Recently the first book in the Ishmael series, Don’t Call Me Ishmael, was reprinted (for the 27th time!) and given a slightly updated new cover.

Unfortunately though, the second and third books in the series have been out of print and unavailable for quite a while. (Which is a shame since the first book has sold over 100,000 copies in Aust/NZ alone, and I personally think the sequels are better.)

But the REALLY GOOD NEWS is that now both sequels – Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs and Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel – are going to be REPRINTED with slightly UPDATED COVERS to match the latest DCM Ishmael cover!

They’re due for release in MAY 2025. Woohoo! Very happy about this.

Since a new cover is on the horizon I thought I’d take a quick look back at the original Dugongs cover. It was designed and created by my son Joe Bauer. (As was the original DCM Ishmael cover when he was still at school in grade 12.)

On the LEFT below is Joe’s plan for the front and back covers and on the RIGHT is how the original Dugongs front cover ended up.

Joe also created the Dugongs Logo and the Dugongs cassette case below. The Dugongs themselves are actually me and three friends (from an old photo) disguised in purple. I’m second from the left.

Our first attempt to create the cover (which had a background of a school gymnasium floor) took place at Mt St Michael College in Ashgrove.

This was the school both my wife and daughter attended as pupils and the school where my wife and I first met when we were young teachers.

The photos we took on that day weren’t quite what the publishers wanted so Joe and I had to try again another time.

Unfortunately the MSM gymnasium wasn’t available when we needed it so we had to quickly find another venue with a gymnasium-like floor.

We ended up hiring a court at the Taylor Range Squash Courts in The Gap. We didn’t play squash.

Joe and some other folk who contributed to the creation of the cover were duly thanked in the Acknowledgments.

(I case you’re wondering about ‘The Human Domino’ mentioned in the acknowledgments, that was a joke nickname from my soccer playing days. I used to do a lot of slide-tackles (my one football talent) and often ended up on the ground – usually tangled with an opposition player.)

And so that’s basically the Dugong’s original cover story, covered.

Cheers
Michael