From the Inside Flap
'What is it, Talon?' Mira asked him, stroking him over his head, as he kept standing in front of her.
Talon grunted softly then very slowly he lifted his wings and enfolded her in his wings.
Bit by bit and hesitantly, as if Mira couldn't believe what Talon was doing, her hands appeared around his body. She embraced him as well. Talon stretched out his head and laid it on her shoulder, enjoying it as much as she was. And then deep sobs could be heard from her. Then a muffled, 'Oh Talon, that's so wonderful. You do it again to me because you think, as well as I do, that the first time was way too short and too quick. Oh, I love you so much. Thank you for giving me that wonderful embrace. Thank you so very much. I love it. As Aikon said, I'm a condor now.'
--This text refers to the
paperback edition.
About the Author
Gisela (Gigi) Sedlmayer was born on 19 May 1944 in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin in Germany.
Her family escaped to the West just before the infamous wall went up. They moved around in Germany until finally settling in Munich where Gigi studied architectural drafting and met Albert in 1965, marrying in December 1967. She worked as a civil draftsperson in various private consultancies in Munich.
Since her uncle was a writer, she tried to write short animal stories herself. Nothing further came of it, but she developed a love for the written word and started to consume books.
In May 1975, Gigi and her husband moved to New Zealand. Because of language challenges, she started a handicraft business. As a specialty, she made colourful parrots of which she sold thousands in a few years.
In 1988, they decided to adopt and became adoptive parents of twin girls the year after. They lived in New Zealand for eighteen years and moved to Australia in September 1992.
Two years later Gigi was diagnosed with cancer. After operations and radiation, she withdrew, thinking that she would probably soon be dead, like her friend who died of cancer, but her two little girls gave her the courage to keep going. After a few years, still among the living, her brain started to work again, so she thought, 'Get a grip on yourself and do something good with your life'.
She remembered the time she wrote short stories and got inspired again, seeing her husband Albert writing the story of their adoption. Her English became increasingly better so she pressed on to develop her creative writing.
Albert taught her how to use a computer and she wrote many short stories. She entered them in competitions and often got very good reports back, which gave her confidence to go on writing. One day the idea for the TALON series came to her and she spent the next several years bringing the story and the characters to life.
--This text refers to the
paperback edition.
From the Back Cover
Turning to head in the direction of where Mito said he and the others had seen and heard the poachers it suddenly became bedlam. Indians were running everywhere, yelling.
'Poachers, the poachers are here!'
'What happened with the ambush?' Crayn asked to no one in particular, looking stunned at the oncoming wall of Indians. He shook his head, not believing what he saw then murmured, 'They're running away from the poachers instead of catching them. What are they doing?'
'I think,' Pajaro said sadly, seeing the situation and putting his hand on Crayn's shoulder, 'they must have followed me back. They must have thought I did not want to confront them. Now they are frightened without me, their leader. They have panicked and run away instead of waiting for them as I told them to do. They know the poachers have guns and that must have frightened them.'
--This text refers to the
paperback edition.