The Heroka stories Series

AURORA AWARD WINNER Year's Best Fantasy & Horror honorable mention Internet SF database Top 50 stories of the year   The Heroka are an ancient race of shape shifters, drawing their powers and vitality from their animal totems.   Gwyn Blaidd, a Heroka of the wolf totem, has been a recluse ever since a deadly battle years ago with the Tainchel, the covert government agency that hunts the Heroka—a battle that cost him the only woman he ever loved.   But when Gwyn is asked by the head of the Heroka to stop an old friend from killing a powerful logging baron, it begins a chain of events that will force Gwyn to again confront the Tainchel—and his own dark past.   *** Prequel story to Doug's novel The Wolf at the End of the World ***   Urban fantasy, shapeshifters (a Heroka novelette)   "A vivid and wonderfully written tale about Native Canadian spirits, in the vein of Thomas King." —Challenging Destiny   "The characters are intriguing and the story beguiling. I would like to read more about these characters." —SF Crowsnest Book Reviews   "An [example of] the author's ability to place the possible and impossible side by side to excellent effect in an action packed story." —Hellnotes   "An adventurous tale that's propelled by character drama ... If this was a Hollywood movie, this would be your blockbuster film, complete with adrenaline-pumping action, expensive special effects, and even a sex scene or two to lure in a mainstream audience." —Bibliophile Stalker   "Draws on North American Indian myths, particularly the idea of shapeshifters... Smith once more creates a credible and sympathetic protagonist, Gwyn Blaidd, [who] returns to his old stomping ground to help out some fellow shapeshifters who have become embroiled in a conflict with a large logging concern." —The Fix   "Does interesting things with a love triangle, were-animals and CSIS. (!)" —Christian Sauvé

Aurora Award Finalist   Lilith Hoyl awakes to find herself a prisoner in a top-secret government laboratory. To win her freedom, all she needs to do is prove that she's human.   Urban fantasy, shapeshifters (a Heroka short story)   "A very interesting turn-around story, in which our expectations are upended at the last minute. ...a good read, and sadly, far too relevant to our own present world." —The Billion Light-Year Bookshelf   "...great fun to read" —Dreams and Speculations   "...has a woman fed chemicals to prove whether she's human or a shape-shifter ... well worth reading." —SF Crowsnest Reviews

A Heroka story   Lilith Hoyl is a Heroka of the bird totem—a shapeshifter who hates the humans who killed her mate and hunt her kind. But when she meets a young girl awaiting a critical operation, their mutual love for birds brings joy back into both their lives.   "One expects magic with this set-up, and magic does, indeed, follow, but pain cannot be forever vanquished, for either the girl or the Hoyl. The story charms as well as pains. In other hands, it would be mawkish, but Smith avoids all the pitfalls and gives us something bittersweet instead." —Fantasy Literature

A shapeshifter hero battles ancient spirits, a covert government agency, and his own dark past in a race to solve a murder that could mean the end of the world.   "I can't remember the last time I read a book that spoke to me, so eloquently, and so deeply, on so many levels. ... I'll be rereading it in the future because it's that sort of book. Richly layered and deeply resonant. An old friend, from the first time you read it." —Charles de Lint, World Fantasy Award winner   The Heroka walk among us. Unseen, unknown. Shapeshifters. Human in appearance but with power over their animal totems.   Gwyn Blaidd is a Heroka of the wolf totem. Once he led his people in a deadly war against the Tainchel, the shadowy agency that hunts his kind. Now he lives alone in his wilderness home, wolves his only companions.   But when an Ojibwe girl is brutally killed in Gwyn's old hometown, suspicion falls on his former lover. To save her, Gwyn must return, to battle not only the Tainchel, but even darker forces: ancient spirits fighting to enter our world…   And rule it.   ~~~   Cree and Ojibwe legends mix with current day environmental conflict in this fast-paced urban fantasy that keeps you on the edge of your seat right up to its explosive conclusion.   Novel  |  360 pages  |  Introduction by Charles de Lint