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

A female hopped up tentatively and another male bullfrog, Hopper, came out of the reeds to mount her. Leaper roared and threw himself at his rival. They banged up against each other. The other frog was smaller, but Leaper's bad leg made it an even match. After one crashing blow, Leaper's hand fell on a short length of reed. He picked it up and used it to balance himself. This time he over-powered his smaller rival. The other frog fled while Leaper mounted the female.


Leaper won battle after battle for the females vaguely aware other bullfrogs were mating in other places around the pond, but he ruled the stump and the space around it. There would be lots of eggs this year. Lots of tadpoles, and many more frogs the year after.


Chapter 34: The Heronmaster, Part 5