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

Here’s a complete run-down of what I’m working on personal project-wise.

Axiom-man: City of Ruin – Done and published. Came out beginning of November.

Redemption of the Dead, Undead World Trilogy Book Three: Technically done and published, released the same time as City of Ruin. Is not yet available via online outlets as it involves slightly different formatting for my usual printer than the one I used for the comic con crunch. Will be out sometime this month, though.

Axiom-man No. 3: Complete. Almost done airing on the webcomic site. Will be put into print via the new format early in the New Year.

Axiom-man No. 4: Written. Yet to be drawn.

Canister X Comix No. 4: Written. Yet to be drawn.

Collected Letters (not official title): in progress

Self-publishing How-to Book (not official title): in progress but partially published at How to Self-publish Books and Comics the Right Way

Movie Review Book (not official title): in progress

Zomtropolis: Hoping to make it my January book to finish and serialize here before publishing it in paperback and eBook.

This year started off with good intentions, but I got derailed when I went through a massive burnt out and some health trouble so my output wasn’t quite what I wanted. However, I’m gaining swift ground on things I set out to do and want to update you on these things. So . . .
Axiom-man: City of Ruin – Done. Edited by the editor. I have still go through his edits and do one more draft my own and give it to my wife as first reader before press, but that’s going to have to wait until next week because I’m plowing through . . .
Redemption of the Dead (Undead World Trilogy, Book 3) – Readers have been asking for this for a while and I hate telling them–especially in person at conventions–that it’s not done. So, I’m doing a major crazy write-a-thon this week to get it done as outlined here. Still have to talk to my editor about a quick turn around, but don’t tell him for me. I want it to be a surprise. Uh, yeah. (And if you’re reading this Mr. Editor, Surprise!)
Axiom-man No. 3 – It’s started to air on the website. Still dropping in some gray tones on the rest of the issue but that won’t take long. Will be off to press on it probably late next week, all in time for an end-of-the-month release and get copies out to subscribers.
Canister X Comix No. 4 – Written, planned, and barely started in the drawing department. Since this minicomic is more for-the-love right now than anything, it’ll have to wait until the above is done. To find out more about Canister X Comix, please go here.
Zomtropolis: The free zombie love story serial here on this blog that’s been running for a couple years or so. I have a new installment written but not posted. After the paying projects above are done, I’m going to finish this up and then upload it for auto-updating so readers get the rest of the story on time every Friday like before. Then that book will enter rewrite phase, editing phase, production, etc. for a new edition to be released next year in paperback and eBook.
If you want to know what life over here feels like right now, watch this as I pretty much feel like these guys (this show, by the way, is my new reality TV favorite).

Just finished crunching my numbers for my personal book sales in 2011. I set out at the beginning of last year with a 5000-book goal. The Lord’s blessed me with more than that. Last year, I sold over 5850 Fuchs books and comics!

Amazing, especially since in 2010 I sold 1889 books and comics, so that’s, what, a roughly 300% increase? Truly blessed and thankful.

In this day and age when reading is on the decline and most folks would rather watch TV or play video games, to sell nearly 6000 books in a year for a single author/artist is very special. You readers are great, Jesus is great, and fandom is great.

In last year’s post, I mentioned 2011′s 5000-book goal, so to do the same this year, let’s see if we can hit 8000 books for 2012. Anything you can do to help me reach that goal would be sincerely appreciated. Nearly all my books are less than $5 on Kindle, and paperbacks range from $7-15. Comics are at $2.50-$3.00. Nothing to break the bank.

But I also want to repay you readers on a regular basis and offer stuff for free, so right now the first book in my paranormal romance vampire series, Blood of my World–Discovery of Death–is free on Kindle, Nook and Smashwords. Also, here on this blog I have a serial post-apocalyptic zombie love story called Zomtropolis, which I recommend for those looking for a different take on the undead than what’s usually offerered on bookstore shelves.

So once again, thank you for such a great year in books and comics.

Blessings,

A.P. Fuchs

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.

