Originally, “Big Trouble” was posted in five PDFs that needed to downloaded to be read. No longer. Just click on the first image below and flip through the gallery.
Startling Stories for All Ages
Originally, “Big Trouble” was posted in five PDFs that needed to downloaded to be read. No longer. Just click on the first image below and flip through the gallery.
Damnation Alley is a really awful book with an impossible cult following. Published in 1969, it went on to be made into an even worse film staring George Peppard, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Jackie Earle Haley which as gained an even stronger cult following than the book.
How I acquired first-hand knowledge of these matters is a story too horrible to tell, at least right now. All will be revealed when I’ve made my millions and adoring fans hang on my every word. Meanwhile, I have to wonder if this shitty little book was in some way an influence on Hunter’s conceptualization of Bat Country and the fearful run from L.A. to L.V.
Zelazny’s novel is a post-apocalyptic version of the 1925 “Great Race of Mercy” — when 20 sled dog teams raced 1085 miles to bring diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska. This time it’s a suicide run from the nation-state of California across the nuke-ravaged, monster-filled wasteland with some Haffikine anti-serum — because they gots the plague way over in Boston.
Leading the a three-car team of recidivist goons is Hell Tanner, last of the West Cost Hell’s Angels. (Seriously. I wouldn’t make that up.) Tanner is a hard core sonofabitch who’s been in jail for any number of dirty deeds — including smuggling candy to the Mormons. The carrot for Tanner and the rest of the screw heads to make the trip is that they get full pardons for their crimes. . . .
This plot synopsis is somewhat beside my point.
Like with B. Traven’s Death Ship, John Bainbridge’s Super-Americans and a few other texts I’ve run across, Damnation Alley feels like it might have suggested something to Hunter and in some way informed his writing.
Everybody knows about the influence of Fitzgerald and Hemingway and Donlevy on the good doctor’s work. But Hunter’s approach to reading seems to have been , in the best sense, a shotgun affair. There is a list of books in a 2006 Harper’s article by William Kennedy (that I can’t link to because you need to subscribe in order to view it), that only hints at the breadth and depth of Thompson’s literary tastes. One might be inclined to think Hunter was indiscriminate, reading at random, but that doesn’t seem to fit. Omnivorous, certainly — with a purpose.
Traven’s writing in Death Ship has amazing rhythms and a personal, wrong guy/wrong place/wrong time sensibility mirrored in some of Hunter’s best work; Super-Americans is about Texas being the last bastion of the American Dream; Damnation Alley describes the desolation, danger, gila monsters, and high desert weirdness between Barstow and Vegas.
What else is out there he might have read and pulled from?
It’s time to finish Gonzo Republic to see if Stephenson’s worthy examination of Thompson’s writing and themes includes any intertextual analysis of the canon.
Let’s be clear about something: the following rant is based on an actual event. Maybe more than based. Maybe it really happened.
This was first posted over at my Junior Mad Scientist site with some password protection so little the kids and parents who frequent the site wouldn’t be treated to some harsh language. But, based on the nature of this site, you already know what you’re in for. Enjoy. bjw
May 10th, 2010
[I’m warning you right now that this one has some language in it — language that, if you’re over the age of seven, you’ve probably said at least once today. And if you haven’t said it, then you’ve thought it or heard your parents say it, probably more than once today. But when they’re in print, words are suddenly different. Don’t ask me why. I’m a writer and I still don’t understand the physics of words (supposedly) having more meaning when they’re on the page. Anyway, if you’re under the age of 18 or easily offended, you’ll likely want to skip this one. Just sayin’. bjw]
There’s one in every crowd. The guy who hands you back the fast food garbage you dumped in the Home Depot parking lot. The guy who yells in the theater for you to put away your goddamned cell phone and watch the movie. The guy who whips a rock at your car because you just blew the stop sign while he was walking his kid across the street.
Like I said: There’s one in every crowd.
Usually, it’s me.
*
It’d been a long Sunday: the only worthwhile things being time spent with the wife and kid, pricing bookcases for the new office, and some barbeque and strange conversation at a friend’s house. After that, it was 8:30pm and I was at loose ends. The local Googolplex was showing KICK-ASS at 8:45. I snagged a twenty and headed out the door.
My cell phone and watch were left home on purpose, so I had no idea what time it was when the woman tried to sneak in with the little boy. This was right around the part where Kick-Ass first meets up with the Red Mist in the alley. The kid sits one over from me; she’s on his left. The kid is so small he’s practically swallowed by the seat.
I saw them come in, fresh from either DIARY OF A WIMPY KID or HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. The kid was oblivious. She was furtive, clearly new at trying to get away with something and failing hard. It makes no difference who you are; we’ve all done it, all failed to be invisible. Whether it’s your first crack at theater-hopping, shoplifting porn or buying that first box of condoms, we all act the same way and it’s easy to spot.
