Perhaps the most terrible (or wonderful) thing that can happen to an imaginative youth, aside from the curse (or blessing) of imagination itself, is to be exposed without preparation to the life outside his or her own sphere - the sudden revelation that there is a there out there.

In 1965 he wrote a column on the arts for Seattle Magazine. He has given readings from his work on four continents performing at festivals in Australia and Mexico and nightclubs in England and Germany. Then he rewrites it again and again examining each word making sure of its perfection finely honing each phrase until it reverberates with the subtle texture of the infinite.

Robbins claims he was born in 1932. Thomas Eugene "Tom" Robbins (born July 22 1936* *Note: "The discrepancy between Mr.