A FORMER fell-runner decided to exercise his brain instead by penning an animal-friendly book. Jon Bennett's first attempt at novel-writing is attracting favourable reviews. And animators have expressed interest in making a cartoon based on his children's story Tales Of Mush And Sammy. The 35-year-old, from Rhyl, was inspired to write the book following a discussion about animal testing laboratories with mates in the The Galley public house. "It just grew from there and I started going to Rhyl library. "But I had to start from scratch because I had never done anything like it before," he said.. The 44,000-word novel tells the tale of animals who stage a break-out from a testing laboratory. The book is not appearing in print but online at Deunant Books run by Les Broad of Bylchau, near Denbigh. Readers pay £4 to download the story, with the publisher receiving £1 and the remainder going to the author. Jon's strong views means he plans to give a share of the proceeds to an anti-vivisection charity. "Because of a back injury I couldn't go running up the mountains, which I love, so I decided to exercise my brain instead. "I'm very pleased at the achievement and with the feedback I'm getting to the story," he said.. "I spent three days a week at the library since February, which is quite something for me since I've done nothing like it since leaving school. "A couple of animation companies are considering it at the moment," he said. "I'm so pleased that I'm already working on the sequel, which will continue the exploits of the animals," said Jon, a member of Prestatyn Running Club. Deunant Books has over 50 authors offering nearly 100 publications. You can buy John's novel Tales Of Mush And Sammy at www.deunantbooks.com | 