All righty, so we have about four months left in the year. Back at the beginning, I made you a list of all the personal projects I wanted to accomplish before year’s end. What I’ve learned is that even while you work like a dog to get things done, the way they get done isn’t always what you envisioned. However, I’m pleased to say I’ve delivered on almost all of what I mentioned back at the beginning of 2011.

This is where we’re at on my checklist.

Zomtropolis: Temp. hiatus. Paying projects first, like I’ve always said. There are some things (see below) that take priority and need completing before I can get back to the weekly schedule with this. Apologies to those who’ve been waiting. This book will be done.

Axiom-man Comic Book: In the coloring phase. Low priority because . . .

Axiom-man: City of Ruin: This needs to be done and published by Halloween weekend. Plan to go hardcore on it first two weeks of September and finish this badboy. For those following the saga, this will be a full-length adventure ala Axiom-man and Doorway of Darkness.

Redemption of the Dead (Undead World Trilogy, Book 3): Like last update, currently in idea phase. Just needs to be written. Book 2 was released 2 years after book one, so I figure I have a bit of leeway with this installment considering Book 2 was released October, 2010.

A Red Dark Night: Reissue The revised edition with a new cover was published this month.

Discovery of Death (Blood of my World Vampire Trilogy, Book 1): Published in April.

Romance of Death (Blood of my World Vampire Trilogy, Book 2): Published in April.

Life of Death (Blood of my World Vampire Trilogy, Book 3): Published in April.

Canister X Comics No. 1: 13 pages roughed and written. 7 more to go. Will be published by October 1. Wait ’til you see the cover.

Canister X Comics No. 2: Complete except for scanning. Canister X Comics will be published quarterly, this one due Jan. 1, 2012. However, I might just date the comic that and have it out for comic con anyway.

Canister X Comics No. 3: Done. Needs scanning. Same deal. Thinking of having the first three comics available for comic con, but not technically releasing them until their quarterly due date.

All in all, I’ve had a very productive year publishing-wise. And these are just my personal projects. For everything else I’ve had a hand in, take a look at the new releases at the Coscom Entertainment website.

Thanks to the amazing work of C.J. Jutchinson and Jesus Morales, here is the cover art to the paperback and eBook editions of Zomtropolis due out later this year, probably Fall.

The book, once published, will be a different version than the one I’m currently running for free on this website as things will go through the wringer/revision stage prior to press.

Regardless, this is one cool cover and it captures not just the ravaged city of Zomtropolis perfectly, but also how undead girls can drive you mad and break your heart.

(Click on image for the full-size version)

…I’m going to give you a free comic book right here at Canister X. One page a day for 20 days or so. It’s an experimental comic called The Fade, told with black-and-white photos, the story in captions.

Just need to dig it out of the archives so the first page will go up either sometime later today or starting tomorrow.

Hope you like it.

As previously mentioned, Zomtropolis is a side project for me, something that is part of me offering free content here on this website. The past couple weeks haven’t had an update, and not for lack of wanting to post one. In the end, I’m getting tired. Not of the book, no, not that. But I’m due for a break and have one coming soon. I work long, long days and do so six days a week, sometimes seven. The human brain can only take so much thinking before it starts to give out, and by the time I’m able to write a chapter of Zomtropolis, my brain is mush and I don’t want to give you guys a wash-out chapter just to say I posted something.

The story will continue and will be completed this year. Just give me some time to get my head together. In the meantime, please bear with me as Zomtropolis gets sporadic updates over the next bit until my holiday.

Thanks for understanding.

