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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: June 2012
Hammett: The Big 88
My spies out there in the world, always keeping an eye on the news, have alerted me to the latest honor for the author who makes The Dashiell Hammett Tour the rollicking fun ride that it is: Hammett’s Red Harvest has … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit, News, SFSC
Tagged "Zigzags of Treachery", Allen Ginsberg, Becky London, Ben Franklin, Brian Leno, City Lights, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Jack London, Jan Kerouac, Jo Hammett, John Carter, Library of Congress, literary graves, Randy Shilts, Ray Bradbury, Red Harvest, Zane Grey
Hammett: Some Media Some More
Just got a note from Evan Lewis tipping me off to a BBC production of Secret Agent X-9 — originally a newspaper comic strip written by Hammett and drawn by Alex (Flash Gordon) Raymond. A little neo-Old Time Radio, for … Continue reading
Hollywood Beat: Mrs. Parker and the Literary Circle
The LAVA Literary Salon that meets in Musso & Frank has a new meeting scheduled on Dorothy Parker and F. Scott Fitzgerald — sold out already! I missed their first meeting, on John Fante, but was in M&F only a couple … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit, News
Tagged Dorothy Parker, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jim Tully, John Fante, LAVA Salon, Musso & Frank, PulpFest, Raymond Chandler
Hammett: Coining “The Continental Op”
Was it Cap Shaw? Was it some unheralded editorial assistant? Terry Zobeck plunged into his Black Mask collection to check on who first used the coinage “The Continental Op” to describe Hammett’s short fat Frisco sleuth. That’s with a capital … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged "Death and Company", "Pick-Up", "The Farewell Murder", "The Whosis Kid", Black Mask, Cap Shaw, Frederic Dannay, Including Murder, Pulps, Terry Zobeck, The Dain Curse
Tour: Sunday July 1
The next walk anyone can show up for, no reservations, no questions asked, will be Sunday July 1. The usual routine. Four hours. $10 per person. Start at noon near the revolving “L” sculpture. The shot above may be of … Continue reading
Hammett: A Couple of Thoughts on Including Murder
As I’ve been brooding over the Robert S. Powell article about the first Continental Op collection Including Murder, two kind of random thoughts hit me: First, Powell describes the emendations in pencil on the tearsheets as being done in a … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco
Tagged Black Mask, Frederic Dannay, Including Murder, Lovecraft, Pulps, pure texts, Red Harvest, Robert S. Powell, The Dain Curse
Two-Gun Bob: PulpFest 2012
Among other things PulpFest is going to commemorate this year will be the eightieth anniversary of the coming of Robert E. Howard’s Conan — exploding into the culture in the December 1932 issue of Weird Tales. In many ways, and given that Howard … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News, REH
Tagged Argosy, Brian Leno, Conan, Fritz Leiber, Harry Otto Fischer, John D. Squires, Karl Edward Wagner, Kid Dula, PulpFest, Pulps, Rusty Burke, Steve Eng, Sword-and-Sorcery, Weird Tales
Hammett: The Lineup for Including Murder
If you don’t have the issue of Clues with the Robert S. Powell article on Including Murder, you may wonder which stories would have made up what would have been Hammett’s first book, if it had been published — all Continental Op tales … Continue reading
Posted in Dash
Tagged "Bodies Piled Up", "Crooked Souls", "Night Shots", "One Hour", "The Gatewood Caper", "The Gatewood Thing", "The Girl with the Silver Eyes", "The Goiden Horseshoe", "The House in Turk Street", "The Secret Emperor", "Women Politics and Murder", "Zigzags of Treachery", 620 Eddy, Black Mask, Clues, Including Murder, Phil Cody, Pulps, pure texts, Richard Layman, Robert S. Powell