Old, battered, torn, faded and falling apart. But, enough about me – check out those covers!

Are you in the same boat? Maybe it’s time your old copy of DCM ISHMAEL was given a face-lift.

Or maybe it’s time you finally bite the bullet, cave into peer group pressure, go against your better judgement, throw caution to the wind, and buy your first copy!

As mentioned in the last blog a NEW edition of DON’T CALL ME ISHMAEL will be released in APRIL and this week I was thrilled to receive a bunch of shiny advance copies. Thank you SCHOLASTIC AUSTRALIA.

The first edition of DCM Ishmael was published way back in 2006 and so to celebrate the latest one (and to encourage everyone to rush out and order the new copy!) I thought I’d have a look back and highlight some things about the novel itself and what it has achieved over the years.

1. The whole story started because of this image of Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab from the film version of Herman Melville’s MOBY DICK. It was on the noticeboard in the study of our previous house. No picture on the board. No Ishmael trilogy. It’s crazy to think of the small things that can lead to a big story.

2. Since the original release in 2006 the Australia/NZ edition has been reprinted 27 times.

3. There have been 4 cover variations.

4. The original Australian cover, as well as the props needed for it, were created and designed by my son Joe. He was in Grade 12 at the time.

5. There have been 7 overseas publications. (There were almost 8. A Turkish publisher bought the rights in 2017 but their edition was never published.)

6. Don’t Call Me Ishmael has been performed as a straight stage play and a musical in Australia and as a stage and radio play in Germany. Ishmael is a best-seller in Germany – thanks to the wonderful Carl Hanser (hardback) dtv (paperback) and Hoercompany (audio) – and has been used in schools there as a class text and also in State exams.

8. In 2010 I was invited to the White Ravens Festival held at the International Youth Library in Blutenburg Castle in Munich. The first two Ishmael books and The Running Man had been published in Germany at the time. As well as presenting at the festival and speaking at a couple of schools, the highlight was getting to perform the songs I’d written for Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs at a concert in Blutenburg castle with German band Gone Fishin’. They had recorded bits of the songs for the German audio version.

9. Since its publication DCM Ishmael has been short-listed and won a number of awards both here and overseas.

10. As of 2023 DCM Ishmael has sold around 120,000+ copies in Aust/NZ alone. (So if everyone who has ever bought one could please update to a new copy, then I’ll have a big windfall!)

AND JUST TO FINISH UP:

If you want to discover some hidden references and secrets behind DCM Ishmael, then go HERE.

If you want to read more about how Gregory Peck and Herman Melville helped create the Ishmael series, go HERE.

Finally, if you want to discover the secrets of the second and third books of the Ishmael trilogy, then go HERE.

And finally, finally, next blog I’ll have a competition where you will have the chance to win one of the new editions!!!!

As long as you can answer a simple Ishmael related question.

And you live in Australia.

And (in the unlikely event that more than two people respond) you get drawn out of a hat.

Cheers
Michael