The Mirror Image of Sound

Ten year anniversary edition of The Mirror Image of Sound!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 09:07:00 +0000

It's been 10 years since my debut novel The Mirror Image of Sound was first published by Pikkeljig Press.

I'm proud to annouce that, as of today, the special anniversary Second Edition is now live on Amazon and available for purchase! Please note that it replaces the First Edition.

You may wonder why a second edition was necessary...

Over the years I have had small errors (typos, etc.) pointed out to me and I have stored these up.

I also regretted the subtitle almost as soon as it was published. The new subtitle is “A novel about second chances”.

Finally, and most importantly, some minor extraneous minor scenes that bogged poor Dan’s story down in the first act have been excised, speeding up the pace without any loss to the story. Conversely, some small scenes cut from the original second act have been partially restored.

Basically I have had ten years to consider my second edition and create a “Director’s cut”!

I invite you all to buy:

your paperback copy here; and
your Kindle version here.

MIOS celebrates the fourth year of its debut instalment!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Sun, 24 Dec 2017 06:21:00 +0000

Well it was 4 years ago this very day that the adventure began: a story told in nightly instalments - a diary if you will - of mystery, suspense, drama, intrigue, murder most foul, tragedy, comedy, and romance. It all started with Christmas eve 2013. Do yourself a favour and join the 50,000 or so people who have joined in on the fun. Buy The Mirror Image of Sound today and have a very Merry Christmas!

MIOS' "little cousin" entered into 2017 PM's Literary Awards!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 12:57:00 +0000

Pikkeljig Press has entered my latest novel, Girl in the Attic (described by Sean Burke as "the little cousin of The Mirror Image of Sound") into the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for 2017 in the category "Young Adult Literature".

Grab a copy today!

Four "hads" in a row

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 06:07:00 +0000

I see my concept of using four "hads" in a row is now a common meme.

But hey folks, get it right - it was my idea first! So if you want to use a picture, use mine - and help spread the word!

See excerpt below:

Newest 5 star review

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 09:25:00 +0000

I had the great pleasure of receiving another 5 star review for The Mirror Image of Sound. You can read it here (or click on the image below).

Samir - one of the inspirations for the novel - reviews it

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 09:54:00 +0000

Readers of The Mirror Image of Sound will recall the character Samir in Brazil. There is indeed a Samir (he is much younger though almost as wise) and he does indeed live in Brazil (though not in Rio de Janeiro) so the character was named in his honour.

I was very happy to see Samir's review in Amazon recently and I thought I'd share it with you!

Click here to read it.

If you want to make a reader very happy this Christmas (old or young, female or male) the time to buy and ship a copy is right now!

Readership back on the rise

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 02:44:00 +0000

No sooner did I think the bubble had burst than the readership resumed its climb!

Spread the news and help me get The Mirror Image of Sound the recognition it deserves!

Another 5 star review!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 02:26:00 +0000

We have another 5 star review of The Mirror Image of Sound, this time by Bailey Mantukit of the UK. Thanks Bailey!

If only we had the chance to try another life ...., October 3, 2015

Bailey Mantukit

This review is from: The Mirror Image of Sound: A novel in real time (Kindle Edition)

This is the first book I've read by Dan Djurdjevic, and it won't be the last. I empathised with the main character, Dan, being "stuck" in a marriage, providing for his selfish wife's spending habits.
Upon his Uncle's death, Dan inherits something seemingly mundane as cowboy boots, but that's only the beginning. The reader is taken on a journey in real time in Australia. My imagination was working overtime as to what could possibly happen next. I found myself neglecting household chores in favour of reading this book!

MIOS proves it really is a page turner!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 02:19:00 +0000

The free download promotion is now over and I find myself happy that so many took advantage of the offer (last count is well into 3 figures) over the 5 days.

But more than anything, I find it heartening that the book really does live up to its name of being a page turner! Kindle has this amazing feature that allows you to see whether it is being read. The first night figure was 507. Since then I've had a steady flow of 60-70 per day. Given that it was serialised online (where it built up an average readership of 17,000 per day at the very end) I'm not surprised.

I can't help but notice that my only critics so far have been people who (by their own admission) have read only a couple of pages free online. If you're one of these, why not give the book a proper go? You might be surprised. The Mirror Image of Sound is nothing if not full of surprises!

MIOS in German top ten!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 06:42:00 +0000

Some time ago I wrote about how The Mirror Image of Sound was being pirated. In particular, I came across a German site that had links to downloading illegal copies of the novel. Judging by the volume of reviews, these downloads must have run into the hundreds.

