'This has got all the latest safety features, including indicator lights and front seat belts,' enthused Wally. 'No more putting your arm out to turn right. One day, all cars will have them.'
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Set in Otago, New Zealand in the 1960s, these (mostly) true tales follow Gordy Thomson, his friends and associates and a 1500cc 1961 Vauxhall Victor 101 Super. With plenty of alcohol, no real motor power and dubious health and safety, these tales reflect the life of an everyday bloke during those times.
Tales of the pale Victor
Written by Alastair Thomson
Illustrated by Jay Cassells
Edited by Bethany Rogers
About the book
This book is a series of humorous stories as told to me by my late father Gordy.
The stories relate to his 45 years as a sales representative for a major oil company, mainly in Central Otago in New Zealand in the 1960s and 70s. ​According to Gordy it was a pretty wild place at times, plenty of alcohol, swearing and memorable characters.
These tales are based on fact however as Gordy was adept at tactical bullshit, (a trait which appears to run in the Thomson family) caution is urged.
His favorite phrases when commencing a story or when quizzical looks or comments arose were.......'No bullshit or fair dinkum'​.
About the Writer
Al Thomson was born in Dunedin around the middle of last century. He grew up in Mosgiel, attending The Taieri High School. He then toddled off to Otago University where he studied Law for an inordinately long time, hating every minute of it.
It's also where he met Jay, the illustrator.
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Al has no writing experience save for co-writing the Otago University Capping Revue with Mike Guthrie in 1974. That show was rapturously received by both close families.
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He has always wanted to write, so in the twilight of middle age, has taken up the quill.
The photo on the left was taken on the day he commenced writing this book.
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About the Illustrator
Jay Cassells was born in Dunedin and now lives in Queenstown/Tahuna. For many years he was a lawyer in Sydney, specialising in the interesting double of Water/Environment Law and Film//Art/Entertainment Law.
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For much of his life, (perhaps troubled by the Flaubert quote:” Every lawyer carries within himself the debris of a poet”) he has drawn, painted and written. He was the regular cartoonist for the NSW Law Society Journal as well was occasionally published in The Bulletin, the Sydney Morning Herald and elsewhere. As a result, he was admitted as a member of the Australian Black and White Artists Club.
He was later a film producer in Australia and in Aotearoa NZ. He has published 2 books with Caxton in Christchurch: “Famous Fish of WW2”* (now sold out but a second edition in the works?) and “Classic Racing F1sh” - available online at jakehassells.com and, perhaps still, at Bound Books in Queenstown, Scorpio Books in Christchurch, Unity Books in Auckland and Hill of Content Bookshop in Melbourne.
He is a regular contributor to the Lakes Weekly Bulletin and works on commissions, (always welcome, especially if anything like Tales of the Pale Victor) and other projects
*In his wise Introduction to this book, John Clarke described him as a “boy of about 60” but that was a little generous: it is more like 70.
About the Editor
Bethany is a writer and editor based in Queenstown, though you’ll find that her accent betrays her home town as that of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (UK). Her writing has been published internationally and commended by Aesthetica Magazine, shortlisted for the Manchester Fiction Prize and longlisted for the New Zealand Flash Fiction Day competition. She writes under the not-so-mysterious pen name B. G. Rogers.
A sucker for a good yarn, Bethany was one of the founding trustees of the Queenstown Writers Festival and is still a member and organiser of the Queenstown Creative Writing Group.
When she’s not volunteering for arts organisations or writing horror stories, Bethany manages to keep a day job as a writer and editor for magazines, businesses and individuals.
Please contact the writer below to buy the book
Book Price $35 incl GST plus $10 postage and packaging