To cheer you up, here are a couple new Captain America TV spots:

Copyright 2010-2011 by A.P. Fuchs. All rights reserved.
46: Plastic Swords
The blade’s hard plastic tip connected squarely with the zombie’s temple, knocking his undead head to the side. It was enough of a distraction for him that I was able to push the creature to the side, get past him—only to be surrounded by three others: one in front, one to the left and right. I kicked to the right, getting myself some distance from the closest undead. The one on the left grabbed me, her filthy hands and sharp nails digging into my arm. With a quick twist of the waist, I managed to bring the plastic sword across the head of the one in front of me. His skin was so rotted around the neck that the blow was enough to knock his head off his shoulders. Talk about a break.
The light coming in from the door to the shop was mostly covered in shadow, undead bodies blocking the sweet scene of the empty street beyond. The girl who held me on the left pulled my arm close to her mouth. With a shout, I jerked my arm free from her grip, felt a hot sting across my bicep, adrenaline quickly wiping the pain away. Like a madman, I swung the sword left and right, hacking my way through the undead like a safari guide plowing my way through the jungle. Of course, the blade didn’t cut them down, but was sturdy enough to send them a step to the side, buying me enough room to push my way past them to the street beyond.
A gunshot went off in the distance. I whirled around; Jay sprinted toward me, lumbering zombies on his tail, something small and dark in his right hand.
When he caught up to me, he said, “I hate this.” That was all. I think he was my new King of the Understatement.
“We gotta go,” I said.
Jay dipped his head between his knees for a couple seconds, took a deep breath, then straightened. “God be with us.”
“No kidding.”
We ran down the street, the calls and moans of the dead rising behind us. A skyport was just off to the side down the next street. We headed there and hoped that folks had left a vehicle or two parked inside when the outbreak hit.
Each zombie that came our way, our first goal was simply to avoid them and run past. Except for the two near the skyport. The walls around the light gray, spiral-shaped garage were too high to climb. Two undead blocked the entrance though I doubted they actual realized that’s what they were doing.
Jay and I cautiously approached them and when the dead old geezer with skin that flaked off his face like dry pastry saw me, he raised his arms and came right at me, moving much faster than expected. I wound up my sword, ready to hit him as hard as I could.
A loud CRACK echoed through the air, rocking my insides. The old man’s head burst open at its top in a spray of blood and bone, and he fell to the ground. Another CRACK and a thud and the other undead was down, too. Jay stood by the one at his feet, raised his hand and showed me the gun.
“Where did you get that?” I asked.
“One of the dead had it. He got hold of me and as we wrestled, I noticed he was once an Enforcer. Old school, if he’s still using bullets. Could have been a ceremonial thing, for all I know. Doesn’t matter. I noticed the gun in the holster so fought into him to get my hands on it. Fortunately, it was still loaded. Blew his head off, too.” He said that last bit with a grin that made even me unsettled.
“How many shots left?”
Jay cracked open the old revolver and checked the cylindrical chamber. “Two.”
“Better keep them as last resort, then.”
“Good idea.”
More undead appeared down the street.
“Come on,” I said.
We jogged into the skyport and began the long, winding ascent through the lot, looking for abandoned zipscars or skyvans. On the third level, we found an old “hauler” tucked into the corner. Haulers were kind of like large skyvans meant for families with too many kids. They were also used as repair vehicles around the city for skylights and hoversigns.
Jay and I approached the vehicle with caution. He held the gun aloft; I had my sword ready, and suddenly felt like a kid trailing his daddy on a hunt with a toy just so he felt like could actually contribute something even though that wasn’t true.
We kept our heads below the back windows, one of us on either side of the rear door. With a slight nod to each other, we quickly peeked into the hauler’s windows.
It was empty. But was it open?
Jay checked the handle. Locked. We each took a side of the hauler and checked the other doors.
All locked.
We met up again at the vehicle’s rear.
“I need a break,” Jay said.
“Me, too.”
There was only one thing to do, then. I took the plastic sword and smacked it against the rear window. The sword bounced off.
“Nice,” Jay said.
“Hope this Sword of Omens isn’t trying to tell us anything.”
“A ‘Sword of What’?”
“Nothing.”
With a quick flick of his arm, Jay used the gun to bust open one of the back windows. He reached in and unlocked the door from the inside.
We got in and closed the door and caught our breath in the dark. After a few minutes, my racing heart finally slowed, and a sharp, heated sting ripped through my arm. I touched the skin and felt fresh blood on my fingers.
“Oh no,” I said quietly.
Jay cleared his throat. “What?”
“They got me.”
< Last Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter >

