Category Archives: Book Stuff

The Hunter S. Thompson Bibliography

This has been a long time coming. But given the large quantity of information involved, and the research taken on, I suppose I can forgive myself. This is not an annotated bibliography. It’s just a compilation of Hunter’s publications in chronological order.

Firstly I will be covering his books. Beginning with “Hell’s Angels,” then “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72,” and The Great Shark Hunt. Then one or maybe two a week until completed. Each one will be in PDF form. Just click the titles below. I will do my best to cover everything. Hopefully I didn’t miss too much. There may be some details missing here or there, such as one or two names of translators. I will continue to search for such information until its complete. I will be updating anything that is left out as time goes on. If you see any errors or want to add anything contact me here.

I must thank Margaret Harrell for her counsel. Bradley Weber for his research efforts stateside. And Helena for contributing  information to the cause.

Hell’s Angels 

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 72 

The Great Shark Hunt

The Curse of Lono.

Generation of Swine

Songs of the Doomed

Screwjack

Better Than Sex

Keep This Quiet Now Available On Nook And Kindle

Margaret Harrell’s excellent book Keep This Quiet! My Relationship with Hunter S. Thompson, Milton Klonsky, and Jan Mensaert is now available on Kindle at $5.95 and Nook  also $5.95.. As usual in print here and here.. Also available on iPad in color at $7.95, still an excellent price! So in one form or another Margaret’s book is available in Europe, Canada, Australia as well as the US and many more countries. Margaret’s site is here.. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about see my review here..

Christmas is fast approaching. Need I say more?

Lest We Forget. Keeping The Legs On Margaret Harrell’s Keep This Quiet.

No I’m not going all Kipling on you. Just want to keep the legs on Margaret Harrell’s Book going for a while longer. Here is the review I did a few weeks back.

There are folks who enjoy reading Hunter Thompson’s work and are happy to leave it there. Then there are those who want more. More being a need to know as much about Hunter’s process as possible, the nitty-gritty, who helped him?  Who influenced him? Call them freaks if that’s your pleasure, Gonzo freaks. I’m one. We are out there. Unashamedly. And we love to see new HST-related stuff.

Margaret A. Harrell showed up to tell me about her new book Keep This Quiet: My Relationship with Hunter S. Thompson, Milton Klonsky, and Jan Mensaert. Due for release 15th October.This is no ordinary book about or including Thompson. It’s a memoir detailing personal relationships with three authors, the main focus being on Hunter. I’m going to focus on the HST part but must stress that this book, as a memoir is quite deep and holds the door open for the reader. While Hunter is a huge selling point, the book has the legs to stand alone.

Margaret worked with Hunter as his copy editor (for Random House) on none other than Hell’s Angels, his first book. According to Hunter she was the best copy editor he’d ever worked with. The Gonzo freaks among us will remember her getting hefty mentions in Fear and Loathing in America. I’d (needlessly) be inclined to ask myself where does one go from there? Lots of places as it turns out. Harrell clearly had an impact on Hunter, and witnessed the unfolding of the Gonzo legacy. What gives this book more pull is that until now Harrell has never published a word about Hunter. She says The two other males in this book, I’ve written about in the past but not Hunter. Never Hunter. I write this book, triggered by his death.

And so she wrote. Looking at the picture of Margaret on the back cover and the few inside she strikes me as being an innocent sort. Butter wouldn’t melt for want of a better phrase. Their relationship firstly developed by letter and phone. Yes, on their first face-to-face meeting it would seem she was nervous but as things progressed we learn that she has indeed a reinforced spine, and ample psychological finesse, both of which I believe must have been most important when dealing with Hunter S. Thompson, at the same time I must not belittle the mutual care and respect that developed between them. And there I shall leave that subject. It must be read to be appreciated.

As well as tales from William Kennedy, David Pierce and others we are treated to correspondence from Oscar Acosta, and letters from Hunter we’ve never seen before. The well known Blue Indigo snake story is clarified. Margaret was one of the first to read the Rum Diary. There are loads of HST tidbits and stuff I’d never have thought would be in this book. It would be hard to keep going without giving anything away. So you must buy it to know more.

I remember saying to William McKeen a couple of years ago that I’d be happy if we were done with stuff written about HST for the reason that I felt the subject had been beaten to death. He disagreed and was right. I’m glad this came along. Its all new and a valuable addition to my collection and strangely enough it makes a great companion to McKeen’s Outlaw Journalist.

It has been a while since I have learned new stuff about Hunter Thompson. I feel refreshed. It was a pleasure to read and it was an honor for me to be among the first to read it. Highly recommended.

Margaret’s site is here and you can buy the book here, and here. For signed copies email orders@hunterthompsonnewbook.com

A Book of Thomas W. Benton’s Art by Daniel J. Watkins. With Poetry by Joe Henry.

I think it is safe to say that if you mention Thomas W. Benton to any Hunter Thompson fan you’ll hear the words Aspen Wall Posters. Aside from Hunter’s books these posters are probably the most coveted collectibles. Benton though is clearly more than the sum of his wall poster parts. Thanks to Daniel J. Watkins and his book Thomas W. Benton Artist / Activist I realized this very quickly.

This beautifully arranged book contains somewhat of a visual treat of some of Benton’s work. 150 pieces are included, covering political campaigns (Hunter’s campaign for sheriff among others,) activism, painting,architecture, the written word, and a lot more. Also included is a nice chunk of poetry by Joe Henry, a good friend of Benton’s. An excellent inclusion and companion to the book.

I was never one for staring at images of soup tins or someone’s mother (for some but not for me.) Art that sends a message to me without effort on my part is more up my street. It’s not easy to find though. Apart from the likes of Ralph Steadman or maybe Shepard Fairey, and Tom Benton I’m pretty much stumped. Benton’s art is easy on the eye, unpretentious and easily understood. Thanks to Daniel J. Watkins and his resolute, lengthy research I’m happy to have a so much of Benton’s work at hand when the need arises.

