Fear and dead in Las Vegas
 

Feb. 20, 2005, 10:58PM

Author Hunter S. Thompson, who penned "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," commits suicide (Assoicated Press)

ASPEN, Colo. -- Hunter S. Thompson, the acerbic counterculture writer who popularized a new form of fictional journalism in books like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, fatally shot himself Sunday night at his home, his son said. He was 67.Hunter S. Thompson Associated Press Hunter S. Thompson

"Hunter prized his privacy and we ask that his friends and admirers respect that privacy as well as that of his family," Juan Thompson said in a statement released to the Aspen Daily News.

Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis, a personal friend of Thompson, confirmed the death to the News. Sheriff's officials did not return calls to The Associated Press late Sunday.

Juan Thompson found his father's body. Thompson's wife, Anita, was not home at the time.

Besides the 1972 drug-hazed classic about Thompson's time in Las Vegas, he is credited with pioneering New Journalism -- or "gonzo journalism" -- in which the writer made himself an essential component of the story.

An acute observer of the decadence and depravity in American life, Thompson wrote such books as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail in 1973 and the collections Generation of Swine and Songs of the Doomed. His first ever novel, The Rum Diary, written in 1959, was first published in 1998.

Other books include Hell's Angels and The Proud Highway. His most recent effort was Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and The Downward Spiral of Dumbness.

posted a few times already but its cool.

hunter was the man.