Investigative reporter and author Michael Hastings has died following a car accident. He was working as BuzzFeed’s correspondent-at-large and a Rolling Stone contributor.

Hastings was the author of The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan and I Lost My Love in Baghdad. Hastings made headlines in 2010 for his Rolling Stone article “The Runaway General,” a story that ultimately cost General Stanley A. McChrystal his command. At Reddit, Hastings shared this advice for writers:

Mainly you really have to love writing and reporting. Like it’s more important to you than anything else in your life–family, friends, social life, whatever … Learn to embrace rejection as part of the gig. Keep writing/pitching/reading.

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Partnering with Blue Rider Press, the site will publish Panic 2012: The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of Obama’s Final Campaign by Michael Hastings. The $4.99 eBook wil be released on January 15. Here’s more from the release:

Hastings offers many juicy, newsworthy nuggets, like his verbatim account of a tense post-election confrontation with Chicago mayor and Obama advisor Rahm Emanuel that turned physical, or of being banished from the campaign plane for a week for refusing to go along with one of the unwritten rules governing coverage of the campaign. (Hastings’s sin was to merely mention that Obama had stopped at an off-the-record session with reporters in a hotel lounge in Orlando.) Hastings identifies heroes (starting with President Obama himself) and villains (starting with Governor Romney).

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Journalist Kate Aurthur will be the site’s chief L.A. correspndent. Journalist Michael Hastings, author of The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan, will aslo join as correspondent-at-large.

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti explained: “The most creative storytellers in the world live in Los Angeles and finding a way to cover entertainment in a powerful, shareable way is a real priority to us. We’re launching a new era of BuzzFeed with this bureau and are confident that this team will lead the best, most creative crew of renegades in LA and prove that the web is no longer a sideshow for TV and movie coverage. Los Angeles will be home to BuzzFeed Video, led by Ze Frank, and a west coast special ops team, editors focused on viral content, both which will be key in preserving BuzzFeed’s DNA while creating New York’s evil twin sister on the west coast.”

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The New York Post reports: “Sources said that super agent Andrew Wylie had quietly begun offering the manuscript to other publishers this week.”

The book is to be based on Hastings’ article “The Runaway General,” an essay exposing  high-level insubordination in the military. The article helped get Gen. Stanley McChrystal — the official running the war in Afghanistan at the time — fired.

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Hastings (pictured, via True/Slant) sold his book to Little, Brown and Company editor-in-chief Geoff Shandler. The deal was negotiated by Scott Moyers at the Wylie Agency. Hastings is a political journalist and author of the memoir, I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story. In 2007, Hastings’ book proposal generated some controversy online.

Here’s more about the untitled book: “The book will offer an unfiltered look at the war, and the soldiers, diplomats and politicians who are waging it. Based on exclusive reporting in Afghanistan, Europe, the Middle East and Washington, D.C., this landmark work of journalism will elucidate as never before our deeply troubling war in vivid, unforgettable detail.”

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UPDATE: Rolling Stone has published a profile of the general written by Michael Hastings (pictured, via True/Slant), a political journalist and author of the memoir, I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story. In 2007, Hastings book proposal generated some controversy online.

McChrystal has reportedly been called back to Washington D.C., and offered this statement: “I extend my sincerest apology for this profile … It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened. Throughout my career, I have lived by the principles of personal honor and professional integrity. What is reflected in this article falls far short of that standard.”

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