In the tradition of Frank Bill, Larry Brown, Jim Thompson and Raymond Carver, a short story collection set in New England's darkest corners from the author Esquire referred to as "A man of letters who's gentle in the way that only the toughest of hard-asses can be." You might have passed some of the characters from these stories of the damaged underbelly of American society on the street; you were glad you kept walking. Praise for Walkin' After Midnight: "Joe Ricker is a hard-boiled poet in the tradition of Charles Bukowski. He writes of lonely, scarred men, damaged women, and of haunted places we all know. These shorts are served straight up with no chaser. Like the best of noir, it's about people with few options and often no way out. Highly recommended."--Ace Atkins, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Forsaken and The Redeemers "Tough yet lyrical, bristling with hard-won wisdom, these stories knock you out of any comfort zone you may have found and into the red. Ricker knows people, violence and landscape. He knows truth, too. And these stories beat their fists like drums."--Tom Franklin, New York Times Bestselling Author of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter "Joe Ricker's stories are like windows with ragged blinds twisted open to reveal the lives that go on all around us, in spite of us, and sometimes are us. His characters are dark, desperate, and fascinatingly vivid. Read Ricker and have your eyes opened."--Gerry Boyle, international bestselling author of Once Burned, a Jack McMorrow mystery