Skywalker Gets Good Review for New Novel, ‘Chicago Pits’ (2018)

Bill Walker, author of the popular Skywalker hiking series on the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails has received a strong critical review for his new novel, Chicago Pits (2018). The review was from the respected Midwest Book Review which is selective about books it reviews for independent authors. The book is written in the vein of The Bonfire of the Vanities, the Wall Street satire authored by the late Tom Wolfe. Critique: A saga of a...

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Chicago Pits (2018) by Bill Walker (Skywalker) Staggers Readers

“Was it really like that? I can’t believe such large financial transactions are conducted like that,” people keep asking me. They are referring to the daily savagery I write about in Chicago Pits (2018)? My answer-and I was a floor broker for many years– is “Not always. But when the chips were down, all too often it was exactly like that. And that is why they now trade electronically. The customer was the stooge...

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Appalachian Trail Sees Record Number of Thru-Hikers

I just returned from doing a three-week section on the famed Appalachian Trail. The news is all good. The trail is well maintained and blazed, as well as teeming with hikers. According to ATC (Appalachian Trail Conservancy) figures, the number of thru-hikers for the Class of 2018 may reach 4,000–the most ever, and double the number of my Class of 20005. Interestingly, the number of foreigners has surged with Germans (always game travelers)...

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‘Chicago Pits’ is first comprehensive novel on Chicago futures and options business

tinyurl.com/ycesd7tw  #ChicagoPits Chicago Pits (2018) is the first comprehensive novel on the famed–and infamous–Chicago commodities business. Growing up, I periodically saw pictures of people packed in on a trading floor yelling and screaming and waving their hands as they traded corn, wheat, cattle, etc. Personally, I traded U.S. Treasury Bond Futures at the Chicago Board of Trade and German Bund Futures at the London...

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‘Chicago Pits’ Goes on Sale on Amazon

Chicago Pits, written by Bill Walker, a former broker at the world’s three largest futures and option exchanges, including senior broker for Kidder Peabody, a leading Wall Street Company, has gone on sale at www.amazon.com.  The link is: https://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Pits-Mr-Bill-Walker/dp/1981143289/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1516292918&sr=8-1&keywords=chicago+pits This suspense novel tells the tale of a...

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Skywalker Hiking Books a Good Christmas Gift

Let’s face it–Christmas shopping can take on an obligatory cast. What to buy. My experience is that gifts that ‘enable’ make the best Christmas gifts. How about some long-distance hiking narratives to plant seeds in the recipients minds. I was 44 years-old and had never spent the night outside when I decided to attempt to thru-hike the 2,175 mile Appalachian Trail. I was so taken with the experience that I decided to...

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