There is a fantastic quote in the January 2007 issue of Playboy that reveals the determination of a young aspiring author. In the On the Scene section of the magazine, the quote reads,
“As things stand now,” a 21-year-old Hunter S. Thompson wrote in June 1959, “I am going to be a writer. I’m not sure that I’m going to be a good one or even a self-supporting one, but until the dark thumb of fate presses me to the dust and says, ‘You are nothing,’ I will be a writer.”
A scrapbook of photos and documents relating to Thompson is being released this month by Ammo Books. Gonzo “includes Thompson’s press card for The Jersey Shore Herald, where he got his first writing job after leaving the military; notebook scribbles that later turned into Fear and Loating in Las Vegas; endless photos of and by the master; plus various and sundry bits of Thompson lore.”
Gonzo is available from the publisher for $300.