Strange Goings On in the County of Devon

The average adult considers fairy stories to be tales to be told to children, stories full of magical happenings and beings from other worlds, fairies, gnomes, trolls, sylphs, nymphs, dragons, salamanders and numerous other strange beings who inhabit this world, but who, because of their ethereal qualities, can slip into other dimensions. Because children are psychic they can see these beings whereas grown-ups have, well, grown up, and left these fantasies behind them. They have to study, and breed, and work hard (sometimes) to exist in the real world. Real world? How do we know which world is real? Just because we adults have lost our spiritual sensitivity doesn't mean that we can condemn the world of childhood as unreal. You place a cup on the kitchen work surface. Without any lateral force from your hand the cup slides to the edge of the surface, falls on the floor and smashes. One evening you come into your home from work or shopping and place the car key on a coffee table in the living room. There is no-one else in the house. Next morning the key seems to have disappeared. You then find it in the bedroom, and you are dammed sure that you didn't put it there. It is daytime with no lights on in the house. There is a sudden bright orange flash in the room you are in; and then nothing. You are standing in your back garden. You see a face in a bush staring at you. It is like a child's face and yet sort of old and wizened. You go up to the bush and inspect it thoroughly but there is no one there. Probably because the gnome has morphed back into the ethereal realm.The author of this book thought that he would take the opportunity to bring the world of other beings who share this world with us to the attention of an adult readership. In doing so he could not resist a certain amount of poking fun with political satire, and also making fun of certain aspects of our culture. After all, if we can't laugh at ourselves, and also those who presume to have authority over us, what is life worth? So be warned, in places the book can be quite rude, hence it is an adult fairy story.So the author decided to create a fantasy world based upon the geographical area where he lives, the County of Devon. Any resemblance of characters in the book to persons in real life is purely accidental, well, sort of. If you, dear reader, are in your own estimation an important personage who feels that they have been mocked by the book, or derided or slandered or in any other way pulled off their pedestal, well, don't worry. Don't waste your money on a lawsuit because I don't exist. I am just a figment of your imagination.So dear reader, enjoy the stories, but beware of the troll looking over your shoulder as you are reading. It might be from Facebook or Instagram, or even Twitter. But then again it might not be, or be something else!As the story is make-believe many of the names of places in the County of Devon have been changed, as indicated on Map No. 1. The names of humans mentioned are fictitious also.