The Worlds of Michael D'Ambrosio

Welcome back, everyone! Lots going on – and not going on. My fourteenth novel and third in the Pain Series, Reign of Pain, is in the publishing process through Quantum Discovery. They’ve come up with another fascinating cover, exploiting the traits of our lead character Marina. The audiobook format will be created as soon as the final version of the book is approved.
Everything was going well with several distributors ready to place orders for my books. This is significant as I now have five books that made the NY Times Review magazine. While my novels haven’t made the top ten, they are among the best sellers, both nationally and internationally. A great start that has suddenly hit a wall.
Ingram’s, the printer/distributor for most books, has suffered an internal issue in their system and has halted printing for a while now. Needless to say, I don’t get paid until the orders are complete and that isn’t happening until Ingram’s straightens out their problem. This has posed a bigger problem for me as I need to renew the insurances on the books and the capital for that comes from my book revenue. Let’s hope for a fix soon.
Now, switch over to the movie world. I have just completed the screenplay for The Christmas Solution 2. I’m waiting for feedback from the Film Department at Quantum Discovery before they submit it to producers. There is significant interest in several of my scripts and I hope to have news on that soon.
In particular are two entities that are focused on both Christmas screenplays and both horror screenplays (Night Creeps). I expect to hear something back from them soon.
Next on my list of projects are the screenplays for Space Truckers 3 (based on part 2 of the novel Space Truckers 2) and Reign of Pain. Phew! After that, I’ll decide if I want to continue the Space Truckers series or start something new. Too soon to tell. I’ve been holding off on appearances at conventions because of my workload. I will likely start some local appearances before scheduling conventions again. Join me again soon for more details on my projects and appearances.

Happy holidays to everyone and welcome back. Not a whole lot to report as things have really slowed for the holidays. I hoped to have some exciting news to report but the writers strike pushed back some of the decision involving my screenplays. While I’ve been told very positive things about my projects, contract signing by the involved parties has been pushed back into the new year. Ugh! There are three primary parties involved with one seeking Night Creeps 1 and 2 screenplays, another seeking Space Truckers screenplay and a third interested in, not only my Christmas adventure script, but several of my sci-fi scripts as well. While this all sounds great, it means nothing without a signed contract, so hopefully soon.

The New York Times will be featuring Fractured Time and Space Frontiers: The Eye of Icarus in their 1st quarter magazine of best sellers, The New York Times Book Review. Originally, the novels were to appear in the fourth quarter magazine but they are now grouping their selections by genre per quarter.

I’d like to put out a special thanks to American Booksellers Association who have helped make this happen. They distribute novels to independent bookstores around the world and have done an awesome job in promoting my books. ABA is also provides audio books to the Federation of the Blind, which has also been a big help to me. Speaking of audio books, Twisted Fate is the last of my books to be converted to audiobook format on disk and should be available soon.

I recently completed Reign of Pain, the third and final book in the Pain series which featured some overlapping scenes with the characters in Space Truckers 2. This, my 14th novel, should be available before summer.

Currently I am working on the screenplay for Space Truckers 2: Return of the Blue Eagle. It was suggested to me by the primary parties interested in my screenplays that I have sequels prepared as the requests from the streamers (Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, etc.) has been for feature materials with more than one script and series that cover several seasons. While we’ve seen a lot of one season, eight-episode series, the preference seems to be for something lengthier. We shall see.

Not much going on with appearances right now due to the workload I have. I hope to return to the conventions by late 2024. Before I go, I want to put out a special thanks to Laura Sydney, my literary agent, who I like to refer to as Superwoman. She has done so much for me since we started working together in November of 2022. With her help, 2024 should be very exciting with all that we are involved in right now. Join me again soon for the latest and hopefully greatest news on my projects.

Hello, everyone! Welcome back for more exciting news. First of all, Space Truckers 2 is now available in book format on all the major online venues and soon in the stores. The audio formats for both Space Truckers 1 and 2 will be available around October. Currently, the audio formats for Princess Pain, Queen of Pain and the three Fractured Time novels are still in recording. Princess Pain will be available by July in audio format. The others are coming soon after.

I was unable to make the two conventions this month due to a family member’s health issue. While disappointed, things have worked out for the better. Currently, I don’t have anything planned for the rest of this year because of the current work load. I do anticipate being at Connooga in Chattanooga, Tennessee in February though.

Last post, I mentioned that a few of my books had made the NY Times Best Sellers list and would be listed soon. Now, for the exciting update:

*For the third quarter (July-September), Night Creeps, Princess Pain, and Space Frontiers: The Eye of Icarus will be listed.

*For the fourth quarter (October-December), Fractured Time and Space Truckers 1 will be listed!

Even more exciting is the movie interest in the screenplays for the books. It sounds like we may be seeing several of my novels going to the movies! By November (or earlier), I should have final announcements on each of them, including my Christmas adventure script The Christmas Solution. While most have been feature (movie) scripts, Fractured Time is a pilot with 12 episodes for season one. This would be really exciting to see developed. This has been a busy time for me with providing the materials to the producers. This includes treatments, cinematic trailers, and other marketing tools.

