Walkin’ Joe and the Midnight Marauders: A Memoir

A mysterious dark giant and other colorful, unique characters return to life in this frank memoir as an eleven-year old and his makeshift gang awkwardly test the adult world in 1954. A career journalist unveils bittersweet nostalgia of a childhood in the heartland of America, blending action reporting and story telling through naive adventures, tempting explorations and enough mischief to make the reader both grin and cringe during an Iowa town's Centennial year.

Author Dennis R. Waller has been writing for publications his entire career, but this childhood memoir is his first book. Raised in a newspaper family, he was born in March, 1943 in Algona, Iowa - one of five children to Russell and Mildred Waller. His late father was a noted newspaper publisher and his mother a homemaker. Waller attended the University of Iowa and Drake University in Des Moines, IA where he received a BA in Journalism in 1965. Upon graduation he worked as a copywriter for Look Magazine before entering a newspaper career that took him to positions in Iowa, Minnesota and Washington. He recently retired as President and CEO of Lafromboise Communications, Inc., a Washington state company with three newspapers and five divisions. Waller served as president of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Publishers Association and has been on many professional and community boards of directors. He and his staff received numerous state, regional and national press awards during his career, including two Pulitzer nominations. Waller and his wife Glynn have five grown children and six grandchildren. The couple is involved in volunteer adult recovery work and support of children in foster care. They are outdoor enthusiasts and enjoy traveling.