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About DonHerron.com
In 1977 Don Herron began leading The Dashiell Hammett Tour, now the longest-running literary tour in the nation. On this site you’ll find information on current walks — dates, where to meet, arranging tours by appointment — plus a hard-boiled blog with news, reviews of books and film, and a dash of noir.
The latest and greatest edition to self-guide you up and down the mean streets.
Willeford: The Book
Includes the first “Mr. Hunt” story, “Knives in the Dark.”
Monthly Archives: January 2012
891 Post: Tub Shot, B&W
January is almost gone. Noir City is done. And The Voice of Noir has left the building. Yeah, the windows of the Sam Spade apartment in 891 Post will be dark again as you gumshoe past in the night, after … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: The Fest is Over
Noir City has folded up its sidewalks and slunk off into the night, and almost all that’s left are memories — and a really intriguing puzzle I noticed in the final day’s showing of the film Roadhouse Nights. More on … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco, News
Tagged Ace Atkins, Book Collecting, Creature Features, Fuller Brush Man, Green Apple Books, John Stanley, Kevin Hunsanger, My Favorite Brunette, Noir City, Preston Sturges, Roadhouse Nights, The Attack of the Incredible Killer Scarecrow, The Good Humor Man, Unfiathfully Yours
Rediscovered: The Poets Gawsworth and Maclaren
Recently I heard from Lucilla Maclaren Spillane, who was looking around the Web for Steve Eng. Steve, if you recall, is the guy who brought M. P. Shiel fully to my attention, and completely sold me on John Gawsworth as a … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged A. E. Housman, Cobstone Mill, Edmund Blunden, Hamish Maclaren, John Gawsworth, Lucilla Maclaren Spillane, M. P. Shiel, Redonda, Steve Eng
Hammett: The Film Fest Coming Up Fast
If around the burg on Sunday, don’t forget the close-out to the tenth annual noir movie marathon in the Castro, with a one-day marathon all-its-own of flicks adapted from Dashiell Hammett. You can get the schedule and suitable blurbs from … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, News, Tour
Tagged Castro Theatre, Hammett Tour Book, Huffington Post, Noir City, Thomas Gladysz
Two-Gun Bob: Some Comments on the 106
Apparently my post on Birthday 106 for author Robert E. Howard has met with some grumbling in the so-called social media — I hear that at least one person has “disliked” it on Facebook. Jeez. Don’t know if I can … Continue reading
Posted in REH
Tagged Brian Earl Brown, Doc Howard, Indy Cavalier, Jonathan Bacon, Morgan Holmes, REHupa
Frisco Beat: Falcon, Falcon, Who’s Got a or the Falcon?
Getting slightly busy with the Noir City X action, dropping into the old haunt of Sam Spade’s apartment for pre-opening night drinks with Bill “The Voice of Noir” Arney, who is camping out in his former digs during the festival … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco
Tagged 891 Post, Bill Arney, Drew Bourn, Noir City, The House on Telegraph Hill, Using San Francisco History
Two-Gun Bob: 106 and Counting
Birthday 106 for Robert E. Howard today. Almost 76 years since he committed suicide on June 11, 1936. And his name lives on. Not bad for a writer who plied his trade in the pulps and didn’t see a single … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit, News, REH
Tagged "Conan vs. Conantics", Al Harron, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Doc Howard, Frazetta, Glenn Lord, Howard Days, Jason Momoa, L. Sprague de Camp, Leo Grin, Lin Carter, pure texts, The Cimmerian, Tompk, Whoopi Goldberg
Tour: Nada in January
We’ve got winter rains coming in, maybe. We’ve got the lure of a run down to LA on the spur of the moment. And we’ve got no extra tours where you can just show up with a tenspot and … Continue reading
Hollywood Beat: A Fante Salon
Just got word that a new literary salon has scheduled its first meeting for Monday January 23 in Musso & Frank — you know, I’m half-thinking about going, if not to this one, then to a later session. What a great place to stage … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit, News
Tagged Dan Fante, Hollywood Walk of Fame, John Fante, Musso & Frank, Noir City
Two-Gun Bob: Into the West
Sometime after midnight, as 2011 had slipped away and the New Year had begun, I did a quick check of email and found a barrage of notes telling me that Glenn Lord had passed away on the last day of the vanished … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News, REH
Tagged Glenn Lord, Howard Days, James Reasoner, literary suicides, Walt Coburn