Watkins has done a great service in compiling this book. Not only to the Hunter S. Thompson fan in the form of the great Aspen Wall Posters (which are pull-out,) and other Gonzo art, but in highlighting Benton’s work in general, and giving a visual lesson on Thomas W. Benton.

We are treated to a foreword by George S. Stranahan, introduction by Hal Elliott Wert, and an interview with Benton conducted by Peggy Clifford. All in all Daniel has brought us a fantastic book, entertaining, visually stunning and an education.

Buy it here. For Daniel’s blog click here. Tom Benton site click here. For the book website click here.  For the Facebook page click here.

REMINDER! Margaret Harrell, William McKeen, Daniel J. Watkins & Wayne Ewing

Just to keep the momentum going. Margaret Harrell’s new book Keep This Quiet! is available soon. William McKeen’s Mile Marker Zero tomorrow and Daniel J. Watkins’ Thomas W. Benton is available now. (I’ll have a review of that in a few days.) Also Wayne Ewing’s great Vodcast: Rum Diary Back Story is a must see. Click the titles to buy. The Rum Diary, that one is on Wayne!!

A readers feast!

Marty

William McKeen’s Mile Marker Zero

If my Geography is correct Mile Marker Zero in Key West Florida marks the southernmost point of the United States. Next stop Cuba.. Key West also happens to be the place where some of the finest writers in literary history chose to bivouac themselves in a quest for peace, inspiration, good times, or maybe all of the above.

I began reading Mile Marker Zero with the Hunter S. Thompson connection in mind. That idea quickly dissolved within a few pages. It would be a shame to neglect the other artists that this book envelops.

For me it is difficult to write about this book without sounding trite. After all it does “star” most of my favorite writers. Among them HST (obviously) Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, (I’m remembering with laughter a story in the book about an eyebrow pencil and a excellently defused situation) and  Hemingway. Even Blackbeard shows his face. Thompson’s appearance in the book is far from scant. McKeen told me  Hunter arrived late on the scene, but he gets a full chapter — about half of which is adapted from Outlaw [Journalist]. He shows up in a few other places near the end of the book. Several new anecdotes, including a story from his funeral. For me a reason in itself to buy this book.

One of the things that struck me about this book was the amount of writers, preformers and artists covered in it. Tackling a book, covering so many (20+), centered around one area? I’d have thought it difficult to keep clutter at bay. Obviously McKeen didn’t have that problem here, no surprise given his talent for informing and putting these things together. They came to party and stayed to heal. Some just came to heal, some just came to party. Some benefited and some suffered. One thing is for sure. We the receivers of their work are the winners and McKeen brought this home for me.

I mentioned in my write-up Margaret Harrell’s Keep This Quiet that I love learning something new when reading a book. I’ve learned a lot with this one. It’s entertaining too. McKeen’s turn of phrase is relaxing and drawing. He has done his homework and it shows. This is a readers book, I reckon you’ll be hard-pushed to find a seasoned reader who won’t like it. It’s hard to believe this small two-by-four-mile piece of land has done so much in helping to churn out some of the finest works we read, reread  and will read for some time to come.

I could go on and on about this. It covers so much. Suffice to say McKeen nailed it. If you have any respect yourself as a reader, you’ll buy it.

Get it here, here and here from October 4. Dont forget Margaret Harrell’s Keep This Quiet is out now.

Keep This Quiet! By Margaret A. Harrell.

As usual it’s either a feast or a famine when it comes to Hunter Thompson-related books or releases of any sort, The Rum Diary movie being at the top of the list at the moment. I am looking forward to The Rum Diary movie but I’m a book-man at heart and anything new in print involving, or about Hunter is a biggie for me.

William McKeen’s Mile Marker Zero is one release with a healthy chunk of HST. It is due for release in October I believe, and is one book I’ll be recommending wholeheartedly. The review is due here soon. (I’m a bit behind with my work here. I’ll be back on top of things soon.)

Now on to Margaret A. Harrell’s Keep This Quiet: My Relationship with Hunter, S Thompson, Milton Klonsky, and Jan Mensaert. 

From Margaret’s site.. Here.

” In addition to providing a missing chapter in the life of Hunter, just before he became the father of gonzo journalism, Keep This Quiet also saves from the wreckage and trash bin of time a missing chapter in the life of two other outlaw writers: New York City poet genius Milton Klonsky and flamboyant Belgian poet Jan Mensaert. As a copy editor, then assistant editor to Jim Silberman at Random House in the late ’60s, I had a personal and professional relationship with Hunter, receiving hilarious and tormented correspondence. Now, for the first time, I reveal stories, memories, and previously unpublished letters by Hunter, with permission of the Estate of Hunter S. Thompson.”

To have had a large part in the process of the publishing of Thompson’s Hell’s Angels must have been a huge thing. To have dealt with him during these times must have been fascinating. I’m looking forward to reading it and spreading the word. For now click here for Margaret’s site. There’s plenty there to keep your appetites moist.

Plenty to keep us going for the moment.

Cheers.

Simone Corday’s 9 1/2 Years Going Digital

Simone Corday needs no introduction to any regular visitor here, or to any fan of HST. She’s been a great friend to the site and a valued contributor. Hunter S. Thompson called her the spirit of O’Farrell and after reading  9 1/2 Years Behind the Green Door, I can see why. Now she is going digital with her book. For now it is available on Amazon.com as a kindle edition, and hopefully soon it will be available on Nook, iBooks and more. When I have more details I’ll be sure to alert everyone here. The B+W picture has Simone on the left and HST in the middle. More as it happens.