Well it's great to see that a German site has now picked up my free download promotion of MIOS so the people there can download it for free - legally.

What's more, MIOS is in their top ten of free download books!

There's just the small question of whether there's anyone who has yet to download a copy... :)

Record daily downloads follow start of 5 day free Kindle promotion!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 11:56:00 +0000

MIOS has had record downloads following the start of the 5 day free Kindle version promotion. In just a matter of hours the free downloads soared to 121 and continue in the second day at much the same rate.

The novel has also been recommended by influential sites iereaderreview.com and efreebooks.org adding to the download rate!

With only four more days to go, make sure you snap up your copy!

The synopsis is as follows:

Dan is a young lawyer living in a bullying work environment and tolerating a cheating, air-headed wife. When he loses his beloved uncle, and possibly only real friend, Uncle Frank, his life is set to implode.

In what seems like a final, cruel, twist of fate, Uncle Frank has inexplicably left virtually his entire estate to a stranger named "Fenyops Pikkeljig".

But while winding up his uncle's estate, Dan uncovers a hidden cellar - and slowly begins to uncover a world of intrigue, mystery and suspense. He meets the exotic and mysterious Justine and, in a fashion reminiscent of Joseph Conrad's "Victory", ultimately gets involved in the lives of "real people" - discovering that sometimes the chance to help others affords your only chance for redemption, love and a life that is actually worth living.

But will Dan take that chance - or will he succumb to the same inertia that has kept him locked in his "first world nightmare" for as long as he can remember?

How will he respond to the fact that his involvement in the lives of others brings with it the very real risk of his own ruin - and possibly demise?

Part mystery, part romance, part sci-fi/fantasy, fully Aussie satire in the mould of "The Castle", this quirky, punchy page-turner will keep you guessing to the very end.

So if you haven't yet done so, now is the time to read this novel, described by reviewers as "life-changing" and "deservedly 5 stars".

To download the Kindle version, click on the amazonkindle button to the right or on the above image of the cover of the novel.

Free download promotion of The Mirror Image of Sound

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 04:15:00 +0000

From my Publisher...

Pikkeljig Press have announced a special promotion of The Mirror Image of Sound during which you can download a Kindle version for free from 21 to 25 September 2015. For those who don't know, this is a novel about second chances. The synopsis is as follows:

To download the Kindle version, click on the amazonkindle button to the right or on the above image of the cover of the novel. But remember - the promotion starts 21 September - that's tomorrow! You have a day to think about it. Don't let the chance slip away!

Help me help Guy!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Tue, 11 Aug 2015 08:24:00 +0000

My good friend and fellow Pikkelig Press author, Guy McGowan, was recently burgled and lost his treasured computer notebook (with all his work on it!).

While it's hard for any of us to help him with the lost work, we can at least help the talented artist and graphic designer replace his primary work tool.

Accordingly I pledge to give 100% of the royalties of the acclaimed novel "The Mirror Image of Sound" for the month of August to Guy in order to enable him to replace his stolen hardware.

That's right: the proceeds of every book you buy this month will go towards helping Guy replace his computer.

Let's make this a reality folks!

You can buy a copy here.

Come on - you can help a talented artist recover from a devastating loss - and get a good read to boot! Join me now!

*Note: Due to Kindle's new policy of not paying its authors except by "pages read", this pledge relates only to physical books, not ebooks.

The Mirror Image of Sound as a short film

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 04:23:00 +0000

Here's a short film that covers the sci-fi element of The Mirror Image of Sound rather perfectly!

"An understated gem"

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 06:10:00 +0000

The Mirror Image of Sound continues its run of awesome reviews. Here's one too good not to share.

Thanks Alicia!

A really fun, clever read! I loved the understated writing style (which made even more sense after reading the endnotes), which made the constant (understated) jokes even funnier! Djurdjevic's story struck me as very (understatedly) poetic. Just as the story develops in little ways, seemingly banal elements lead to an exciting and twisted world that none could have predicted - and ultimately show us that it is these most common moments that are really the most important. I sincerely hope this book gets picked up as a movie (it would be really cheap to make too) so that Djurdjevic can spend more time writing. And walking his dog!

Second imprint finalised - and on special!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 10:49:00 +0000

Well I had wanted to keep any corrections to The Mirror Image of Sound to the second edition - but that is planned for a completely different printing company - an Australian based one - and so that has to wait for certain details to be worked through.

