END OF DAY STUFF, OR, A GLOOMY MONTH ON THE MEAN STREETS
Don’t let the title panic you, the Hammett tour strides merrily along, with Don doing some groups by appointment this month and a full set of walks set for every Sunday in September, just like it says on the Tour Page. But some of our pals are retrenching — such as Dennis McMillan, shown with Don in the shot above, made outside Dennis’ backlist storage lair during the Tucson Book Fair earlier this year. Dennis has decided that he has finished with publishing, going out with Lono Waiwaiolo’s Dark Paradise and a deluxe edition of Michael Connelly’s most recent book. He’ll still sell you whatever stock he has around, for awhile anyway, so if you are curious pop him an email. You can still get Don’s book Willeford and Lono’s novel, like a Hawaiian version of Elmore Leonard, and a fun novel by Bob Truluck and other good stuff. Once before Dennis dropped publishing only to return to the fray after a few years, but who knows what’ll happen this round? In Tucson Don did hear Dennis muttering about a documentary being made about him, and Dennis was thinking it might be fun to have a scene where he takes all the still unsold books out into the desert and torches them. So, if interested, get them before they’re hot, before Dennis moves on.
LESS THAN TWO WEEKS LEFT
When Leo Grin, editor and publisher of The Cimmerian, heard that Dennis might just burn everything left, he said, “Hey, he’s stealing my idea!” Yes, Leo is planning to destroy any unsold stock on his excellent magazine devoted to Robert E. Howard, with August 31 the last day you can order. Dennis may or may not destroy the stock, who knows?, but Leo is as serious as a heart attack. Get issues immediately or poke around after them on eBay later. Don appeared in many issues, with the full list to be found here.
BAD DAY AT SAM’S PLACE
And finally, after some seventeen years holding down the fort in Sam Spade’s apartment in 891 Post Street, Bill Arney (pictured above) may be moving on (scan halfway down the page for the story). Tom Burchfield dropped in on one of the farewell parties and Don has been helping Bill move his Napoleonic library to new digs. The fate of the apartment is up in the air at the moment, but the mysterious Czar of Noir may have come up with a plan to preserve the restoration work Bill has done over the years. News as it happens. Bill’s tenure was a Golden Age for Hammett fans everywhere, captured by KFOG in a Fog Files segment featuring Bill talking about Sam’s Place.
