Nicholas Ponticello's Blog

Hi Reader,

I thought the comic below would be fitting given yesterday’s successful return of the Artemis II crew from its eight-day journey around the moon. 

I’ve been hard at work over the last month or so compiling all of the comic strips I’ve drawn over the years into a single collection that is now available for preorder on Amazon:

Simply Nick: The Complete Collection

I’d love it if you would help support the launch of this collection by taking part in my preorder campaign. The Kindle version of the book is just $2.99, and every sale contributes to my ability to publish quality books at low prices. If you enjoyed Satan’s Diary or any of my other novels, please consider ordering Simply Nick: The Complete Collection so that I can keep bringing you great novels in the future.

If it isn’t in your budget right now, please consider joining my ARC team to receive a FREE digital copy of the book.

Apply to be an ARC reader here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgsMUSGff6FnWPqzmN…

You get:

A full digital copy of Simply Nick: The Complete CollectionDelivered before launch (June 2)Quick, honest review requested (Amazon)

No pressure at all—just an open invitation. 

Thanks again for being part of this journey. Whether you join the ARC team or just stick around for the ride, I’m glad you’re here.

—Nick

Hey There,

Before Simply Nick: The Complete Collection officially launches, I wanted to reach out to you first.

I’m putting together a small group of ARC readers—early readers who get a free digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review—and I’d love for you to be part of it.

If you’ve enjoyed my work before, this is your chance to:

Read Simply Nick before anyone elseGet a free copy of the full collectionHelp shape the launch with your feedback and review

Apply to be an ARC reader here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgsMUSGff6FnWPqzmNtBB1HW5KOeoshcFq7QcuhkJh7Hj4FQ/viewform?usp=header

You get:

A full digital copy of Simply Nick: The Complete CollectionDelivered before launch (June 2)Quick, honest review requested (Amazon)

No pressure at all—just an open invitation.

A quick bonus:

For a limited time, Satan’s Diary is available for just 99¢.

If you’ve already read it—thank you. Seriously.
If not, or if you know someone who might enjoy it, now’s a great time to grab a copy or share it along.

 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7G1W5PF

Thanks again for being part of this journey. Whether you join the ARC team or just stick around for the ride, I’m glad you’re here.

—Nick

P.S. ARC spots are limited, so if you’re interested, don’t wait too long

 Apply to be an ARC reader here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfgsMUSGff6FnWPqzmNtBB1HW5KOeoshcFq7QcuhkJh7Hj4FQ/viewform?usp=header

Dear Agents,

Zombies meet magic in this epic fantasy that follows an orphan on the run for breaking the one cardinal rule of his people: Never awaken the dead. When seventeen-year-old Severe does just that—brings a dead man back to life—he sets in motion a series of sociopolitical gambits that make him the most wanted man in the Thirteen Worlds.

Now the Creationist Church is out to crucify Severe for committing this most grievous of sins; the Pononian people want to claim Severe as their messiah; a vengeful seer and her faceless apprentice plan to kill Severe for his magic; and a plague of undead sweeps across the Thirteen Worlds, threatening the fragile balance of power between the nations. And when Severe learns that his mother may still be alive, he must cross the Thirteen Worlds to find her. But can he avoid detection if the strange magic inside of him keeps lashing out at the most inopportune times

Never Awaken the Dead is the first installment in the Vanished Empire trilogy, which follows Severe’s journey to vanquish the wraith plague and uncover the frightening truth about its origins. Never Awaken the Dead, complete at 81,000 words, plays out across thirteen fantasy worlds connected by a maze of portals. This tale of sorcerers and zombies has the sociopolitical depth of the Shadow and Bone trilogy with the magical world-building of A Court of Thorns and Roses.

I am a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. In 2020, I was awarded the Sue Alexander Grant for my work on a YA novel provisionally titled Boy, Obsessed, and in 2021 and 2022, I won the SCBWI-LA Writers Day competition for two speculative novels-in-progress.

Comment below if you’re interested.

The spooky season is upon us—witches and ghouls, devils and demons…and who better to tell us a scary story than Satan himself?

SATAN’S DIARY—on sale for 99 cents now.

Heaven has been modernized. Angels carry iPhones. God is taking antidepressants and seeing a therapist in London. The Devil lives in the East Bay, serves coffee to university students, and flies kites at the Berkeley Marina. A retelling of the fall of Satan from the point of view of the Prince of Darkness himself, Satan’s Diary follows Lucifer from ancient Mesopotamia to twenty-first-century America in his quest to understand the human race.

Lucifer is God’s attempt at perfection. But Lucifer betrays God to live among the mortals on Earth, making enemies of God and God’s many followers. Lucifer is just like you and me, looking for love in all the wrong places and trying to eke out a living on a quickly evolving planet. But when Lucifer falls head over heels for a mortal girl amid the seventeenth-century witch trial madness, he must risk everything for a shot at true love. Instead of bolting, as he has been doing for thousands of years, he must stay and face his true nature.

A modern sci-fi satire about biotech, grief, memory—and one man’s very strange delivery job.

