Hunter S. Thompson is dead.

"I was somewhere around the kitchen on the edge of the abyss when the bullet took hold..."

THE WOLVERINES CIRCLE THE CORPSE... THE BASTARD CHILDREN OF RICHARD NIXON AND MAYOR DALEY HAVE BLOOD IN THEIR EYES... SWAMPLAND LIMEYS AND DENVER RETARDS WALLOW LIKE SWINE IN THEIR OWN MUCK... A LIFE'S WORK LOST... That balding, scabrous degenerate, before he became a pastiche of his own celebrity, set out to prick the festering boil of self-absobed piety and suburban conservatism. His mission in his writing was to tear apart the rictus of the self-righteous. He lived to challenge easy, inbred opinions, snap the synapses and re-assemble the lobes If he could read the mewling and puking about his decision to end his probably lonely and confused existence with the instrument of death he played with all his life... to put himself once again at the heart of the story... to smear his brains over HIS OWN damn living room... he would realise that for some people, his life, as his death, was very much in vain. "Only a goddamn lunatic would write a thing like this and then claim it was true."

"It came from the fog and pireced my skull like a acid crazed freight train."

If these are Hunter S. Thompson-style scrawlings then I'm glad I never took the time to read any.

Emma, Thompson was known for his ability to say things that nobody could possibly think of, to offend every sensibility and exagerate the simplest of phrases until only a drug induced stupor would allow its understanding.

Personally, I love Fear and Loathing, not least because I know some people take it as being factual reporting. Whether you like his style or not, the man had style.

It must have been the fear and loathing. It's always very sad when it's a suicide.

You'll miss me when I'm gonzo. Like Justyn, I was inspired by his writing, particularly the political stuff in the early days of Rolling Stone.

Yeah, one of the real greats. If you have not read him, now would be a good time to start. Begin with 'The Rum Diary'. Has Justin has stated, it was typical of his life for it to end that way.

A stunningly overrated writer.

Bad news for the son that discovered him. Selfish sod.

Marc's post left a bit of a nasty taste in my mouth, to be honest. While death often elevates a talent far beyond the way they were valued in life, and it is right that Thompson hasn't produced anything of note in thirty years and was a bit of a one-trick pony, I don't think this is the time to be cutting someone down to size. Easier to just be silent than to carp. I'm sorry that he's gone - not as sorry as I am that John Steinbeck and Ray Carver are gone, but sorry nonetheless. He may have only had one trick, but for the duration of Fear and Loathing, it was a bloody good trick.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 is the best political writing of its kind I've ever seen. In more recent years he wrote sports commentary for a web site. I'm not a sports fan, but I'd read some of it from time to time and it was wonderful.

I didnt see it as him cutting anyone down to size, just expressing a maybe harsh opinion... what's wrong with that A?

Hmmm. Just what is the counter-culture exactly? I see Mr T as one of those "counter-culture" icons that, once you peel off the marketing blurb, you find to be a rather nasty, self obsessed, right wing reactionary son of a bitch, who couldn't even be original in his suicide (see Hemingway and Brautigan), let alone his overrated prose. He was one of those lucky writers who it was better to read about than to actually read his work - bar a couple of exceptions. I hasten to add that I am not a lunatic, so I do realise and appreciate this is not the definitive view on Mr T. [%sig%]

I pity the fool who can't be original in his suicide.

Thompson was always an accident in progress. He was 67 years old and had pretty much wore out his welcome in this state. I bumped into him a few years back at a grocery in Aspen, he was walking around the store drunk and making an ass of himself. Seems that every year he came up with some new way to get himself into the news by doing something really stupid and destructive. This is his final stupid act. Sorry to hear about it, but then again, he killed himself. He'll be more popular than ever now.

Some of you guys crack me up. Suicide isn't about 'originality' for fuck's sake, it's about a persons pain in life being more intolerable than the pain of death. That's it! End of story.

It's also the supreme act of selfishness. I wonder how his girlfriend feels about having to mop his brains off the floor and wall.

