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 heron gave a call and the other herons flew out of the trees to land around them. Then they started to walk downstream from the pond.


"Wait!" Leaper said. He tugged on one line and the heron turned to look at him. Leaper pointed to a place in the pond. Not far from where he had trapped the heron. The bird walked over, then looked at Leaper who motioned the bird to crouch. Hopper sat in the mud with just his head out of the water.


"You're in charge," Leaper pointed at the stump. The other frog's mouth dropped open and Hopper stared at Leaper. A fly came out of his mouth and Leaper laughed. He signaled up to the heron and they walked away from the pond. 


They followed the water. One of the herons made a quick snatch and then suddenly looked around with a frog caught in its beak. All the rest stopped and stared at it, then looked back at Leaper.


Chapter 38:The Heronmaster, Part 9