Copyright 2010-2011 by A.P. Fuchs. All rights reserved.
45: Old School Comics

Immediately I swung around, lashing my fist out and connecting square with the creature’s jaw. It was a bonehead move. Had I been off by even a couple millimeters, I could have easily snagged my knuckles on its teeth and probably would have gotten infected. The zombie shuffled back a step, paused, then stumbled towards me again, arms out.
My heart pounded—but not from fear. Only anger. These guys had caused so many problems and had hurt me personally with making Selena one of their own. Worse, making many Selenas one of their own.
The sound of shoes scraping against the sidewalk behind me forced me to reconsider decking the zombie in front of me. It was run or be killed. So I ran. I dodged around the nearest two undead, their hands raising into the air a second too late to grab onto me. Another I shoved to the side as I bolted down the sidewalk, hoping Jay was somewhere nearby.
Don’t go too far, I thought. We need to stay in the area. For now, anyway.
I scanned the undead that were a block or block and a half away. None of them looked like my sweetheart.
A figure ran out from between a couple of fallen sky signs just ahead. A pack of zombies lumbered after him.
Jay.
“Hey!” I shouted, waving my arms and hoping he’d heard me. It didn’t seem he did because he kept running and disappeared between a pair of apartment buildings across the street, the zombies still keeping after him.
But someone heard me. The undead in my nearest vicinity immediately set their rotten gaze in my direction and started towards me.
“Oh man . . .” I breathed, glanced back over my shoulder, and tried to come up with a plan. It seems there was only one in this undead world: run.
I took off further down the street, but a pack of zombies up and to my right saw me and joined their brethren in their mission to take me down.
A blur of color materialized on my left as I ran past an outlet store, then quickly disappeared. I halted my run, turned, and headed back. It was a comics shop, the kind that still sold old paper copies of comic books that nowadays most people read on their eReaders and telecom units. Maybe they had a back room I could hide out in. Maybe even a room with a lock on the door. Its large front window had been smashed during the riots when the zombie plague first hit. I stepped over the frame, my shoes crunching against the broken glass on the floor. Comics and old school graphic novels littered the floor like a squirrel’s nest, panels of Axiom-man, Superman, Captain America and others catching my eye as I stepped quickly through the shop and to the rear of the store. This was a place I had meant to go into back before all this chaos started. Interesting I was here now, looking to save my life amongst images of heroes that did it all the time.
A dented and overturned moneycomp lay on the counter to my left. Whoever smashed it up must have thought that because this place dealt in vintage comics, it must have dealt in vintage cash, too. Idiots. Paper money and coins were phased out completely a good ten years ago if not longer.
Behind me, undead feet shuffled through the scraps of comics on the floor. A loud thunk made me look over my shoulder only to see one of the zombies—a much-decayed one—had tripped over the window frame and landed on its face.
I was already at the back of the tiny shop, with nothing near me to use against them. Just a bunch of very old collectibles, some hanging on the wall behind me, others on the floor at my feet. Most of them were action figures. One was a Spider-Man webshooter for kids. There was a Superman costume, a plastic lightsaber, and a cap gun. I thought maybe I could get away with using the lightsaber, but its plastic handle was already cracked, presumably from whoever had been in here before me. There wasn’t a back room.
Adrenaline quickly kicked in and I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it out this time.
The zombies drew closer.
My foot stepped on something soft at first, but it gave way and my heel landed on something hard. I kicked at it through the scraps of comic pages covering it.
It was a sword. A fake one, but one that would still be dangerous regardless. Kind of. It was still in its black cardboard package, a red logo with what looked like a wild cat roaring, followed by silver letters reading: THUNDERCATS. Never heard of them.
I quickly bent down, picked up the sword and ripped it from its package. Crap. It was plastic, its gleaming silver paint job having fooled me. But the plastic felt hard, solid.
Realizing how stupid this was, a brief note of hope still sounded in my heart. I lifted the blade and wound it back like a baseball bat.
The first zombie moved in.
I took a swing.
< Last Chapter — Table of Contents — Next Chapter >