The Origins of Burnt September

The idea for Burnt September has its roots in my early years reading Boy’s Own Adventures and Dan Dare mixed with my life during the 90’s.

Burnt September is the third book I had written and was the first I chose to independently publish in March 2020. I selected it to be the vanguard of my Author career, for two reasons. It was a story I liked, and it was the favourite of the brother it is dedicated too. Boris badgered me for many years to publish, though by the time I had spread my wings he had already departed this world.

During the 90’s I spent many weekends and hours of my time researching and finding wrecked aircraft from World War 2 on the Australian mainland, the Pacific and Asia. The first aircraft I visited was a Boeing B-17E Liberator bomber called, ‘Bessie the Jap Basher’,

in the Solomon Islands. I was hooked and spent the next ten years looking for and finding around fifty wrecks. At the same time, I took up SCUBA diving and added that dimension to my new passion.

The Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” wreck which forms the centre piece of Burnt September is based on an obscure reference I found to a wreck at Finniss River in the Northern Territory which had been salvaged long before I took up the interest. For some reason the idea of it has always stayed with me. With that in mind, mixed with a Boy’s Own Adventure idea of a group of teenagers finding the wreck, I explored the group dynamic which came with it and Burnt September was born.

I have always loved the Northern Territory. The colours and diversity of the terrain and the feeling of being remote in every direction made it easy to set the story there. I chose a time when the Territory was still relatively forgotten by the rest of Australia, under populated and eternally free to enable the story to take place.

Burnt September is the only book I have written in silence. I arranged into a corner a small three legged table big enough to fit the old NEC laptop I wrote it on and nothing else. The draft took me just under three months to write and 18 years to publish.

I will include the dedication here to again preserve a good man’s memory.

Burnt September is eternally dedicated to my brother gone, Boris Cichosz. Taken too early before we could spend our later years as old men in rocking chairs talking about our lives and swapping stories. Burnt September was his favourite novella of mine and he loved it. This one is for you, old friend.