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Jonathan’s Tales, Volume 1, is a compilation of 11 magical bedtime stories told verbally to Tom Kissack’s then 6-year-old son. They are enhanced written transpositions from the audio versions captured on his android phone numbering nearly 100 recorded stories. A list of additional stories is at the end of the book. The Tales, came to life after Tom’s son’s bedtime toilette, and he, snuggled in bed, arbitrarily drew from his head a binary subject and allowed Tom several minutes to ponder a story.

These Tales located firmly in the magical realism genre were told with three principal aims. Firstly, entertainment. Secondly, erudition to increase knowledge on specific items of facts, or to whet Tom’s son’s appetite to seek out more information (the notations referenced at the end of the book for each Tale act as a starting aid). Finally, didactic, a way of subtly introducing a broader morality into his son’s world on an array of subjects including, but not exclusively, the power of love and friendship, of kindness and honesty and the importance of inclusivity recognising we are all, as individuals, very different.