Richard Rostron is an NIU alumnus who graduated in 1998 and wrote for the Northern Star. Since graduating, Rostron has worked at numerous newspapers such as The Woodstock Independent and Chicago Tribune. 

Rostron has always been passionate about reading and writing and said he knew from a very young age that he wanted to be a writer. 

“My mother read to my brother and sister and me when I was young and I think that had a lot to do with it,” Rostron said.

His new book “The Burning Sea of Iron Bottom Bay,” self-published on July 5, is a novel targeted at young adults but can be read by readers of all ages. The book follows Kyle, a freshman in high school who’s dealing with divorced parents and a bully.

“He (Kyle) finds out that he has to give up his bedroom because his great-grandfather has been kicked out of his third nursing home,” Rostron said. “He’s not really happy about what’s going on, but he ends up developing a bond with this old man and discovers that the old man joined the Navy when he was his age during World War II.” 

Rostron shared the process he went through to write his book.

“I specifically started doing research for this book about a year before it came out. I did some research on what other people wrote in this genre before I started, and there wasn’t a whole lot there,” Rostron said. “When I wrote this book, even though it’s historical fiction, I wanted it to be as accurate as possible.” 

He not only did online research, but he had help from other people that helped shape his characters’ experiences. 

“I reached out to Facebook sites for naval veterans and got some ideas from them that I used in the book,” Rostron said. “I had one Navy veteran read the book script after it was done, and he recommended some changes. There’s one chapter that I made some fairly significant changes on.”

Rostron said that he got the inspiration to write the book from another author.

“One of the things that inspired me to write this book was a book by a guy named James Hornfischer called ‘Neptune’s Inferno.’ That’s a book about the naval battles around Guadalcanal during World War II.” 

In May, Rostron took a 14-day trip to New England and said that he’s gained inspiration for future projects. He intends to write about the American Revolution in his next books.

“It was 14 days and eight Airbnbs, so I was moving. I’ve got a number of books I want to write about. Of these eight Airbnbs, I met six of the owners, and four of the owners told me that their homes were haunted – including one in Gettysburg,” Rostron said. “I was beginning to think this was kind of funny, and I’ve taken the four haunted houses as a hint. I think the next book is going to have a ghost.”

Rostron said that he wants readers to learn about the hardships people can go through.

“It’s the story about this young kid learning how to deal with adversity; in his case, he’s dealing with a bully as well as his parents are divorced. The boy is 15 years old in the book, and the grandfather was 15 years old when he joined the Navy,” Rostron said. “They’re the same age from one period to the other period, and the challenges the grandfather faced put a different perspective on the challenges that the 15-year-old today is dealing with.” 

“The Burning Sea of Iron Bottom Bay” is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.