In 1932 Idriess was described as 'a slight, medium-sized man, with a narrow, pale face, slightly greying hair and remarkable hazel eyes; a soft-voiced man with a typical Australian drawl.' He was also a highly motivated writer. He said of himself that he wrote 'like stinking hell, ' spending two hours every morning covering quarto pages of white paper with large handwriting at a desk in Angus & Robertson's old building in Castlereagh Street...

- Julian Croft, Australian Dictionary of Biography

Ion Idriess wrote over 50 books between 1931 and 1969, including the very popular Prospecting for Gold (1931), Lasseter's Last Ride (1932), and The Cattle King (1935), all of which have had 50 reprintings. This book focusses on his working correspondence from 1933 to 1935, as he attempted to draw stories, facts and photographs into his working archive, for books such as Drums of Mer, The Yellow Joss, Man Tracks and Forty Fathoms Deep. Collated and transcribed by Dr David A. Paterson from hand-written letters in the author's archive, here is a unique way into the complex mind of one of Australia's best-loved and most collected authors.

Ion writes on July 3rd 1935, "I've got a ___ of a lot of correspondence to answer & if I start off by writing to old mates I'll keep on till I write a blooming book". Well Ion, here's the blooming book.