As God as my witness, I wanted to let it go.
Not that this woman needed to be Tased for sneaking into a movie. Hell, no. Except for under–paid theater managers and over–paid studio executives, nobody gives a shit about that kind of thing because whether anybody is in the theater or not, the movie still runs. So, as long as she stayed off her phone and the kid kept his yap shut, I would count myself among the careless nobodies.
But she brought this little, little kid to this particular movie. This stupid, stupid woman, whose knowledge of the film was likely gleaned from a fast glance at the movie poster, and this kid, no doubt tripping on Mountain Dew and Twizzler Bites, who is geeked to be up past his bedtime on a school night and sneaking into a superhero movie. And who could blame him?
The thing is, I know what’s coming. I’d never read the comics, but had seen enough reviews to know how bad it would be. That I paid ten bucks to see this piece of crap is my problem, my choice. But this kid, he doesn’t have a choice, doesn’t know he has a choice. Even if he did know, he’d still vote to stay. Because it’s a superhero movie.
And I think about the people I know –– personally know –– who let their five- and six- and seven-year-olds watch SPIDER–MAN 3, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and THE DARK KNIGHT, over and over and over. Especially THE DARK KNIGHT. Because to most parents, the line between THE INCREDIBLES and THE DARK KNIGHT doesn’t exist. Because they are superhero movies.
One of these days, I’m going hit my brakes while the wrong guy tailgates me. One of these days, I’ll tell the wrong woman “you’re welcome” when she fails to smile, make friendly eye contact, say “thank you” while I hold the door open for her. One of these days, I’m going to tell the wrong guy that if he and his buddies want to talk they should go to Denny’s –– otherwise they need to shut up and watch the movie. One of these days, I’m going to get slapped around, have a cigarette put out in my face, get stabbed. Get shot.
One of these days, I’m going to mind my own business.
I lean over the empty seat. I tell the lady, “You know this rated R, right?”
“Oh. It is?” she asks, and means it.
“Yeah.”
I turn to the kid. “Hey, pal. How old are you?”
He holds up four fingers, says he’s three. His eyes never leave the screen.
“He’s four,” she smiles.
I say, “Listen, lady. They already showed a little girl get shot in the chest by her father and it’s only going to get worse. You need to get him the hell out of here. Like, now.”
She says, “Oh,” and starts tugging a jacket on her mesmerized kid. “OK. Thanks.”
“You know the best way to thank me? Read the reviews before you take your kid to the movies. Because shit like this will fuck him up fast. Now beat it before they start having sex and chopping off heads.”
She hustled that kid out with a lot less furtive than she came in with.
One of these days, I’m going to Hell.
–– Chicago, May 2010
Good news — Part I of Fear & Loathing of the Undead is done!
HUZZAH!
OK, more like done-ish. It’ll keep being tinkered with until the whole thing goes to press. Whenever that may be.
Meanwhile, this is a a milestone worthy of at least minor celebration. The story is a solid 27,000 words crafted into sixteen tight chapters. Target date for completion is sometime in November —- roughly seven months from now. It’s possible . . . but there’s a ton more research to do and several trips to work around including a week-long stay at Disney World, a drive to Atlanta, and a recon mission to Aspen. Too much to do in not enough time? We’ll see.
There was no way to keep quite about Marty Flynn’s fantastic site detailing his HST collection and the guidance offered to others trying to find The Complete Works. Close on the heels of my March 2 post, Marty wrote:
There are Gonzo freaks and there are Gonzo freaks. The latter are the ones, who after absorbing copious amounts of Hunter Thompson’s texts feel the compulsion to share their freakish leanings with the world. They have all been mentioned here at one point or another. I wont make a list for fear of leaving someone out (which would happen.) These folks are so dedicated and brilliant at keeping Hunter’s name alive it is almost redundant to say so.
The latest addition to this list is a chap who calls himself Bradley James Weber and the birth of His “Parody” Fear and Loathing of the Undead 78 a book in progress. The first 15 pages are on his site. I have read what he has written so far but I’ll wait until he’s finished before I review it. For now I’ll say, so far it’s clever, funny, and very Gonzoesque. I must stress (as he does) that it is a parody not a copycat affair. I’m looking forward to the rest. Lets hope he gets cracking and finishes it soon.
So Mr Weber, well done, keep the faith and keep working.
I’ve been called a lot of things, many of them deserved, most not suitable for print or polite conversation. But being tagged as a Gonzo Freak and having my name added to the rolls is deeply gratifying and a true honor.
Like Cyrano de Bergerac, I tend to keep a chip on my shoulder and ‘carry my adornments only on my soul, decked with deeds instead of ribbons.’ What better place to sew the Gonzo Freak merit badge?
Takes one to know one, Marty. Thanks.