We were somewhere on the edge of the desert...

Hunter S. Thompson has been found dead, apparently by suicide, aged 67.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4282865.stm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40737-2005Feb20.html

His work exploring politics, the drugs culture, the Hells Angels, etc. was enormously influential and widely parodied in all genres - see, for example, Games Workshop's Judge Dredd RPG companion in the 1980s, lots of SF including the first Wild Cards book, etc. - and started the modern era of journalism, in which the journalists reaction to events have become part of the story. For my own part I admired his work, parodied the opening to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas at least twice, in fanfic and in games reviews, and probably haven't read nearly as much as I should.

He'll be greatly missed.

Picocon money

Make that £22.77 I took at PicoCon, rounded up to £23. I forgot that someone gave me £3.00 separately from the money I got for the books etc. Takes the money raised to date to £1512.60, of which £1468 has so far been given to Cancer Research UK or its predecessor charities. I'll make another donation once I get past £1568.