Friends and relatives of the late writer Hunter S. Thompson want to follow his wishes and blast his ashes out of a cannon.
The "gonzo journalist" - with a penchant for drugs, guns and flame-thrower prose - shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home Sunday at 67. He had said several times he wanted an artillery send-off for his remains.
"There's no question, I'm sure that's what he would want," said Mr Mike Cleverly, a longtime friend and neighbour. "Hunter truly loved that kind of thing."
"If that's what he wanted, we'll see if we can pull it off," said historian Mr Douglas Brinkley, a friend of Thompson's and now the family's spokesman.
Thompson's wife, Anita, and son Juan are looking into the cannon scenario, said Mr Brinkley, who has edited some of Thompson's work.
Mr Brinkley also said Thompson did not take his life "in a moment of haste or anger or despondency" but probably planned his suicide well in advance because of declining health.
The author of books including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegaswas in pain from a range of problems that included a broken leg and a hip replacement.
In a statement, Thompson's widow and his son said: "It is entirely fitting that Hunter, as a master of politics and control, chose to take his life on his own schedule by his own hand, rather than submitting to fate, genetics or chance.
"Though we will miss him bitterly, we understand his decision. Let the world know that Dr. Hunter S. Thompson died with his glass full, a fearless man, a warrior."