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: June 2020
Rediscovered: The Arkham Collector
The maelstrom of Arkham House ephemera collecting swept me up again, with John D. Haefele clinging onto the plunging raft by my side. Some weeks that’s been all I could think about, bidding on items I didn’t have in the … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Firsts, John D. Haefele, Paul Dobish, The Arkham Collector
Sinister Cinema: A Fistful of Fisher
Pulps in the Movies. On Sale Every Wednesday. And does our resident pulp/film buff John Locke have a title for you today: I Wake Up Screaming. Yeah, we all get that feeling, right? — now maybe more so than ever. … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit
Tagged Black Mask, Clues, Detective Fiction Weekly, Halloween, I Wake Up Screaming, John Locke, Laird Cregar, Liberty, Pulps in the Movies, Steve Fisher, The Shadow
Hammett: “Zigzags of Treachery”
Tom Krabacher let me know that Library of America with their “Story of the Week” recently spotlighted another Op yarn by Hammett — the excellent “Zigzags of Treachery.” Free. A little intro that’s pretty good (if you’ve been around, you … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco
Tagged "Zigzags of Treachery", Library of America, Pacific Street, Tom Krabacher
Two-Gun Bob: The Chastain Connection
The handsome devil above is Don Chastain, and the mere mention of his name sent Brian Leno off into a web of connections — no doubt prompted by all his ongoing work on the boxing scene known to Texas writer … Continue reading
Posted in Boxing, Film, REH
Tagged Brian Leno, Clyde Chastain, Don Chastain, Glenn Lord, Kid Dula, Larry Belling, Raquel Welch
Rediscovered: A Joe Memoli Postscript
Following on his longer memoir of Joe Memoli, Larry Belling added a few remarks: Another memory after I moved to New York and got a job in the box office of a theatre downtown: After a show at the Astor … Continue reading
Rediscovered: More on Joe Memoli
Who would have thought a casual mention made when I was working up an article on the boxer-poet Floyd Salas would lead to more about Joe Memoli on These Mean Streets — and now, years later, to even more. Just … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Raymond’s Factory Overture, Signed
Noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook is back to show off another signed item from his shelves, to spotlight another of his favorite writers. “Perhaps someone will be intrigued enough,” Kevin says, “to give Derek Raymond a try. It … Continue reading
Cisco Beat: Santa Hits the Bank
Eighty-four years ago today, at his final age of 30, pulp writer Robert E. Howard shot himself in the head outside his home in Cross Plains, Texas. To commemorate the somber anniversary we bring in lifelong REH fan Brian Leno. … Continue reading
Posted in REH
Tagged A.C. Greene, Brian Leno, Cisco Texas, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Glenn Lord, The Santa Claus Bank Robbery
Sinister Cinema: Godfather, Meet the Rio Kid
Pulps in the Movies. On Sale Every Wednesday. Some might fear to spot woodpulp fiction mags in one of the most beloved — and prestigious — movies of all time. Oscar winner for Best Picture. Best Director. Among others. But … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit
Tagged Adventure, Godfather II, Harry Steeger, John Locke, Oscar, Pulps in the Movies, Rio Kid Western, Robert De Niro
