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

For a long, long time–over a year–I’ve been talking about bringing Axiom-man to comics. That’s finally going to happen as I’ve now decided on how I can produce the comic myself in a timely manner and not get slaughtered monthly by the book’s production. Thanks to ideas from my wife and some of my own, a manner of presentation has been reached. I also believe I’ve come up with a business model that will move the book from just being a hobby into an actual viable way for indie creators to make their own comics and actually make money on it.

Working hard on the pages now. They’re already drawn, inked, the lettering is done–just need to add in more crosshatching and graytones.

What? A superhero comic can’t be in black-and-white with graytones? As if. One of the things I pride myself on regarding the Axiom-man Saga is that his story is different than your usual superhero fanfare. It’s a life and times story, approached from the idea if this happened to a regular Joe tomorrow, how would reality most likely pan out? That said, I’m willing to push the envelope a bit and try a superhero comic with a presentation akin to Sin City and The Walking Dead as opposed to your typical DC or Marvel gradient color-fest. I also have a passion for good black-and-white comics (i.e. Cerebus, Echo, Rachel Rising, Walking Dead, Sin City, Alec, etc.) and know that tha medium is wrought with potential and just plain awesomeness.

The first story arc is a brand new tale which also covers Axiom-man’s origin and takes place one year after he got his powers.

My goal is to get the book out around the beginning of February.

If a documentary was ever made of my life, the previews would look something like these:

In other news, the new trailer for Resident Evil: Retribution is now here!

My wife found an old USB and some of my old drawings were on it, so here’s a one-panel gag I drew several years back. Consider it your cheesy joke of the day or something.

I just finished this graphic novel and, man, I loved it. It was inspiring, encouraging, and really connected me to my fellow man in a way very few books ever have. I originally bought it because it was adapted by Harvey Pekar, of whom I’m a giant fan. But I got much more than just a Pekar book. I got a book–based on another, mind you, that now I just have to read–filled with stories of human triumph and failure, happiness and sadness, love and loss, and the challenges of providing for your family.

If you’re one of those folks who work ever so hard for their loved ones and feel like you need a boost, I highly recommend picking up this graphic novel. The price of admission is certainly worth the value of its edification.

I also included a link to the original book published in 1977 as well.

Highly recommended.

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

Click Here to Order from Amazon.com

Coscom Entertainment and Torn Veil Books pretty much are one-man operations. My wife helps me out now and then–mailing stuff, helping at comic con–but doesn’t work for me directly nor spends her days by my side as I write, edit and package stories for you guys.

This year she might be joining the Fuchs publishing team–is it a “team” if it’s just one person? har har–and taking on some duties that take me away from making books and comics. So that’s what she and I are doing this afternoon: I’m training her on some bookkeeping so that, down the road, it’ll be something I don’t have to worry about. This is ultra exciting for me because, though I spend most of my time publishing others, I’m also a creator myself and have that burning desire within to get my ideas out on paper lest I go crazy. By my wife helping out, this will allow me more creative free time and allow me to write more books and draw more comics.

These are the current changes happening behind-the-scenes here at Fuchs Central, changes that I’m confident will lead to stronger and more successful publishing companies. But, of course, those who ultimately make or break us will be you guys. We hope you continue to support with us as we provide you with solid literary entertainment going into the New Year and beyond.

On the 5th of January, I put my book, Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead, up for free at Amazon after joining their Amazon Exclusive program. Right now, the book is still free even though it was meant to be a five-day promotion, which should have ended yesterday. Perhaps they’re keeping it free and will eat the cost of paying me from today onward? Or maybe it’s just free and I won’t make anything. Regardless, I don’t mind it being free right now as, to me, it’s one of the geekiest and coolest books I’ve ever written and I simply want to share it with people. If you as a reader want to support my work–I do feed my family off my publishing–then by all means please check out the Kindle books on the left of this page, or the paperback versions on the right. Thanks, if you do.

Since the 5th, and as of 1:07CST today, Zombie Fight Night has been downloaded 1377 times across all Amazon platforms. Not bad at all. I’ll have to see how the free thing goes behind-the-scenes and if Amazon’ll start charging for it or if I’ll have to manually do something. Regardless, now’s a great time to get a couple free books from me, no strings attached.

