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: October 2019
Two-Gun Bob: Zuvembie
Brian Leno was digging around in his stuff after telling me that no Halloween would be complete without a zombie — and who could argue that point? Here’s Brian with another treat for the holiday: This Scott Hampton artwork of … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Cyclopean
For Halloween proper Brian Leno trots out an apt image recently pulled from his holdings: I bought this years ago, and I think, if I remember rightly, purchased it directly from William Stout. Of course it’s an original drawing of … Continue reading
Rediscovered: The Modern Arkham Ephemera Checklist
Looks as if it is available to order now: For anyone interested in the history of Arkham House the November/December issue of Firsts: The Book Collector’s Magazine is not to be missed, since it presents the item-by-item checklist to accompany … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Collecting Haefele
One of my little hobbies — fairly harmless — involves keeping an eye out to see how my kid protégé John D. Haefele is doing in the collectability department. A couple of months ago I mentioned, in an aside, how … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged August Derleth, Book Collecting, Henrik Harksen, John D. Haefele, L. W. Currey, The Cimmerian Library, Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire
Sinister Cinema: The Golem
And for the theme of today’s Autograph Hound Super-Sunday, Brian Leno digs another signature from the clay. . . . “I love the German silents,” Brian tells me, “right now a signed postcard of Paul Richter (Siegfried) is on the way from … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Caligari
For Autograph Hound Super-Sunday what other Halloween offerings could Brian Leno pull from the crypt? You just know he’s got an iron-bound door in the wall of a sub-basement, and over the door to that crypt the stark name: John Hancock. … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Scream Queen
To get you in the mood for Halloween this Autograph Hound Saturday, Brian Leno has brought forth from his vault signatures by Candace Hilligoss, Barbara Steele — and now wraps it up with a true icon of the Pop Culture. … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Carnival of Souls
To further prep his fellow Autograph Hounds for the arrival of Halloween, that most eldritch of holidays, Brian Leno jumps back into action with another triple-threat spread of Heroines of Horror. Today he kicks off Autograph Hound Saturday with a … Continue reading
Hammett: Jumpin’ Jeopardy!
Jeez. Jeopardy! strikes again! The Final Jeopardy round for S36 E33 for October 23, 2019 brought Hammett back into the mix yet again. Man, those clew-meisters are relentless, and I have to think they must like Hammett as much as … Continue reading
