The Visitor's Center

The AFTRLife Visitor's Center by Dale Kirby

This is a column about questions and issues raised by visitors to this website. If you would like to comment about this column, the website, Tom Robbins, my lack of artistic talent or anything else in the cosmos (including Kramer) please email me at da5e@rain.org

1-15-98

Baskin' in Robbins

Happy New Year, Robbins fans. Would it be to much to hope for a new Robbins novel this year? I haven't heard the slightest rumblings of a new book, but we can always hope. It's been four years since the last but as you know Tom is on Clockworks Standard Time. I think the next one just might be his "big book" like Thomas Pynchon's breakthrough novel, Mason & Dixon, which hit all the best-seller lists. Any new Robbins is pretty much assured of reaching best-sellerdom because of his installed base of book-buying fans like you and I, but I would love to see a "cross-over" hit for the man. What do you think? Do you want to share him with the masses?

One fan is wondered who is related to who in the nest of Robbins in the public eye. He wrote,

Thanks for the Tom Robbins bio.

I heard Tom was the son of the Robbins of "Baskin and Robbins" and that
he gave his large inheratance to charity.

I also heard he is the brother of Tim Robbins, the actor/director.

Is there any truth to this?

Thanks in advance,

Greg Hartzler-Miller

As far as I know, Tom is not related to any other famous Robbinses. John Robbins is the vegetarian radical-nutritionist who is a product of the famous ice cream shop Robbins. No kin to Tom.

Tim Robbins has a lot of the same quirky outlook on life that Tom has, but again no kin to Tom.

Harold Robbins was a writer, but relatively speaking he was no Robbins either.

Coming up on the website: Tom won the Bumbershoot Literary Award back in August. I'll be putting news and pictures of that up soon. And, shamefacedly, I admit that I have four Come As You Are pieces to put up on the web. Can you spell, "procrastinate?"

A fella in Korea, Matt Lake, emailed me with an urgent request for a Tom Robbins quote for an upcoming wedding. Here's the quote to end this edition of the Visitor's Center. I'll put "The End" after the quote so you'll know the column has ended and you can go about your business.

The End (as promised)

11-9-97

Yesssss? Noooooo!

A recent visitor to the web site wrote:

Tricia Porter and others have also wondered about this. The short answer is, "No, Tom did not write that book." The whole issue puts me in a bit of quandary. I don't like to publicize the book because the author sued Tom for signing copies of this novel at book signings for his other books. But I also don't want Robbins fans to be uninformed about it. As I formerly said in the FAQ:

There are rumors that Tom wrote the novel, Fuck Yes! by Reverend Wing Fing. Those rumors are false. In fact, the author of that novel sued Tom for autographing the novel in spite of the fact that Tom will sign anything put in front of him including the Bible and bare breasts. I think the suit was settled by Tom Robbins promising not to sign the novel any more. My personal opinion is that both the novel and its author seem mean-spirited. I didn't see any resemblance to Tom's work. The novel has some funny scenes, but it was no where close to the quality of TR. I would recommend that if you want to read the novel to find it in a used book store real cheap. Would I buy it? Fuck no!

I've since taken that section out of the FAQ because I don't want a permanent association to be established between that novel (and author) and Tom Robbins. So just forget I said anything OK?

He might write slow but he's alive and kickin' it.

Well, Tom did not die. No way and no how. He was reported to be very ill a couple of years ago but he's is still alive and writing. My "Secret Agent" tells me that Tom is hard at work on a new novel though no completion date is available. She also tells me that Tom has won an award recently and we'll have some info about that on the website soon.

But this ain't it.

-Kanna

Sorry, Kanna, that is some other Robbins. The title sounds like a TR book, but it is not our Tom Robbins.

This Sucks (but in a good way)!

AFTRLifer, Matt Hames, has had letter to the editor published in Suck Magazine. He set them straight about a few things and bent their minds around a few others.

This Site belongs to you and me.

If you love the work of Tom Robbins. Welcome home. If you like the work of Tom Robbins. Welcome home.If you think life is funnier than it is sad. Welcome home. If you think you're the only one who sees the infinite goofiness.. Welcome home. If you just feel that your true family is scattered all over the world. Welcome home. Welcome home to the AFTRLife.

10-25-97

I followed a link from our current Cosmic Humor Website of the Month, Spumco, to an interview with John Kricfalusi at the San Fransciso Examiner's website. Since I have the attention span of a kindergartner or talk show host (except for Trebek) I also found an interview/article about crime novelist Susan Isaacs written by Cynthia Robins. This was a good and interesting article but it opened with a sentence that I, as a TR fan, found wrong-headed in several ways.

"When you read an author like Tom Robbins, his similes and literary jokes fairly bristle with importance. Like: 'I worked four hours on this and aren't I the bright one?'"--Cynthia Robins

I emailed Ms. Robins, whose articles I enjoy, with a gentle "correction" about what our man Robbins is all about. I told her that in all the encounters with TR that I've heard about he is always described as a gracious and even humble man. I opined that he writes his complex brand of fiction because he finds joy in it and because that's his "Way." Not to impress the literatsia.

I can understand how many people would find Tom's work seemingly self-consciously written. Because it is. It is written with a wonderful sense of self. That's one of the things I love about it. There is this witty intelligent being communicating with us on a level and in a way that no other author does. But no way do I find him or his work tainted with self-importance.

One point of all this is to urge you to contact anyone who writes about Robbins and either encourage them in their accuracy or discourage them (politely) in their inaccuracy. It's the least we can do for this widely misunderstood author we like so much.

Thanks for reading.
Dale

Letters: Matt Tschirhart has discovered the nefarious influence of Peter Noone on this website. I knew the secret could not be kept forever. (Thanks for the feedback, Matt. I'll change that mispeling right away. Hey, where's Tori? Ms. Spelling. Ms. Spelling!)

Subject: Misspellers, Untie!
    Date: Tue, 08 Jul 1997 16:06:48 +0000
   From: Matt Tschirhart <skipfitz@sky.net>
       To: da5e@rain.org
Dear Mr. Kirby,
The AFTRLife home-page has "no one" spelled incorrectly. The page
supports an apocryphal "noone." Unless you're in a discussion with
Peter Noon(e) of Herman's Hermits, I believe a mistake was made.
Respectfully yours,
Matt Tschirhart

BTW, in keeping with the tendency to stray off purpose round here, I'll throw in this dumb picture I drew inspired by and with apologies to "Hap" Kilban.

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