So in the meantime I decided to go ahead and fix a few typographical and other minor errors in the book, albeit within the same edition (for those who don't know, new editions require a separate ISBN).

Accordingly Pikkeljig has prepared a new imprint of the novel. It fixes small mistakes like Justine's colloquial reference to "English passport" (yes, she knew it was actually a UK passport, but I'm tired of explaining that when characters speak they don't always get things right!), Frank's reference to "taxpayers'theroo" (the extra "theroo" must have been something cut and left on the clipboard, then accidentally pasted in by a bump on the keyboard) and long with a few missing commas and one small computational error in Dan's reference to the number of text messages he got from Kylie.

So the novel is now back online (after having been off for most of the day). If you haven't yet got a copy, do it now!

By the way: the price for the Kindle version is currently very, very special. I don't even know why: Amazon have dropped it through the floor. So don't miss this chance to pick it up (and my other books - they all seem to be on a limited special)!

Please share this press release prepared by my amazing publicist, Shelly B!

You know you've made it when... #2

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 11:31:00 +0000

You know you've made it when you find your own book in the local library!

So cool!

You know you've made it when... #1

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 05:35:00 +0000

You know you've made it when people start to pirate your work... particularly when they give you rave reviews:

":winnah:I advised it to all my friends. It is the best thing I.ve ever read."

"I like it! It's interesting, sophisticated and excellent."

"Forget everything you've read earlier That was nothing in comparison with this great book!"

"The best masterpiece I've ever read!"

"It has to be in every flat!"

"Firstly, you will be smiling then you will be crying and don't say you haven't been told!"

This seems to be a German group (which might account for some random Germans I met in Europe who had actually read my book - and were fans!).

I don't know whether to be outraged or flattered! And I seriously don't get the "free" thing - not when Amazon has dropped the Kindle price to $4.80...

Another 5 star review

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 02:11:00 +0000

I just got this review on Amazon from respected novelist and academic Ian Reid - marvellous! So wonderful to have an endorsement of this kind from a colleague in the profession!

The funniest book I've read for a long while. I love the playful way it takes the idea of self-reflexive storytelling and turns it into a zany fantasy of split characterisation - D1/D2, Fenyops Pikkeljig et al. Unflaggingly inventive. Hilarious characters, situations, dialogue. DD should consider writing scripts for comic movies.

Thanks Ian!

A black rom com?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 10:46:00 +0000

The most common question I'm asked about the Mirror Image of Sound is when it's going to be made into a movie. Well as it happens I've already discussed the issue with a scriptwriter for the ABC. But so far there's been no further progress. I'm open to suggestions.

In the meantime, one recent reviewer, Becky, has suggested it fills a particular genre: "black rom com".

What do you think?

Can we get the Hoff to make a cameo?

;)

One of the satirical asides from the novel was this supposed product - a gift to my alter ego from my inlaws.

More reviews keep flooding in...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Sun, 10 May 2015 11:28:00 +0000

It's great that after a year I'm still getting such solid reviews from various booksellers - this one from Barnes and Noble. Check it out!

Another amazing review!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 13:21:00 +0000

Here's a great review from Ray Hanas in Perth, posted on Facebook:

[J]ust wanted to say what an enjoyable time I had reading "The Mirror Image of Sound". The idea is original, I enjoy that. The plot line, unpredictable, and funny. Well written . Your book had me coming back at odd hours of the day to catch up - always a good sign. I also, enjoyed the idea of realtime writing, so ,it felt as though I was there, day by day as an observer, in realtime. I develped an affinity with the characters for their strenghts and weaknesses. Your dry sense of humour. And some philosophical questions about reality and hamster wheels got me thinking. I do think it would make an interesting Movie and have no doubt I will see a variation ,if not this version on the big screen in the next 4 years.

Great new review for MIOS!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 02:24:00 +0000

Another 5 star review for The Mirror Image of Sound - and this one is awesome! Click here.

Meanwhile, look what can be spotted at cafes near you!

Mirror Image of Sound in Australian book store!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 04:58:00 +0000

The Mirror Image of Sound has come home - it is now stocked in Angus and Robertson book stores (but look at the price - buy it directly from Pikkeljig Press at $16.95)!

Mirror Image of Sound paperback price now only $16.95

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Djurdjevic) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 01:13:00 +0000

In preparation for the issue of the second edition, Pikkeljig Press has lowered the price of the first edition of The Mirror Image of Sound to $16.95!

Get your first edition copy now before it's gone!