Hunter S. Thompson

hobart

hobart

Bukfan said:
I've got a brick of a book with Hunter's letters. It's called Fear and Loathing in America. I have'nt read it yet. Has anyone here read it? If so, I would like to hear your opinion of it...
Click to expand...

Indeed a brick and a good, entertaining, and insightful one. It is the second of his "F&L Letters". Better to start with "Proud Highway" if you are into the chronological order of things. Starts early and ends where "F&L in America" begins. A third installment of letters was supposed to be released this spring but for unknown (anyone?) reasons was pushed back an entire year. The horror, the horror.

"F&L in America" has incredible letters that are from the meat of HST's prolific writing period and political involvement. Fascinating and hysterical. He writes to people that you wouldn't imagine correspondence being possible. Beautiful and wonderfully edited.

Enjoy the brick.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
Thanks a lot, hobart! From your description the brick sounds like a great read. I bought it cheap on a book sale but I never got around to reading it. The only other Hunter books I've read so far are Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the one about Hell's Angels. I've also got a funny book about Hunter by E. Jean Carroll...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hobart

hobart

Bukfan-
You are very welcome.
The next set of letters is due to be released in March or April of 2008. It will be called The Mutineer: Rants, Ravings, and Missives from the Mountaintop 1977-2005
There is a new bio by Corey Seymour, who I believe writes for Rolling Stone, called Gonzo coming out in October of this year if it doesn't get pushed back AGAIN. I think Jann Werner of RS fame is the publisher.
The Rum Diary as someone typed in this thread is supposed to be the next thing on Johnny Depp's docket after the final Pirates movie is completely done. That comes out on Friday so hopefully we will get Rum soon-ish. We shall see ...
 
B

Burroughkowski

I was wondering if I could recieve a little advice on the world of hunter s. since i'm new to it.


I read "rum diary" a few months ago as my first introduction to his world. I absolutley loved it. Now I realize this is an oddball in the the hunter s. thompson cannon. Is there anymore "fiction" that he wrote and published that I could get my hands on?

I am currently about half way through "hell's angels" and I think it's very very good. Where should by next move/book in Hunter land be?
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Rum Diary is an odd intro to HST, since he wrote it when he was young(er) and it went unpublished for some time.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is what he is most known for, and it is an amazing book. Hells Angels, The Great Shark Hunt, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, The Curse of Lono...they are all different so it's hard to say. Later books are more collections of articles than anything else.

It's all good if you like him and buy into the whole HST persona/vibe. He was an original, no doubt about that.
 
bogthing

bogthing

Supposedly there are some other works to be run out. I came upon Rum Diary fairly late on, don't know when it was originally published. Written some time in the late fifties early sixties mebbe?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a favorite of many. Lot's of the old Rolling Stone articles were quite, quite good as well. Don't know if they are put up as a collection anywhere.

One of the later bits was a Fear and Loathing in Elko, (I believe that was the title) and it involved drugs, high speed automobile manuevers and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

-enjoy
 
Gerard K H Love

Gerard K H Love

Appreciate your friends
You are right. I just do not see how a movie about the "Rum Diary" would be that great. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" will be a tough act to follow.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
The Curse of Lono is a rare title, you probably will not find a cheap copy unless someone is selling it without realizing what they have.
 
B

bongobill

i just finished hell's angels
informative but by no means
fine writing as fear and loathing in las vegas
and i think rum diary is a fine story for film


i saw where the buffalo roam a couple of days ago
bill murray played HST so well
some hilarious shit
but the end of the film was ....blah
like they ran out of time or money
 
bogthing

bogthing

Yeah, I thought that Carville resembles HST in a manner. Picture him with a pair of yellow tinted Ray-Ban aviators and a cigarette holder. Plus, they were associates, if not outright confederates. On second thought though, Carville's bread and butter is his political consulting work, and it might not go down well with his clients to have him portrayed as a gun weilding drug fiend.
 
Father Luke

Father Luke

Founding member
Well, if you want to get the "un"collectors version, one which won't be
a treasured part of your personal library.
Amazon has it for about 26 bucks H E R E

I read Hunter, then I read Hemingway to clear my head.
The Good Doctor had a unique voice which echoes long after
the bell has rung.

Whatever that means.
 
bospress.net

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
The limited edition can be bought on ABE for about $300, which makes me think that although the LIST price is $400 and that is what AMMO Book is trying to sell these for, that they are, in fact selling them for less. Dealers usually expect a 40% discount on purchases, so that would mean that they would, in theory, pay $240 for this book, so maybe they are just trying to turn a small profit on the book, but something makes me think that they are buying them for much less. This is the first release from AMMO Books and for 3000 copies at $400 each, would give them $1.2M in sales. Most of the copies for sale are in the 2000 number range, so if they are actually sending them out in number order (who knows if they are) then they have sold a bunch....

