Does Winnipeg need a superhero?

According to local author, of course we do

It’s every geek’s dream.

What if I were really terrific? What if I could fly, had super strength, had the confidence to wear a cape and tights?

What if I lived in Winnipeg?

Self-proclaimed geek and author A.P. Fuchs says there’s no reason why a superhero novel of fantastic proportions can’t be based in Winnipeg.

“I love Winnipeg, I want to do for Winnipeg what Stephen King has done for Maine. I know Winnipeg and it cuts down on the research when I write,” says Fuchs.

Fair enough, but come on, aren’t there enough superheroes out there?

“No, I don’t think so,” says Fuchs. “When you look around the city and you look abroad around the world, it’s messed up...superheroes are supposed to inspire us, to bring out the good in everyone. I think if we had more examples of that, the world wouldn’t be like it is.”

Fuchs’ superhero is Gabriel Garrison, a young 20-something living and working in Winnipeg (at a call centre, naturally) when suddenly, he is bestowed super powers by a nameless messenger.

In the span of discovering his gifts, he becomes Axiom-man, and then discovers a great evil threatening Winnipeg and the world.

Trying to balance all that with an otherwise normal life is what Axiom-man is all about.

“Gabriel is me, about 90 per cent me,” says Fuchs. “It’s what I think in my head, my fantasies, about what would happen if I became a superhero.”

Gabriel is also partly inspired by Fuchs’ 15-month-old son, who is also named Gabriel.

“I needed a name, when I first started writing it I didn’t have one, and his fit.”

Winnipeg itself plays a role in the book, although Fuchs says it’s not an extremely vital one.

“For example, there’s a scene where a car goes off the Main Street bridge and crashes into a paddlewheel boat below. I think people who live in Winnipeg will appreciate the references, but most of my readers are in the United States and will just treat it like the backdrop. People from Winnipeg will just get that much clearer a picture in their head of what’s happening.”

Fuchs is no stranger to speculative fiction. Last year, he published The Way of the Fog, part one of an epic entitled The Arc of Light.

He has no plans to abandon the Arc of Light series, nor will he be abandoning Axiom-man after only one novel.

Fuchs says he will be continuing both series, although he’s not sure how far Axiom-man will go.

Fuchs will be doing a book signing Oct. 21 at Chapters St. Vital at 2 p.m.

Axiom-man is available at all Chapters, Coles and McNally Robinson locations, most major online bookseller websites or at www.apfuchs.com.