THE BOOK

Fables that observe, rather than instruct

​Tales of No Consequence is a collection of thirty short fables in the classical form but with a modern, unmoralising sensibility. A sloth and a hummingbird debate how a day should be spent. A wave and a cliff are locked in a millennia-long embrace. A magician's lion understands showmanship better than the magician. A woman named Roya never builds her tower, because she spends her life building everyone else's dreams.

Some stories run to several pages; some are a single paragraph. Each is accompanied by an original pen-and-ink illustration, integrated into the page design — text wraps around the drawings, and in several stories the typography itself moves with the image.

​Its reference points are Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia, James Thurber's Fables for Our Time, and the parables of Borges and Calvino — in the territory opened up by The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, but darker and more literary in temper.
THE CREATURES

​A butterfly who loves unwisely; a dog chasing self-knowledge by way of its tail; a mole who resents, then needs, the earth.
THE MAKERS

​Three sculptors seeking greatness by different roads; a songwriter who cannot listen to music; a clown who regrets the joke.
THE WATCHERS
​
​An insomniac weighing the visions of two dreamers; a doctor who prescribes a candle lit for someone else.
FROM THE COLLECTION

The Mole and the Earth

“Please get out of my way!” a mole once snuffled at the earth.
“I'll make way for you if you can explain why I'm here.” The earth replied.
The mole blinked pointlessly.
“You're here so I can move you!” she said.
As the mole passed by, the earth hugged her as tightly as was safe.
“I hadn't realised how much I need you!” it whispered.
 In the book, the text of this fable curves around the drawing — every story has its own typographic setting. This page borrows the idea; the book commits to it.
THE DRAWINGS

Ink, pencil, and a theatre notebook

The illustrations were made in theatre dressing rooms, between shows, as the author toured the country in stage productions. They are drawn from looking rather than technique — immediate, unpolished in the best sense.
THE AUTHOR

Peter Moreton

Peter Moreton is a writer and actor. The fables were written during the pandemic lockdowns; the drawings came afterwards, in the quiet of dressing rooms before the beginner's call, as he toured the country in a murder mystery theatre production. He had never considered himself a visual artist. The stories demanded otherwise!

 "These words and images emanated from my perception of the world, but I offer them as a humble gift, in the hope you might find a home for them in your heart"

​(from the author's introduction)
PUBLISHERS & RIGHTS

The book is complete and seeking a home

For publishers and agents: 
​the manuscript, illustrations and page design are finished — 49 pages, thirty fables, thirty drawings. A synopsis, sample pages and the full manuscript are available on request.
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