Bill
 
LickTheStar

LickTheStar

Sad Flower in the Sand
bospress.net said:
The limited edition can be bought
[...]
Click to expand...

I'd like to respond to this half a year late... When it was first announced, it WAS priced at $300, but... For some reason, a few months after it was released (right around September\October) it was bumped up $50-$100 to $400+. I bought a copy for a little under $300 (thank you employee discount!) and love it. Nice photo laid in the clamshell case, nice clamshell case, and a nice book.

Of course... Had I known they would drop a cheap copy of it later... I would probably have saved my money for something Bukowski or Fante related. Ah well, live and learn. It remains my first collectible book so I like it just the same.
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
zanzinger said:
i like love hunter thompson except for the fact that he shot himself with his grand kids in the house.
too bad about that
Click to expand...
Where did you read that? Sounds like bullshit to me. Everything I read said he was home alone.
 
CarversDog

CarversDog

RIP
From the Pitkin County Sheriff's Department Incident Report as widely picked up by the media:

Thompson died at his self-described "fortified compound" known as "Owl Farm" in Woody Creek, Colorado, at 5:42 p.m. on February 20, 2005, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Thompson's son (Juan), daughter-in-law (Jennifer Winkel Thompson) and grandson (Will Thompson) were visiting for the weekend at the time of his suicide. Will and Jennifer were in the adjacent room when they heard the gunshot. Mistaking the shot for the sound of a book falling, they continued with their activities for a few minutes before checking on him. Thompson was sitting at his typewriter with the word "counselor" written in the center of the page
 
mjp

mjp

Founding member
Well there you go, I stand corrected. Am I crazy or did all the initial reports say he was home alone?
 
Bukfan

Bukfan

"The law is wrong; I am right"
If you wanna watch "Where The Buffalo Roam" for free, here's the URL:

Code: 
http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/where_the_buffalo_roam.php
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Joseph K

Joseph K

bogthing said:
Supposedly there are some other works to be run out. I came upon Rum Diary fairly late on, don't know when it was originally published. Written some time in the late fifties early sixties mebbe?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a favorite of many. Lot's of the old Rolling Stone articles were quite, quite good as well. Don't know if they are put up as a collection anywhere.

One of the later bits was a Fear and Loathing in Elko, (I believe that was the title) and it involved drugs, high speed automobile manuevers and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

-enjoy
Click to expand...

It was written very early but sat in the drawer for a time. It was published relatively recently. Haven't read it but someone who had said every character talked the same - a problem with characterisation. Is that the case?

Oh, mjp, said as much....



I have a signed copy of the letters. Not sure if it is vol. 1 or 2. Signed plate inset though... Hardly counts.
 
TheBigChinaski

TheBigChinaski

Bukfan said:
If you wanna watch "Where The Buffalo Roam" for free, here's the URL:

Code: 
http://www.moviesfoundonline.com/where_the_buffalo_roam.php
Click to expand...

I can't find the quote verbatim online, but Bill Murray in the hotel room bitching about the maid.

Did my drugs...ate. my. dinner.

:)

It seems like there are a lot of ties between HST and Buk on the surface.
HST the gonzo journalist, Buk the gonzo poet in a way.
Is there any documentation they read each other's work?

I can see the two of them up at that big horse track in the sky...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Gerard K H Love

Gerard K H Love

Appreciate your friends
Welcome to the forum. It's funny how you wrote 'Hunter and Bukowski' instead of, 'Hunter and Charles' or 'Thompson and Bukowski'. I doubt they ever had any correspondence.

I bet you like to mix different flavors of ice cream together too.
 
LickTheStar

LickTheStar

Sad Flower in the Sand
Or even chocolate and peanut butter.

As far as correspondence... there's nothing in the first two books of HST's letters. And Thompson was incredibly anal about EVERYTHING related to his letters, reportedly.

Though the third volume (now about 2 years late) might have something... it runs from the late 70s through his death, so... maybe something will pop up in there. If there was anything, it seems like it would be in there.

Of course, Thompson ran with the beat crowd (loved Kerouac and even had help from Ginsburg in editing some of the pieces that became Hell's Angels) so... who knows.
 
homeless mind

homeless mind

Heinrich K. & Hunter S.

Johnny Falcon said:
I have also wondered if Hunter and Bukowski ever exchanged dialog or had an opinion on each other, one way or another?
Click to expand...

Bill McKeen, author of Outlaw Journalist: The Life And Times of Hunter S. Thompson (along with many HST articles, interviews, and I think another bio some time ago) is not aware of any contact between them.

He is looking into it for me, and I will post anything he finds/passes on. Virtually everything HST discussed in this thread and a shitload more is in aforementioned tome. Outlaw is worth the price of admission.

Pax,

homeless mind
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top