Home
Axel Matfin was born in 100 Mile House on January 23, 1988. He left there at age 18 to come to Vancouver. His aim as a fiction author is to produce 21st century action adventure stories as accessible entertainment. In 2011, he established his own imprint, Adventure Factory, to issue a trilogy about a risk-taking bartender named Tom Wolfe, as well as a collection of three stories concerning a "Filipino Super Operative."
Books:
The Bartender
The Bartender is a three-volume literary action novel series which explores modern themes and ideas about crime and culture through multiple accessible genre tropes. The reader looks at the world of The City found in this series through the eyes of protagonist Tom Wolfe, a hard-boiled, seemingly jaded drink-slinger of indeterminate age with a mysterious past. The overarching story is that Tom Wolfe comes into his place of work to find a package waiting for him; inside is a loaded gun with a note telling him to watch his back. This directs him onto a trail of intrigue which lands him in hot water with a variety of characters from the City’s underbelly before eventually bringing him face to face with the villains and mysteries of his past. Throughout it all, he ruminates on the nature of good & evil, law & order, perceptive vs. subjective states of mind while remaining grounded in his self defined identity.
According to Matfin, "Any Bartender book could be someone’s first and they are designed to each have their own contained story that feeds into the overarching narrative."
ISBN: 978-0-9881355-3-6
$20 retail.
The Bartender: Darkness on the Edge of Town is the first novel in a series of three starring the mystery man adventurer and drink slinger Tom Wolfe. Tom Wolfe despite his proclivities for cigarettes and drinking is a capable and cunning anti-hero who reluctantly journeys into a dark and stormy night to follow the trail of the mystery handgun that has been sent to him. His search for answers will lead him through high and low society comprised of a cast of gangsters, police, femme fatales and others. This first novel is written and designed to be reflective of the styles of pulp, detective, crime writers such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Donald Westlake/Richard Stark and Elmore Leonard, while the series as a whole attempts to encompass the entire pantheon of twentieth century pop mythologies (Pulps, Comics, Serial adventure stories). The story in this book is presented through the familiar viewpoint of hard boiled fiction before expanding it's scope and stylistic breadth in the following volumes.
ISBN: 978-0-9881355-1-2
$20-retail
In Appetite for Destruction Tom Wolfe is pushed to his physical and mental limits as he follows the crooked vein he’s been injected into. It is a pulse he will trace to a conspiracy of tainted narcotics, real estate monopoly and mass murder. Taking one beating after another The Bartender drowns his trauma in liquor and cigarettes while he struggles on through the darkness. The second book in the series is as much psychological thriller as it is action adventure. Inspired by the visual aesthetics of the films of David Fincher and the tension built by Alfred Hitchcock, Appetite has Tom Wolfe hurtle down a gauntlet of violence and corruption that is almost too much for him to handle. The cool hard boiled demeanor of the first book is replaced by a frantic scramble for survival. After each harrowing trial we see the Bartender’s poker face slip more and more, revealing a man beaten down by society and enraged by cultural injustices. After drowning his trauma in liquor and other masochistic means he’s left with no choice but to soldier on to confront his tormentors and discover the origin of the mystery pistol.
ISBN: 978-0-9881355-7-4
$25-retail
The Bartender: The Last Waltz is the third and final book in a series of three starring the mystery man adventurer and drink slinger Tom Wolfe. What are the origins of The Bartender? Where did he come from and how'd he end up doing what he does? The story opens to reveal one of the most life changing experiences in a young Tom Wolfe's life before returning to pick up exactly where Appetite For Destruction leaves off. With no other choice Tom begins to assemble a team to execute a grand theatrical con in an attempt defeat his greatest enemy and put his past behind him. Divided into three stylistically different acts: Who's Next? Back in Black and The Last Waltz, this final novel in the series encompasses the breadth of 20th century pop mythology the series originally set out for and distills that essence it into something new. The inspirations and influences for this 128 thousand word ride range from Magnum PI to the films The Hustler and The Color of Money, Smokey and the Bandit, The Sting, the Anime series Cowboy Bebop, and the radio show/ pulp magazine and comic book The Green Hornet-just to name a few.
According to Matfin, "Bartender 3 is the climactic book in the series where the terse, intimate and bloody knuckled violence of the second book is replaced by raucous and triumphant displays of action and bravado in the form of bombastic set pieces that rely heavily on the ingenuity and skills of the multiple protagonists."
Lazlo
Lazlo is a Filipino Super Operative created to have ongoing adventures which can be told over a variety of mediums. Lazlo as a character is directly inspired by the golden age pulp characters The Shadow and Doc Savage. It is the author’s intention to tell intelligent and entertaining stories punctuated with high quality action illustrations, about a character who exists to hunt the evils of our time, existential and otherwise. Lazlo beheads the monsters under the bed of our modern society with extreme prejudice.
Lazlo: The Hunter- 15,000 words.
ISBN: 978-0988135550
$10-retail
This book showcases Lazlo in three short stories presenting him and a variety of his adventures. In the first story, The Hunter, he assassinates a gangster in Saigon. In the second, Dark Continent, he parachutes into Africa to free a platoon of child soldiers, rescue kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and prevent an Ebola outbreak. In the third, The Mark of the Demon, he attends a tournament of fighters before inevitably uncovering a dark magic and an occult practice that breaches a barrier between dimensions releasing a legion of demons that he must do battle with.
