Publications

River Characters, Walter's collection of essays and fishing stories.

I’ve been writing creatively since I was about nine. I remember writing little oddball snippets I called “runes” on bits of scratch paper, then leaving them on people’s desks for them to find and wonder at. I won my first writing award when I was eight or nine. My pieces have gotten a bit longer than that first 50-word essay about why I liked fishing.

My writing career really got going in 1999, when I sold my first magazine article to Missouri Game & Fish. I continued to write magazine articles almost exclusively until my last primary market took 15 months to pay me for a story, and included a note with the check that they would be reducing future payments by 50%. After that, I’ve put most of my how-to/where-to fly fishing content on my website instead.

While most of my publications to date have been fishing and other outdoor articles and books, my heart has always been with fantasy and science fiction. While I caught lightning in a bottle and sold one flash fiction piece back in 2004 (or maybe 2005?), I’ve only recently begun publishing in this field. Rest assured that I’m hard at work on my next short story submission as you read this.

Short Fiction

  • “The Juggler of Red Walls,” short story in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #397, 12/27/2023
  • “Changes,” flash fiction in AlienSkin, spring 2004

Fly Fishing Books

In “the real world,” such as it is, I am a fly fishing outfitter. Most of my writing energy prior to 2020 was spent on writing articles and stories about fly fishing to support my business, Yellowstone Country Fly Fishing. Nowadays most of my writing in this area goes on my website, but I probably have a few more fishing books in me.

25 Best National Parks to Fly Fish

I wrote one of the Yellowstone Park chapters of this guidebook to fly fishing National Parks in the United States, published in 2016.

Fly Fishing Yellowstone Country: A Basic Guide to Fly Fishing Yellowstone Park and Southern Montana

This is an ebook guide to fly fishing the region within roughly 2hr of Livingston, Montana, including most of Yellowstone National Park. Though published in 2015, it’s still pretty current, and available on Kindle Unlimited.

cover of fly fishing yellowstone country book

River Characters: Deep Thoughts and Shallow Stories about Fly Fishing

I published this collection of essays and fishing stories in 2014. It is based on my M.A. thesis from Western Washington University, from 2006. Yep, I somehow tricked a university English department into giving me a Master’s degree for writing fishing stories… Available in Kindle and paperback formats.

Yellowstone Country Flies

This is a regional fly tying manual I published in 2015. It’s now out of print, but I can e-mail PDF copies for $5.00 if interested.

cover of Yellowstone Country Flies book

Fly Fishing and Other Outdoor Articles

Between 2000 and 2020 or so, my how-to/where-to articles and a few essays and “fishing stories” appeared in a variety of general fishing and fly fishing magazines.

I don’t think any of these pieces are available online anymore, but you might find some of my work in old back issues. Here are some highlights, if I remember them right:

  • Numerous fly tying articles in Fly Fishing & Tying Journal between roughly 2010 and 2020.
  • One article in Fly Fisher, approximately 2012.
  • One article in Fly Tyer, approximately 2018.
  • One article in Fly Rod & Reel, approximately 2008.
  • One article in American Angler, approximately 2007.
  • Montana Fly Box column over about six months in the Rocky Mountain edition of Fishing & Hunting News, 2006–2007.
  • Numerous publications in River Hills Traveler, 2003–2006.
  • Several publication in Outdoor Guide, approximately 2001–2002.
  • Numerous publications in Missouri Game & Fish, several of them appearing in other regional Game & Fish publications, between 2000 and 2004.