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: May 2020
Rediscovered: Place of Hawks — a.k.a. Arkham House
Apparently my post the other day on August Derleth and his home Place of Hawks set off a little brush-fire on Facebook. The main point I was disputing was that Derleth lived in a “log cabin” in Wisconsin, and that … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Holy Spicy Detective, Batman!
Pulps in the Movies. On Sale Every Wednesday. Sometimes Spicy. Always Hot. For the nineteenth installment in his series, pulp expert John Locke takes us along on another expedition, where we find a unique sighting of a pulp in the … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Time for Derleth
August Derleth is beginning to get renewed evaluation — and not just from our good pal John D. Haefele. Just noticed an article by G. W. Thomas that blurbs Derleth’s 132 appearances in the magazine Weird Tales. Provides a list, … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, G.W.Thomas, John D. Haefele, Place of Hawks, Seabury Quinn, Weird Tales
Rediscovered: Hannes Bok — “Dear Virginia”
And how about a gander at the letter legendary artist Hannes Bok sent before the one he sent yesterday? Also courtesy of noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook prowling around in his treasure trove, of course.
Rediscovered: A Letter from Hannes Bok
And noted book and pulp (and autograph, and letter, and miscellania) collector Kevin Cook thought some of you might like to peruse a letter the legendary fantasy artist Hannes Bok tossed into the mail seventy-eight years ago today. Cool, right?
Rediscovered: Theodore Roscoe
Noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook mentioned to me that Up & Down has “yet to feature Theodore Roscoe, who did write fantastic fiction, including two stories in Weird Tales in 1928 — but whom I admire most because … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Doc Savage Meets Bogie
On Sale Every Wednesday: Pulps in the Movies — and How! Today hero-pulp stalwart Doc Savage shares a scene with Humphrey Bogart. Man, you cannot get any more pulp and movie than that, right? Not that anyone ever spotted Doc’s … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit
Tagged Bogie, Conflict, Doc Savage, Hitchcock, John Locke, Pulps in the Movies, Rebecca, Vertigo
Tour: Feeling a Trifle Bookish
Ah. The Angela Hill article on the Dashiell Hammett Tour I mentioned yesterday turns out to be only one of several articles in a new supplement to the Mercury News titled Bookish. Bookish. I like it. Couldn’t be more apt … Continue reading
Tour: Locked Down and Written Up
Even though the Dashiell Hammett Tour is under lock down, Angela Hill fired off a new article in the Mercury News today against the moment it comes gumshoeing back. Bound to happen — if I can pry myself away from … Continue reading
