Fiction Writing
One of Jon’s passions is writing fiction—especially science fiction, historical fiction, and horror. His debut novel, THE TOWPATH, a time-travel suspense thriller, was released in the Fall of 2024 and its companion novella, THE LOST DIARY OF GIL STANFORD, was released in December, 2025. His short fiction has been published by Hellbound Books, Dark Dossier, and The Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers (GHOSTLIGHT).
Currently working on…
Jon is pleased to share that he’s working on a follow-up to his debut novel, THE TOWPATH, a time-travel suspense thriller, which was published by Collective Ink (London, UK, Washington DC, US) in November of 2024 through their Roundfire Books imprint. Check out THE TOWPATH section on this site to learn more about the story, its characters, its locations and settings—which includes The Cuyahoga Valley National Park and the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail—and much more in the near future. If you’ve read THE TOWPATH, check out THE LOST DIARY OF GIL STANFORD, a chilling artifact recovered after the events of THE TOWPATH. This companion novella is essential reading for those who wish to go deeper, and even get a sense for what Book Two might have in store...
Long Fiction
the lost diary of gil stanford
A companion of THE TOWPATH, published by Jonathan Walter
A lost notebook. A vanished past. A darkness that never stopped growing.
Recovered near the Sand Run caves in 2021, the ruined composition book was assumed to be nothing more than waterlogged pages and incoherent scribbles. It was neither.
THE LOST DIARY OF GIL STANFORD is a chilling artifact from the world of THE TOWPATH, revealing the unfiltered descent of its most complex and unsettling figure. Spanning the years 1997–1999, the diary documents caves that should not exist, cryptic blueprints for an impossible device, fragments of ancient artifacts, and a growing conviction that time in the Valley does not move in one direction. As paranoia intensifies and violence edges closer, the entries build toward the events that will echo through THE TOWPATH—and beyond.
Presented as investigators found it, uncensored and unedited, this companion novella expands the mythology of THE TOWPATH and foreshadows darker truths yet to come. A standalone read. A missing chapter. A warning.
If you thought you understood what happened in those caves, you only knew one side.
Open the diary. But remember—some things in the Valley don’t sleep. They wait.
the towpath
A novel, published by Collective Ink Books
When the Redeemer learns about an ancient medallion that will allow her to go back in time to prevent her teenage daughter's suicide, she and her band of seventeenth-century Iroquois warriors embark on a mission to recover it.
The only problem, however, is Aaron Porter, a shy fourteen-year-old with a garbage-picking hobby, who has discovered the medallion first. And he has his own plans for it. Now, hot on the trail of Aaron and his friends, the Redeemer won't hesitate to recover what's rightfully hers.
How far would you go to prevent the death of someone you love, and when? The Redeemer knows, and that's why she'll travel across centuries, removing anyone who stands in her way.
Short Fiction
Shalloween
Featured in GHOSTLIGHT, THE MAGAZINE OF TERROR
Sam Haines is a cantankerous senior whose affinity for Halloween goes to the extremes—much to the chagrin of his immediate neighbors. Despite warnings from his wife to keep a “low profile,” Haines conjures up an antagonistic game of judgment for trick-or-treating children and their helicoptering parents. But is Haines the only antagonist on this cold and dark Hallows Eve night?
Reign, reign
Featured in THE DEVIL’S DOORBELL: AN ANTHOLOGY OF DARK ROMANCE
Recovering drug addict April Kramer struggles to decode her husband Reid’s strange behavior and how it relates to the rainy weather. When Reid’s actions become even more alarming, a terrified but determined April endeavors to expose the source—and the truth. But to prove her evolving hypothesis and ultimately save Reid, she’ll need to revisit her traumatic past to summon the strength needed to face something that isn’t from this world.