Walter grew up in Massachusetts, and attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He was an exchange student in Munich in 1979-80, the year he met his wife, Lisa, who was a graduate student in Switzerland at the time. They married in 1982. Walt considers it the best decision he ever made. He is a baseball fan and a Freemason, and enjoys boardgames and roleplaying games; between those interests and his family, he has a very busy life. Still, he enjoys writing most of all - there's nothing like doing something you love (and getting paid for it.) He qualifys as a recovering programmer (10 years) and also a recovering technical writer (8 years). For the last four years he's been writing full time, which has brought some success and even more satisfaction.