Tinker Tales Untenable

About the Book

Scottish by birth, anarchist by persuasion, odd bikes and obscure comics by collection. Retired from thirty years of front line child protection, he lives between Scotland and British Columbia with his wife, three adult sons, and a blessing of grandchildren. Allan has penned reportage, articles, and fiction since the early eighties for a variety of motorcycle publications: Canadian Biker, Back Street Heroes (UK), Biker and Renegade (US). Pocahontas and Ubermensch have their real life counterparts in his stable, and the most recent build is a ‘31/’48 Chout (Chief/Scout) bobber. As for the magic…? Well, that’s really up to you. “Tinker Tales Untenable’ is a collection of previously unpublished short stories celebrating magic and motorcycles. Tinker is the son of an absentee Irish gypsy dad and a Scottish mother, raised poor and turned out on the streets after her death in his early teens. Blood will out, and he becomes a trader in iron ponies, only to become enmeshed in magic. Somehow he survives a sorcerer’s apprenticeship to Magic John, a notorious gutter-mage, as detailed in previous collections: ‘Tinker Tales’ (voted Fiction of the Year by motorcyclefiction.com) and ‘Tinker Tales Untold’ (Book of the Month, motorcyclefiction.com) yet trouble and temptation lurk around every corner. Here Tinker is reacquainted with (dead) members of his old outlaw club, acquires an illuminated tattoo, and runs into the Soviet version of Wonder Woman—amoungst other trials and tribulations. Hop on the pillion, hold tight, and enjoy the ride through, Britain, Canada, and America—not to mention Fairyland and beyond. Illustrated by: Louise Limb

About the Author

Born free and healthy under the celestial scales of 1943 and off into ‘Red’ Dundee diaperdom. The author, Allan Lowson, claims an idealistic lifelong belief in the natural state of anarchy despite a career in front line child protection that has saturated him in the darker side of human nature. Look not too long into the abyss… Writing started as a safety valve and became an obsession. Reportage, articles, features, fiction, and even (poor) illustrations in a variety of international magazines followed. Currently he writes the monthly fiction for ‘Back Street Heroes’ (GB), ‘Renegade’ and, occasionally, ‘Biker’ (both US). He has four collections of illustrated short stories in print. ‘Tinker Tales’ and ‘Tinker Tales Untold’, the former voted Fiction of the Year by motorcyclefiction.com, the latter, Book of the Month. Also ‘Tinker Tales Unmentionable’ and ‘Tinker Tales Unhallowed’. Spent much of the sixties being pulled off Polaris subs and banged-up, doing his bit for sanity and survival. Beatnik days with Donovan in St. Ives, running the ‘Liverpool 1%-ers’ MCC, buggered off to British Columbia in the mid-seventies with his young family. He worked there for thirty-plus years as an intake protection social worker. Kick-started the ‘Laughing Indian Riders’ club in the late ‘80s, took up vintage racing (Indian Scout) in the ‘90s, lives by ‘Growing old doesn’t make stop you riding. Stopping riding makes you grow old’. A decade of writing for ‘Canadian Biker’, twenty years (and counting) with ‘Back Street Heroes’ (GB). He boasts file cabinets stuffed with first edition underground comix, has every Dan Dare collection, all three Captain ‘Space’ Kingley albums, and the set of Dudley D. Watkins Classics series—didn’t you hate kids like him? Allan delves into prehistory, pictoglyphs, standing stones, Celtic legends and folk songs. He used to play in ‘60s Liverpool clubs, still can’t figure why the punters preferred the Beatles. Currently he remains musically marooned in the seventies. An atheist admitting a weakness for fairies, anarchist with a hard line for slackers, and as for the magic? To quote Allen Ginsberg: ‘The magic that exists, and is everywhere about us.’