Author:
Alex McGilvery has been reading since before he can remember, and writing almost that long. He has published 18 books and is author and editor at his imprint Celticfrog Publishing. He lives in Kamloops with his dog and the stories clawing their way out of his head.

The Heronmaster includes the title story, which is the tale of Leaper who grows from a tadpole to become a legend. Murder in the Woods is a noir style mystery with animals rather than people. Nick, a young wolf, is forced to seek out the answer to Bob the moose's disappearance. Sammy is a the story of a young man on a cruise with his new car, the elderly man he takes with him and a red balloon. Madison's Meteor tells the story of Frank Madison, a farmer outside of the town of Madison which has fallen on hard times with the closing of the plant - the main employer for the town. Frank finds a meteor one night and changes start in both him and the town.

The Heronmaster

"He imagines that there are people chasing him to lock him up. He thinks everyone is out to get him, but he's not at all dangerous." He turned to his captive again. "Sammy get rid of that ridiculous thing." 


Sammy handed me the balloon. I held on to it awkwardly and shook hands one more time with Sammy.


"Can't you just let him out once and while?"


"We take very good care of our residents," the doctor said, "We take them on suitable excursions, but we can't just let them wander the streets. It isn't safe."


"So you lock them up? You said yourself that Sammy isn't dangerous."


"We know what is best for our residents," the doctor said in a voice colder than the lake wind.


I took a breath to argue, but Sammy stopped me.


"It's all right, Jim." Sammy said quietly. "It was a good day" I shook his hand again. The doctor guided his captive away.


Chapter 28: Sammy, Part 3