Joe Kraus

Joe Kraus spent his high school years in Salem Oregon and was voted most likely to succeed in his North Salem High School journalism class. That was all the encouragement he needed. His first national magazine article was published while he was still in high school. And after his military service and going to college, he ended up as a managing editor on several daily newspapers. Since then some 300 articles has followed, published in more than 60 different national periodicals.

He has founded two national magazines, Autograph Collector Magazine and Child Stars Magazine, both now are no longer published. This gave more time to focus on his non-fiction books. Joe's first book, Alive in the Desert, published in 1978, was used in the popular TV series Air Wolf starring Ernest Borgnine. A revised edition of the book is expected to be released later this year. He also wrote a TV commercial for singer Kris Kristofferson and the script for the 37th Annual Young Artist Awards in Hollywood, California.

His other books include Desert Rats: They Came With A Pick, A Shovel And A Dream, The Famous & Successful: Their Advice For All Of Us (co-authored with Ron Stovall), Staying Alive In The Desert: The Complete Guide To Desert Survival (This a revised 2017 edition of his earlier book Alive In The Desert). His next upcoming book will be Children Who Ruled The World: True Stories of True Stories Out of Egypt, China, England, France, and Russia. Upcoming soon after will be the book Autograph Collecting: Why We're Doin' It and How You Can Join Us in the Fun as well as the book They Went That-A-Way: Odd, Funny & Sad Stories of America's Wild West.

Married to his wife, Karren for nearly 50 years, they have three grown children and six grandchildren.