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

Patience is the secret. The young ones come and ask me to teach them. They want the rush, the blood, the thrill. They don't want to hear about patience. OneEar no more than the others.


"Teach me to kill, OldOne," he said. "I want to taste blood."


I cuffed him and turned away, but he wouldn't give up. Where ever I went, OneEar was there, begging   me to teach him. I was tempted to change his name to NoEar,. But, if patience is the first lesson, persistence is the second. I took him with me on my next hunt.


"Walk quietly." I instructed him. We loped away through the heavy forest. OneEar panting behind me. When he turned his head as a squirrel chittered from a tree, he tripped. I turned to stare at him, trying not to laugh while he tried to look like some other pup had made all that noise. The squirrel did laugh and OneEar growled.


Chapter 29: Teaching OneEar