Suicides never think of those things, all they think about is ending their own pain, nothing else matters to them. They are too far gone for the niceties of life.

doesn't surprise me that he decided to end it that way, it is a selfish way out, agree with liana there, on his writing, i loved his stuff, fear and loathing, on the campaign trail, the hells angels book, all brilliant imho....

I don't believe that all suiciders don't think of others. In fact, there are probably some that do it because they believe they are removing themselves as a burden to others. There's an argument for the right to take ones own life, however, there are peripheral issues. I personally don't want people blowing their brains out in my living room. It's rough on the furniture and not exactly fun to look at nor clean up. Now, if he (or anyone else) wants to go out to the woods where their body can be devoured by the animals, then...that's doing something constructive. Some folks though are nothing less than self-absorbed dramatics and have lived large portions of their lives seeking to be the center of attention. I would venture to guess the shotgun Thompson used to empty his skull was the same shotgun he used numerous other times to threaten his neighbors and passersby, and he simply ran out of ideas for what to do with it next. Being a self-absorbed mental case, he didn't have the mental fortitude to deal with his problems, be it physical or mental illness; his last idea finally came to him, but only for a moment. At least he didn't kill somebody else with it.

As a wishy-washy liberal, I have to say that anyone can hold any opinion they damn well like - I just think there's some difference between saying "X is a swine and a hack" during a discussion of X and saying it on the day of their death. And having been there, I agree with Missi - you're not thinking about anything at those times other than not having to wake up another day feeling that way. It is an immensely selfish thing to do, but you're really not capable of thinking rationally or seeing the big picture at that point. Every single day for eight months, I'd have gladly taken a pill that would have guaranteed me just going to sleep and not waking up, and I'm not brave enough or bold enough to claim that I'll never feel that way again. Even when I was 'happy' I still felt that way, because the way I felt had nothing to do with external factors. I'd hope that if Terry Pratchett died, I wouldn't post a comment saying how I felt about his work. And I know, that's going to open me up to accusations of censorship and blah-blah-blah - I just think there's not an awful lot of courtesy and respect left in the world, and not speaking ill of the dead on the day they die ought to be one of them. Just my own personal belief.

If anyone's interested, here's a web page listing various news articles on Thompson, dating back to the 50's...for all his problems, he was a very popular writer, and for that he earns some measure of respect. Thompson grew up in the same city I did ( a little before my time), and he was quite well known to the locals in Louisville, Ky and to the locals here in Colorado. Andrew...talking about somebody on the day of their death isn't Taboo. Would you prefer we wait until...tomorrow instead? People talked about Thompson all the time around here. He was a larger than life public figure in Colorado and there are many many strong opinions of him long before he killed himself.

Talk about HT to anyone else and the reaction is: It was no surprise as he was a crazy fu**ing idiot. Whereas on ABC this reaction is replaced by a personalised discourse on the meaning of suicide. Keep up the good work chaps. And if Terry Pratchett ever did blow his head off with a shotgun, all I can say is: watch this space. Although I see Pratchett as more the kind of man to drown in the shallow end of a local swimming pool. PS. Well said Jasper, but please keep in mind that Nick Drake's sister was in Crossroads, which I think diffuses the artistic bloodline of reality while giving a subtle nod to the rustic genius of Rick Stein's sticky pudding. [%sig%]

Turns out, it wasn't a shotgun. He used a .45 automatic pistol. The migration of kooks has started to Aspen (Woody Creek). Next thing you now, he'll be the 21st century Jesus and we'll be forced to listen to anyone that ever knew him talk about what a great guy he was. Before you know it, they'll be comparing him to Hemingway.

So if they got the gun wrong it's a fair assumption they also exaggerated the decorating too!

Except for the kitchen, I imagine the rest of the house looks quite nice.

Well it WAS the kitchen I was referring too. A 45 slug doesn't make quite the same mess a shotgun does.

Well, if it was a copper jacket, standard round, probably only left a hole the size of a softball. Now, a hollow point would be more grapefruit size. Either way, I wouldn't be wanting any grape jelly from the cupboards.