Robbins, Tom (1936-…), is an American author known for the eccentric characters and bizarre plots of his novels. His stories explore such themes as personal freedom and Eastern mysticism. Robbins’s style is marked by imaginative wordplay and an unconventional approach to narrative form.
Robbins is a slow writer who has produced only eight novels in more than 30 years. Robbins did not become famous until his first two novels were issued in paperback in the 1970’s, attracting the interest of college students and other young readers. He became a cult favorite for his distinctive counterculture view of life that rejected traditional standards and customs of American society.
Robbins’s first novel was Another Roadside Attraction (1971). The story concerns a group of offbeat characters at a hot dog stand north of Seattle. The plot centers on the discovery of the mummified body of Jesus Christ. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976) is the story of a female hitchhiker with gigantic thumbs. The young woman ends up at a health ranch for cowgirls.
Robbins’s third novel, Still Life with Woodpecker (1980), portrays a romance between the daughter of a foreign king living in exile near Seattle and a rebellious young American man. Skinny Legs and All (1990) describes the wild experiences of a recently married couple in New York City. Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (2000) is an absurdist story of a free-spirited undercover agent working for the United States government. Robbins’s distinctive comic spirit is also reflected in the novels Jitterbug Perfume (1984), Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (1994), Villa Incognito (2003), and B Is for Beer (2009). A collection of Robbins’s essays, poetry, and short stories was published as Wild Ducks Flying Backward (2005). Robbins wrote an autobiography, Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life (2014).
Thomas Eugene Robbins was born on July 22, 1936, in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. He was a journalist and art critic before devoting himself to fiction. Robbins settled in the Seattle area in 1962.
