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Of all the stories in Silent as the Wild, Silent as Love may be the most unsettling. Owls are famous for their extraordinary ability to fly quietly. Their specialized feathers help reduce the sound of their flight, allowing them to approach prey with remarkably little warning.

My Great Horned Owl doesn't initially see himself as dangerous. In his own mind, he is fascinated. Then enamoured. Then devoted. But is he? 

Mountain lions - cougars - as we call them here in British Columbia, are extraordinarily elusive. They can live surprisingly close to people while remaining almost completely unseen.

Even now, when I walk through the forest near home, I sometimes find myself looking up. Not because I actually expect to see a cougar perched on a branch above me, but because once you know they may be there, the forest feels a little different.

What do wolves, coyotes and Métis history have in common? More than you might think. The Lesser Blood was inspired by the emergence of the Métis as a distinct people and culture, and by the challenges of belonging between two worlds. Here's why I chose wolves and coyotes to tell a story about prejudice, acceptance, family and the creation of something new.

When I began writing the story that eventually became Grandmother, I knew one thing for certain.

There would be bison.

I wish I could tell you that Grandmother arrived in my imagination fully formed, wise, strong and very definitely a bison, and demanded that I tell her story. But she did not. The truth is much less poetic.

I wanted to write about bison because of their importance in Métis history.