Meanwhile, I am continuing to work on Reign of Pain, the third book in the Pain series. No timeline on that yet because of the other projects. Join me again soon for an update on these and any new projects that come along. Thanks for your support and have a great summer.

Hello, everyone. Spring is upon us and more than the flowers are blooming right now. Last post, I mentioned that Night Creeps and Princess Pain had made the NY Times Best-sellers List. Originally, I was told that the two would appear in March/April. I was just informed of a change in how they list books now. Apparently, each quarter is genre specific so Night Creeps will be listed in the third quarter and Princess Pain in either the third or fourth. I will keep you updated as to when they appear. This is quite an honor and only happens when 25,000 or more books are sold. The distributors responsible for making this happen deal with book stores around the globe so I owe them a great big ‘Thank You’.

Coming up in June are two exciting conventions that I highly recommend if you live in the Pennsylvania area. On June 2-4 is FanExpo at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Some of you may remember FanExpo by its previous title Wizard World. I will be there with table as well so don’t be bashful. Come by and see what’s new. On June 9-11 is SciFiValleyCon in Altoona, Pa. This is another well-run and fun-filled convention that I look forward to. Held at the Blair County Convention Center, it’s not too far from Pittsburgh.

Currently, my books are being concerted to audio format as well as printed and e-book. The Pain series and the Fractured Time Trilogy are the remaining ones that have yet to be completed. Recording has started on Princess Pain and Queen of Pain. Fractured Time will be shortly after.

Space Truckers 2 will be available by July or August and is an excellent follow up to the first Space Truckers story. There will be a third Space Truckers novel with a number of interesting issues to be resolved as well as a few new surprises to be addressed before possibly ending the series. Space Truckers 1 is available now through bookstores and online venues.

I am working on Reign of Pain and hope to have it completed before year’s end. Reign of Pain and Space Truckers 2 feature an overlap of characters in several chapters including Marina (Princess Pain) and Mike Colby (Space Truckers) along with some of their supporting characters. This is a challenge as the timing of appearances in Reign of Pain have to line up with their occurrence in Space Truckers.

And now for some movie talk. A production company is very anxious to obtain the screenplays for Night Creeps and also Night Creeps 2. Unfortunately, I did not have a screenplay for Night Creeps 2. Needless to say, that is another one of my projects. I should have a confirmation on a deal as well as a few of the details around November time frame.

A recent surprise is a solid interest in one of my stand alone scripts, The Christmas Solution. This has become a hot potato and I should have a confirmation on a deal for this around September. Again, more to come. Another company and its producer have an interest in the Space Truckers script but are still seeking funding. A Space Truckers movie would have a much bigger budget that the other three so this could be a lengthy process. I hope to have more on that soon. Join me again soon for more on my projects and appearances.

Greetings, everyone. Lots to talk about in my crazy world. February was a tough month for a lot of reasons. A few family issues to deal with but all is well now. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my appearances at Connooga and Farpoint. Hopefully next year I’ll be back. I still have Fan Expo (formerly Wizard World) in Philadelphia and SciFIValleyCon in Altoona, both in June. I plan on being there in the dealers room with a table for both of those.

Night Creeps and Night Creeps 2 have been pleasant surprises that caught me off-guard. It appears that a movie company is interested in the screenplays, not just for Night Creeps, but for Night Creeps 2 as well. My headache is that the script for Night Creeps 2 hasn’t been written yet. Needless to say, it will be. I can’t disclose more than that, other than to say that they were excited by the books which prompted the interest in the scripts.

As of last year, my books were not available in audio format. That has changed drastically as I have orders from large customers for a significant number of audio books for each of my eleven books. Another surprise I wasn’t prepared for but, alas, it is in progress.

You may remember that last year I had to find a new publisher as my prior one retired from publishing. All of my books are now under the Quantum Discovery label and available pretty much all over. You’ll notice the new book covers which are outstanding. Most of my website has been updated but there are a few images on the back pages to be replaced. I have to catch up with my website guru for that.

I have to mention that all of the good things mentioned above are a direct result of my fantastic agent who has done an awesome job opening the doors that other agents never got close to. I also learned quite a bit about the publishing world from her that I wasn’t aware of. Look for more exciting news as she is working on much more.

In addition, the second book in the Space Truckers series, The Return of the Blue Eagle, should be available by summer. Quantum Discovery doesn’t waste time in releasing a new book.

So what’s my current project(s)? I am working on Reign of Pain, the third book in the Pain Series. This one is tough because it overlaps with the new Space Truckers novel. Lead character Marina has more than a passing role in working with the crew of the Blue Eagle. I am also working on support materials for other scripts as well. The Christmas Solution (Holiday adventure) is high on my list right.

Join me again soon for more information, news and appearances. Stay warm and have a cheerful Spring.