Do Not Resuscitate is 99¢ this week only.

Grab it now on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VKSQFIC

Jim Frost thinks that when you’re dead, you’re dead. Gone. Finished. Kaput. But on the eve of his seventy-third birthday, his daughter suggests he have his brain downloaded to a microchip for safekeeping, and Jim is forced to consider what it really means to die—and what it might mean to live forever.

Winner in the 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards and semifinalist in the 2015 Kindle Book Awards, Do Not Resuscitate is the firsthand account of Jim Frost, an aging misanthropist who witnessed the rise and fall of the United States as a world power, the digitalization of the planet, the advent of the water wars, and the near collapse of the global economy. Yet he remains impervious to it all. Concerned more with his plasma TV, high-speed Internet, and continual supply of hash, twentysomething Jim takes an under-the-table job off Craigslist delivering mysterious red coolers to strangers in cafés in an effort to pay the bills. But when Jim’s enigmatic employer asks him to fly to North Korea for a delivery, Jim starts to wonder what he’s gotten himself into.

Do Not Resuscitate received honorable mention at the 2015 Green Book Festival, which spotlights “books that contribute to greater understanding, respect for and positive action on the changing worldwide environment.”

Winner, Reader Views Reviewers Choice AwardWinner, 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year AwardWinner, 2016 CIPA EVVY AwardsFinalist, 2016 Next Generation Indie Book AwardsSemifinalist, 2015 Book Pipeline ContestSemifinalist, 2015 Kindle Book AwardsHonorable Mention, 2015 Green Book Festival

$0.99 SALE! As systems fail, secrets unravel, and love and typhus spread in equal measure, this satirical space opera becomes a darkly comic tale of survival, betrayal, and hope.

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE DESTINY UNKNOWN

www.amazon.com/dp/B01C2334GO

It is two hundred million years into the future, and Earth is devastated by a dying sun whose expanding photosphere has melted the surface of the planet and driven humans underground. In this world, humankind is doomed to extinction. But Marcus Fincus thinks he can secure the survival of the human species. He selects a small crew of brave voyagers from the insignificant but determined planet Earth to set out in search of a new home.

Their ship, the Destiny Unknown, is designed to take care of everything. Every meal is regulated to the ounce. Every mile is charted and mapped. Everybody has his or her own unique role in this microsociety: doctor, teacher, electrician, engineer. Then the inevitable happens: the passengers start to behave as people. The captain seduces half the women on the ship, his wife develops a neurological disorder, their sixteen-year-old son runs away in the escape pod, and the doctor dies in a freak scalpel accident.

The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown is a dark parable about the nature of human existence. Told from the perspective of an alien observer who follows our heroes like an unsympathetic reporter from National Geographic—he refuses to intervene when our heroes come face-to-face with deadly meteor showers, alien cannibals, and other crises that threaten to destroy them all. Funny and philosophical in its treatment of human nature, The Maiden Voyage of the Destiny Unknown not only seeks to understand the place of humans in the universe—it also seeks to address the looming question: What makes us so special?

This week, Satan’s Diary is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time, so now is the time to grab or gift a copy if you haven’t yet. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.

“A gripping read.”

“Had me NEEDING to read more.”

“It had me hooked.”

“I loved this book.”

“Clever and entertaining “

“Cheeky” and “irreverent.”

I appreciate all the support my readers have shown me. If you’ve already read the book, please leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads.

So order your copy now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7G1W5PF

Heaven has been modernized. Angels carry iPhones. God is taking antidepressants and seeing a therapist in London. The Devil lives in the East Bay, serves coffee to university students, and flies kites at the Berkeley Marina. A retelling of the fall of Satan from the point of view of the Prince of Darkness himself, Satan’s Diary follows Lucifer from ancient Mesopotamia to twenty-first-century America in his quest to understand the human race.

Lucifer is God’s attempt at perfection. But Lucifer betrays God to live among the mortals on Earth, making enemies of God and God’s many followers. Lucifer is just like you and me, looking for love in all the wrong places and trying to eke out a living on a quickly evolving planet. But when Lucifer falls head over heels for a mortal girl amid the seventeenth-century witch trial madness, he must risk everything for a shot at true love. Instead of bolting, as he has been doing for thousands of years, he must stay and face his true nature.

Today I’m featured on the Queen’s Book Asylum blog. I talk about my love of junk food, my trip to Paris, and my struggle with mortality. Check it out at the link below.

Satan’s Diary: Interview with Nicholas Ponticello

Another milestone! SATAN’S DIARY is Amazon’s #1 Hot New Release in Angel Paranormal Romance! Order your copy right now to help me keep it #1.

https://www.amazon.com/Satans-Diary-Nicholas-Ponticello/dp/B0FDWRVJYR

OMG! Satan’s Diary just hit #1 on the Amazon Top New Releases Mythology list! That blows my mind. Help me keep it there by preordering your copy right now! Every preorder counts toward staying on the top new releases list!

www.amazon.com/dp/B0F7G1W5PF