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

The beak missed. Maybe it was the wind, or Leaper's attempts to swim in the air actually moved him. Perhaps it was luck. He bounced off the beak and dropped past the heron's eye, for a moment Leaper lay on the great bird's back. As it swung its head around to find him, Leaper rolled off and splashed into the water. The water was shallow, but the mud was soft and he buried himself deep. The shudder of the bird's feet landing shook the mud right beside him.


Leaper lay still. His leg throbbed, but he concentrated on not moving, not the slightest twitch. Would the fly's faint buzzing in his stomach betray him? After an eternity, the foot lifted and was placed down further away. Leaper lay in the mud long after the slashing movement of beak through the water told him his egg mate had been devoured. There were so few of them left. 


Leaper didn't move even when the heron's feet pulled out of the mud.


Chapter 31: The Heronmaster, Part 2