom Entertainment’s Monster Novella Series, 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
Fictionwise.com
Drivethruhorror.com
Smashwords
Scribd.com

Synopsis:

On August 19, 1843, horror master Edgar Allan Poe released one of his darkest short stories, The Black Cat, his exploration of the psychology of guilt. Now, over a hundred and fifty years later, the tale of an unreliable narrator is continued by author Keith Gouveia.

After killing his wife, John Mohr is sentenced to die at the gallows. But when an unlikely visitor turns into a reluctant partner, John embraces the monster within and becomes the god of the underworld’s instrument of death. Doomed to walk the earth as an undead aberration with an insatiable hunger, John must send souls to Hell in his place or face its wrath.

Also included are two bonus poems, and two short stories: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, and Broken by Keith Gouveia.

This is the second book in Coscom Entertainment’s Monster Novella Series.

Other titles by Keith Gouveia: Bits of the Dead (editor), Revolt of the Dead, Animal Behavior and Other Tales of Lycanthropy

The last Coscom Entertainment release (and first book in the Monster Novella Series): The Weaponer by Eric S. Brown

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

The Weaponer by Eric S. Brown, the first book in Coscom Entertainment’s Monster Novella Series, and featuring an introduction by Joe McKinney, 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
Fictionwise.com
Drivethruhorror.com
Smashwords
Scribd.com

The Buzz:

“With The Weaponer, Eric S. Brown reloads the zombie genre for a take-no-prisoners tale of action, heartbreak and adventure.” – Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of Patient Zero and Dead of Night

“If George Romero ever decided to combine Shane and The Road Warrior, he’d probably write something a lot like Eric S. Brown’s The Weaponer.” – Peter Clines, author of Ex-Heroes

“The Weaponer combines the old west with modern technology and an army of the living dead to create a bleak and chilling tale of a post-apocalyptic future. But at its heart, it’s a story about the human will to survive.” – S.G. Browne, author of Breathers

“The Weaponer takes the reader into the remnants of the modern world, where old west values take the place of modern comfort in a land of human savages and the zombie curse. Eric S. Brown sculpts his story like The Weaponer, as ‘an artisan of death.’” – Bowie V. Ibarra, author of the Down the Road Zombie Horror series

Synopsis:

Long after the fall of man, humanity lives sheltered behind a massive wall that encloses the United States’ last survivors of civilization. Outside the wall, the undead rule the world.

Generations have passed and mankind has returned to the technology and life of the Old West, surviving off the land and doing what they can to get by.

Hyattsburg, a haven once thought safe behind the wall, has visitors: hungry zombies.

When an entire family is murdered and partially eaten, Alan, the world’s last remaining Weaponer, is called to duty to aid those struggling to remain safe, as well as find out what happened and if the dead are the only ones to blame for the grisly deaths of innocents.

Terror and zombies rule an Old West Apocalypse in The Weaponer.

Other titles by Eric S. Brown: Bigfoot War, World War of the Dead, The War of the Worlds
Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies

The last Coscom Entertainment release: Possession of the Dead by A.P. Fuchs

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