Welcome to a hard-boiled and not without noir blog with news and reviews, occasional outbursts of maniacal Autograph Hound activity, plus archival records from the forty-five year run of The Dashiell Hammett Tour. 
The Dashiell Hammett Tour
1977-2022
Arkham House Ephemera
The Classic Years 1937–1973
Death Lit
Essays and Reviews Selected from Fifty Years of Writing 1974–2024
Willeford
The Book
Monthly Archives: July 2013
Rediscovered: The “Human Typewriter” on the Fattest Man in Milan
A few months ago I read Giorgio Scerbanenco’s A Private Venus — only the second book translated into English by this writer, so prolific he was called the “human typewriter”. . . . I’ve met several authors who could lay claim … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged A Private Venus, Duca Lamberti, Giorgio Scerbanenco, Human Typewriters, Manchette
Tour: Sunday September 8
Someone gave me a month’s advance notice and requested a walk on Sunday September 8, so consider it on. Anyone can join in. No reservations needed. Meet at noon with four hours to spare and twenty bucks to burn. … Continue reading
Posted in Tour
Frisco Beat: A Tale of Dashiell Hammett Street
Last Friday I did a tour for a couple from Australia — I was coming into the burg anyway, and cut them a deal. When we got to Dashiell Hammett Street, they remembered a previous visit, where they noticed the … Continue reading
Posse McMillan: More on Crumley, with Ralph Beer SPOILER
Doing some catch-up on stuff I have contemplated posting: Early this year I surfed across a fine memoir of James Crumley by a writer pal of his named Ralph Beer — very nice, even includes photos of some of Crumley’s favorite … Continue reading
Posted in DMac, Lit, Willeford
Tagged James Crumley, Missoula Club, Moose Drool, Neal McMahon, Ralph Beer, The Depot
Tour: On Sunday July 21 and Sunday July 28
A couple of requests for walks have rolled in — one from a guy in the area and another from some folk en route to SF from Brownwood, Texas. After prowling around Texas on several trips to Howard Days in … Continue reading
Posted in News, REH, Tour
Tagged Brownwood Texas, Charlie Webb, hangings, Howard Days, John Wesley Hardin
Tour: Chatting with KPAM
On Tuesday I recorded a radio interview with KPAM out of Portland and they tell me it’ll air this weekend on “The Azumano Travel Show” — split into two parts so the sound of scruffing gumshoes hiking up and down … Continue reading
Posted in News, Tour
Tagged Butte, Frederic Forrest, KPAM, literary homes, Louisa May Alcott, Red Harvest, The Azumano Travel SHow
Sinister Cinema: World War Z, No Doubt with SPOILERS
Okay, after blurbing it on Cheese Theatre, I had to give the movie World War Z a shot. First, I must congratulate Max Brooks for selling them two words and the letter “Z” —nabbing around a reported $100,000 per letter or thereabout. Sweet . … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Frisco, SFSC
Tagged Big Trouble in Little China, Brad Pitt, Cheese Theatre, Danny Trejo, Dawn of the Dead, Diva, Donimique Pinon, Ethan Suplee, Ghostbusters, Jade, James Hong, Jurassic Park, Max Brooks, Michael Biehn, Night of the Living Dead, R.I.P.D., Return of the Living Dead, Rise of the Zombies, Ryan Reynolds, Shaun of the Dead, The Dude, Tom Cruise, War of the Worlds, William Friedkin, World War Z, Zatoichi, Zombieland
Sinister Cinema: Tonight on Cheese Theatre
Just got a close-to-last-minute note from Bill Arney, telling me that the episode of Cheese Theatre featuring The Last Man on Earth — and our discussion thereof — reruns tonight at 10 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. If you’re in the … Continue reading
Posted in Film, News
Tagged Bill Arney, Cheese Theatre, George Romero, Night of the Living Dead, The Last Man on Earth, World War Z
