Dan Djurdjevic

I've received an absolutely wonderful New Year's Eve gift from Dr Arnold Rosenstock in the form of a 5 star review of Essential Jo. Thank you Arnold!

After making an entry several times this year into the "hot new release" list (but languishing in the top 200 generally), last night "Essential Jo" finally cracked Amazon's Martial Arts Bestseller list overall, reaching at least 46.  [Edit: as of 31/12/2015 it is at 33! ] Given that the sales have steadily been increasing from month to month - and the fact that I'm about to release the companion DVD in the next week or two, I have no reason to suspect the situation will change except for the better.  Every single month brings increased awareness and sales. Either way, I'm officially a bestselling writer! So much for the publishers who rejected this text as "not commercially viable" (one of whom had the gall to write to me recently asking me to review their titles on my blogs). Look out for the DVD folks!

To celebrate the 2 year anniversary of the beginning of The Mirror Image of Sound, and as a Christmas present, Pikkeljig Press is offering 5 day FREE download promotion, starting 26/12/2015! Don't miss your chance to read the "novel about second chances"! Go to the  Kindle page  and download the novel FREE for 5 days from 26 to 30/12/2015!

Today I launched my 3 new DVDs, Internalising Karate, Bridging Hard and Soft: Vol 1 Fundamentals and Chang Dao: Chinese long Sabre at the  Ray Hana's Superstore  in Perth WA. It was great to meet some new people and wonderful to see some old friends too!

I'm pleased to announce that my video "Bridging Hard and Soft Vol. 1: Fundamentals" is now available for purchase from my online shop which can be found  here . More details can be found in my recent  press release  and  article .  Otherwise, here's a teaser for the video: Copyright © 2015 Dejan Djurdjevic

Before "The Martian" there was my psychological sci-fi thriller  "A Hazy Shade of Twilight" ... Set in a small base on Saturn's moon Titan, the novella deals with the effects of extreme isolation and confinement on a small group of scientists - and the logistical realities of mere survival when something goes awry. To celebrate the release of the new cover of this novella (and its associated stories), Pikkelig Press is offering as a free Kindle download from  7 to 11 October 2015 .  So make sure you get your free copy while you can! And don't forget to leave a review on Amazon!

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!

I have received  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 By  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!

Pikkeljig Press has released a new cover for my book "A Hazy Shade of Twilight" and I think it is perfect: matches the dark mysterious interior perfectly!  What do you think?

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!

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... :)

My novel " The Mirror Image of Sound " 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 ...

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: 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 some...

We need to be abundantly clear on this: we "stopped the boats" by being unspeakably cruel to people who, in all probability (based on the available data) were in desperate need of our help. If you are happy in your conscience to inflict this cruelty on innocent individuals - many of whom are children - coming to us in their time of greatest need, only then should you speak with admiration of the government's "success" in relation to the "refugee problem". Only then is "stopping the boats" a virtue and not a sin, if not a crime.

One of the advantages of the information age is that we get to see the truth - the whole, unvarnished truth - about the state of the world. No, that truth isn't to be found in some particular person's meme, photo, tweet, Facebook or blog entry.  It isn't to be found in right wing "think tank" analyses, nor is it to be found in shrill left wing critiques.  It is somewhere in the middle.  It is a combination of all of that.  Because out of the mess of information and disinformation, bias and correction, logic and emotion, a picture starts to form.  Pixel by pixel it materialises out of the blur of ignorance and phantom dissonance.  Stare at it long enough and the image becomes crystal clear. Right now a picture is coming into focus.  I'm looking at the underside of our Western society.  And I'm afraid it isn't a pretty sight at all.  In fact it's downright ugly. It's particularly ugly and distressing when it manifests as the sight of ...

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 my books for the month of August to Guy in order to enable him to replace his stolen hardware. That's right: the proceeds of every one of my books you buy this month will go towards helping Guy replace his computer. Let's make this a reality folks! My fiction catalogue can be found  here  and my best-selling martial textbook "Essential Jo" can be found  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...

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

Years ago I remember reading the letters to the editor in our local newspaper The West Australian .  One irate woman wrote in to say that she'd identified the secret "Gay Agenda": to "normalise gayness." Shock horror. Well I have news for that woman: this "agenda" isn't so secret.  In fact, it's obvious.  It always has been. One sector of society (we'll call them the "social conservatives") somehow think this is reprehensible.  Another sector (we'll call them the "social progressives") think this is laudable.  What role does this social division play in the current debate on marriage equality in Australia? Some time ago the Australian ABC screened a controversial episode of the children's programme "Playschool", featuring a child with two mothers .  This was during a segment called "Through the Window" which commonly examined different, everyday social situations.  Needless to say, t...

To commemorate my father's passing - on this day 30 years ago - here is a song I wrote for him. I am now the same age he was on that fateful day.

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 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 ...

I am so pleased to have received  this review  on Amazon from respected WA novelist and academic Ian Reid for my novel  The Mirror Image of Sound ! 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. It is wonderful to have such an endorsement from one of my colleagues in the writing profession.

Some of you might recall from my essay " My unlikely relationship with the jian " the story of how my father bought me a hunting knife when I was 7 years old - and how I lost it.  In fact, it wasn't "lost" so much as stolen.  Now, after almost exactly 41 years, I have it back.  Almost.  Anyway, here's the story: You might remember that my father and I entered a rather smoky little specialist blade shop somewhere in downtown Belgrade in December 1972 where he bought me a lovely bone-handled hunting knife.  It seemed like a large Bowie in my child-sized hands.  And it was love at first sight. I took that knife home with me to Papua New Guinea.  Back then we were living in the tiny hamlet of Kavieng on the northern and western tip of New Ireland, just 100 km south of the equator.  It was a hot, sticky, remote and totally undeveloped corner of the world where  remnants of World War II  were still "fresh" - at least in a decomposing, ox...

Yes, I know you'll think otherwise.  You'll think: "Dan's lost the plot." But it turns out research data overwhelming supports the view that once you don't have to worry about money (ie. you're not wondering where the next meal is coming from or whether the gas bill and rent are going to be paid) and once you are doing a task that is even partially intellectual or conceptual, money isn't what motivates us . If you don't believe me, watch this video featuring animations imposed on Dan Pink's talk: It seems the science is irrefutable: money doesn't motivate us beyond simple mechanical tasks or the sense of financial urgency.  Instead we are motivated by three different factors: Autonomy Mastery Purpose This explains a LOT - particularly why micromanagers are so bad at "managing" people.  They ignore the fact that no amount of money takes the place of having a sense of autonomy, mastery and purpose in our work lives. ...

If you've been wondering where I've been for last month or so, I have been working at a somewhat furious pace in the background on one of my long-sought after goals.  And now I've finally achieved it: After 6 years of toil and struggle, my first martial textbook, " Essential Jo " has finally been published! The book is intended as a complete instructional manual on practical, as well as sophisticated and elegant, techniques using the jo.  For those who don't know, the jo is the Japanese 4-foot staff, originally taught with the ken (sword) in the samurai arts. As far as I can tell, Essential Jo is the most comprehensive text on the subject to date, offering a course of study from white through to black belt in the "Way of the Jo" (jodo). The book features over 900 professional black and white photographs accompanied by clear, detailed textual explanations. While it is intended primarily for students with experience in weapons arts, part...