Suffered from a rare form of colorblindness. Saw only in black and white.Accomplished carpenter who built his own house.Never saw the movies he wrote. Hated the film business.Had been clean and sober for 17 months prior to completing his novel. Its rejection by the major publishing houses led to his depression and his eventual flight and death in Mexico. Mexican police have attributed the death to a drug deal gone bad.Stabbed to death on his 39th birthday in Tijauna, Mexico. Supported himself by writing exploitation movies while working on more personal fiction. Left one unpublished novel "Feathersnatcher" which dealt with alcohol and drug addiction, a condition he battled his entire adult life.