What’s the other free book? It’s book one of my Paranormal Romance series, Blood of my World, called Discovery of Death. Memories of Death and Life of Death are the sequels. Discovery of Death became a freebie in September of 2011 and has been downloaded 15,976 times, and that’s on Kindle only never mind Nook, iPad, etc. I plan on keeping it free for now as it’s helped move copies of its sequels.

Here’s the point: I’m fortunate to have been writing long enough to have enough of a backlist that I can put books up for free while still earning a living off the other ones. Ever since I started writing, money has never been a motivator. The only “motivation” dollar-wise was to be able to make enough to live on so I can write and publish fulltime. Also, by having a large backlist, this enables me to conduct these experiments without taking too much of a hit or any at all. Like I posted last time, I try these things out on myself first before considering adopting it as part of my business model for those I publish so as to ensure it’s worth doing so on the money front. To short change an author with their own work . . . yeesh. No, thanks.

Will the risk of offering Zombie Fight Night for free pay off, or will it be a loss monetarily but a gain readership-wise? Time will tell. Watch this space.

I’m conducting a publishing experiment with Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead and between now and the 9th–the 9th being the last day–it will be free on Amazon Kindle. And it is also only available on Amazon Kindle as I hooked up to their exclusive program for this eBook.

As both an artist and publisher, I need to find good ways to promote not just myself but also my authors. However, to suddenly take all the books I’m responsible for and do a campaign like this one, which is essentially a gamble, it would be unfair to take away 5 days’ worth of royalties from my authors without knowing if it’s to their benefit in the long run.

Anyway, I just got online now after being offline all day and at about 5:30PM CST, my Kindle rank in the free store for Zombie Fight Night is #604. That’s pretty good considering I haven’t promoted anything yet. Can we hit #1? I don’t know, but you’re more than welcome to help by clicking on the book cover above and downloading a copy. It’s free, and will only take you around 30 seconds. If you don’t have a Kindle, then a whole host of free apps are available here for your iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, PC, etc.

Here’s the story:

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?

I now present to you what I think is one of the most coolest books of my career, Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead, for free.

Enjoy, and thanks for downloading.

January 2012 is the official release date of the second issue of my quarterly minicomic, Canister X Comix.
This is issue is very special because it marks my first forray into the 24-hour-comic challenge as invented by Scott McCloud. The deal? 24 pages in 24 hours. One whole comic. Fueled by coffee and Red Bull, my wife and I did it together. Canister X Comix No. 2 was my creation. Average Jill (see link) was hers.

Official write-up:

Inside:

24 pages of comix in 24 hours as part of the famous 24-hour-comic challenge. Inside:

A sleepless night, a bizarre superhero’s origin, kids and bad language, expensive cupcakes, . . . and more!

28 digest pages, B&W Also available on Kindle.

Single issues – $3.00US each plus $1.25US each for shipping ($2.25 outside Canada/US)

I’m supposed to be on holidays, and though last week was pretty relaxing on the whole and I only worked a bit, I’m finding I’m getting bored trying to take it easy and not work. This week I’ve been going slow–on purpose–and am enjoying the leisurely working hours, but I also have this deep desire to just buckle down and work like a dog. Then I remember that I have between next week and summer break for that so I should enjoy this while it lasts.

I think I’ll get stuff done this week but on my own terms without worrying too much about deadlines, then get down to business next week as I officially get the 2012 publishing year off the ground.

Lots of cool stuff coming out both from Coscom Entertainment and Torn Veil Books this year.

Providing the world doesn’t end, this is going to be a big year in publishing.

Watch this space for announcements, and likewise stop by Coscom Entertainment and Torn Veil Books for the latest news and releases.

Lots is happening.

As previously mentioned, this year I’m going to get back into daily blogging so that from Monday to Friday you got something new to read. Might even blog Saturdays now and then.
As of this writing, I’m still technically on holidays but I’m finding it hard not to work, so every day I’ve been doing something(s) publishing-wise. I got plenty of books backlogged so my first goal of the New Year is to take care of those. I’m hoping to have it all wrapped up by end of March, then “start new,” so to speak.
Also got some cool stuff happening behind-the-scenes that I can’t talk about yet, but if all goes to plan, it’ll be a year of explosive growth for Coscom Entertainment and Torn Veil Books.
Here’s to 2012.