A drop dead good time for local writer

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This article was published 13/10/2010 (5714 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As a writer of zombie fiction and superhero novels, most of A.P. Fuchs’ characters find a way to escape from the undead.

But in real life, the Elmwood-based writer and self-publisher admits his own approach would be a little different.

“If that happened right now, I would run. You don’t stand and fight, that’s stupid,” says Fuchs, who is married and has two children.

His company, Coscom Entertainment, recently inked a deal that will see its properties reach a whole new audience through Los Angeles-based Hughes Capital Entertainment.

The management and production deal will develop titles like Axiom Man and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim into video games, television series and film projects.

Coscom is also represented by a New York agency that has secured mass-market deals to reprint three of their titles through Simon & Schuster and Source Books.

Fuchs, 29, who grew up preferring superheros to sports heroes, says it’s an exciting time for him professionally.

“When the film aspect comes out, it’s going to really open up doors more for Coscom as a company,” says Fuchs, a River East Collegiate graduate.

World War of the Dead and Alice in Zombieland will be the top priorities film-wise while Zombie Fight Night: Battles of the Dead is scheduled to be turned into a video game that HCE has high hopes for.

“What’s better than playing a first person fighter where zombies, werewolves, vampires, samurai, kick-boxers, robots, and superheros like Axiom Man all battle it out to the death?” HCE president Patrick Hughes said in a statement.

Ryan Fitzgerald is one of Canada’s top developers of multimedia projects and says that industry stakeholders are still reluctant to embrace projects that use interactive methods to engage the audience.

The former St. James resident, who recently relocated to Newfoundland, says it’s encouraging to see Fuchs’ accomplishment and hopes it inspires more local writers.

“Before having had his work optioned, Fuchs may have been perceived as Manitoba-class, despite evident skill,” Fitzgerald said in an email interview.  

“Now, with a stamp of approval from L.A., it means that socially, his work will be perceived as better than it was before, despite the fact that the work hasn’t changed.”

Fuchs says the idea that writers such as himself are paid huge amounts of money is a misconception. Still, he’s been fortunate to have parlayed Coscom into a full-time gig. And he’s grateful that being his own publisher allows his imagination to run wild.

 “Provided that you have a decent platform and enough of an audience to sustain you, then you’re able to do this as a job,” he says.

Fuchs has also been posting chapters from one of his latest works, Zomtropolis, a free online serial Zombie novel, to his website every Friday.

He will also be displaying his company’s titles at the Central Canada Comic Con 2010 from Oct. 29 to 31 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

For more information, visit www.canisterx.com.

trevor.suffield@canstarnews.com