As a series Lazlo will continue in 10-15k word stories that will be released like pulp or dime novels.
Books:
The Bartender
The Bartender is a three-volume literary action novel series which explores modern themes and ideas about crime and culture through multiple accessible genre tropes. The reader looks at the world of The City found in this series through the eyes of protagonist Tom Wolfe, a hard-boiled, seemingly jaded drink-slinger of indeterminate age with a mysterious past. The overarching story is that Tom Wolfe comes into his place of work to find a package waiting for him; inside is a loaded gun with a note telling him to watch his back. This directs him onto a trail of intrigue which lands him in hot water with a variety of characters from the City’s underbelly before eventually bringing him face to face with the villains and mysteries of his past. Throughout it all, he ruminates on the nature of good & evil, law & order, perceptive vs. subjective states of mind while remaining grounded in his self defined identity.
According to Matfin, "Any Bartender book could be someone’s first and they are designed to each have their own contained story that feeds into the overarching narrative."
- Darkness on the Edge of Town- 47,000 words.
ISBN: 978-0-9881355-3-6
$20 retail.
The Bartender: Darkness on the Edge of Town is the first novel in a series of three starring the mystery man adventurer and drink slinger Tom Wolfe. Tom Wolfe despite his proclivities for cigarettes and drinking is a capable and cunning anti-hero who reluctantly journeys into a dark and stormy night to follow the trail of the mystery handgun that has been sent to him. His search for answers will lead him through high and low society comprised of a cast of gangsters, police, femme fatales and others. This first novel is written and designed to be reflective of the styles of pulp, detective, crime writers such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Donald Westlake/Richard Stark and Elmore Leonard, while the series as a whole attempts to encompass the entire pantheon of twentieth century pop mythologies (Pulps, Comics, Serial adventure stories). The story in this book is presented through the familiar viewpoint of hard boiled fiction before expanding it's scope and stylistic breadth in the following volumes.
- Appetite for Destruction- 50,000 words
ISBN: 978-0-9881355-1-2
$20-retail
In Appetite for Destruction Tom Wolfe is pushed to his physical and mental limits as he follows the crooked vein he’s been injected into. It is a pulse he will trace to a conspiracy of tainted narcotics, real estate monopoly and mass murder. Taking one beating after another The Bartender drowns his trauma in liquor and cigarettes while he struggles on through the darkness. The second book in the series is as much psychological thriller as it is action adventure. Inspired by the visual aesthetics of the films of David Fincher and the tension built by Alfred Hitchcock, Appetite has Tom Wolfe hurtle down a gauntlet of violence and corruption that is almost too much for him to handle. The cool hard boiled demeanor of the first book is replaced by a frantic scramble for survival. After each harrowing trial we see the Bartender’s poker face slip more and more, revealing a man beaten down by society and enraged by cultural injustices. After drowning his trauma in liquor and other masochistic means he’s left with no choice but to soldier on to confront his tormentors and discover the origin of the mystery pistol.
- The Last Waltz-128,000 words
ISBN: 978-0-9881355-7-4
$25-retail
The Bartender: The Last Waltz is the third and final book in a series of three starring the mystery man adventurer and drink slinger Tom Wolfe. What are the origins of The Bartender? Where did he come from and how'd he end up doing what he does? The story opens to reveal one of the most life changing experiences in a young Tom Wolfe's life before returning to pick up exactly where Appetite For Destruction leaves off. With no other choice Tom begins to assemble a team to execute a grand theatrical con in an attempt defeat his greatest enemy and put his past behind him. Divided into three stylistically different acts: Who's Next? Back in Black and The Last Waltz, this final novel in the series encompasses the breadth of 20th century pop mythology the series originally set out for and distills that essence it into something new. The inspirations and influences for this 128 thousand word ride range from Magnum PI to the films The Hustler and The Color of Money, Smokey and the Bandit, The Sting, the Anime series Cowboy Bebop, and the radio show/ pulp magazine and comic book The Green Hornet-just to name a few.
According to Matfin, "Bartender 3 is the climactic book in the series where the terse, intimate and bloody knuckled violence of the second book is replaced by raucous and triumphant displays of action and bravado in the form of bombastic set pieces that rely heavily on the ingenuity and skills of the multiple protagonists."
Lazlo
Lazlo is a Filipino Super Operative created to have ongoing adventures which can be told over a variety of mediums. Lazlo as a character is directly inspired by the golden age pulp characters The Shadow and Doc Savage. It is the author’s intention to tell intelligent and entertaining stories punctuated with high quality action illustrations, about a character who exists to hunt the evils of our time, existential and otherwise. Lazlo beheads the monsters under the bed of our modern society with extreme prejudice.
Lazlo: The Hunter- 15,000 words.
ISBN: 978-0988135550
$10-retail
This book showcases Lazlo in three short stories presenting him and a variety of his adventures. In the first story, The Hunter, he assassinates a gangster in Saigon. In the second, Dark Continent, he parachutes into Africa to free a platoon of child soldiers, rescue kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls and prevent an Ebola outbreak. In the third, The Mark of the Demon, he attends a tournament of fighters before inevitably uncovering a dark magic and an occult practice that breaches a barrier between dimensions releasing a legion of demons that he must do battle with.
As a series Lazlo will continue in 10-15k word stories that will be released like pulp or dime novels.
