Robb Skidmore

Novelist/ Word lover/ Author of THE PURSUIT OF COOL and new release LIFE AND DEATH IN SUBURBIA

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

New Book Release!!!

My latest book, LIFE AND DEATH IN SUBURBIA, is now available on Amazon. It’s a short story collection of stories I previously published mixed with stories I wrote to unify the collection.

BookLife made it an Editor’s Pick and described it as “An insightful, poignant look at American life… explores deep themes of alienation, self-discovery and self-preservation in a complex social and economic landscape.”

From the back cover:
“In seven penetrating and vivid stories, LIFE AND DEATH IN SUBURBIA takes you back to places and times that promised much. Beneath the conformity and optimism of the American suburbs of the 1970s through the 1990s simmered a clash of generations, of economic classes, of childhood and adulthood. These emotionally resonant and keenly crafted stories will powerfully pull you into the dreams and desperation of the souls who inhabit these places: a nine-year-old struggles with a severe speech impediment, an unbalanced mom and dad in Vietnam; a teen takes a job as a stereo speaker con artist to buy cancer drugs for his father; a lonely artist endeavors to find success and fend off eviction; a spiritual nonconformist tries to find enlightenment in unconventional ways. 

With lyrical and insightful prose, Robb Skidmore delivers a vision which will linger in your heart and mind. LIFE AND DEATH IN SUBURBIA plunges into and exposes the social and cultural constraints within these subdivisions and apartments and reveals their devastating truth.”  

I think of this book as a companion piece to THE PURSUIT OF COOL because it covers childhood during the 1970s and young adulthood in the 1990s, bookending the 1980s of Pursuit.

(Amazon links in the comments)

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@SmashedEars Great flick

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@batcountry1980 Quality stuff. Well done.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@katrosenfield @TheFP That guy leaving his baseball cards on your porch is quite possibly the most originally romantic act which has ever taken place. I’m curious Kat, has anything in your life ever topped that? I doubt it.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@batcountry1980 The 70s were an incredible time for album art. It became its own genre with wild iterations.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@batcountry1980 To me part of the lure of Kid A is that the band was at its peak and this is where they went with it. Seemed like much more than a concept album.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@Xanadu815425966 He looks like a character straight out of STONER.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

This might be the greatest author photo of all time.

The black rimmed glasses, the goatee, the look of deep contemplation, the carefully combed pomade-treated hair. And is that an ascot?

Only this man could have written STONER.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

First impressions of reading STONER:

For a novel about a professor with a repressed and volatile wife I find myself hanging on every word. It’s riveting.

John Williams writes with old school intensity and specificity. He has serious writing chops.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@WhatHoARat Over The Edge. What a great movie.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@BarneysRubble0 I think New Journalism 2.0 is more fitting.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@tonytost @NathanBorn2010 It’s a hard book to capture with a great cover.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@_motherslug It’s horrible. It totally misses the book.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@AmericanGwyn Great book. My fave of the Border Trilogy.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

First impressions of reading STONER:

For a novel about a professor with a repressed and volatile wife I find myself hanging on every word. It’s riveting.

John Williams writes with old school intensity and specificity. He has serious writing chops.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@Tendraftsdeep Nice single.

Also, write those two short stories. Get it done. Time for a first draft.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@nakedfoul I don’t know what to make of it

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@TheEsteemedFox They were more literate and gracious in their insults. Better times.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@nakedfoul I bought it new on Amazon. I wondered about that too when I got it, but I bought it new.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@batcountry1980 The emotions of fandom can take people to strange places. There is a possessive side to it.

[Robb Skidmore @robbskidmore]

@Tendraftsdeep Once the pinnacle of casual fashion