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
Category Archives: Boxing
Rediscovered: From Two-Gun Bob to Ali
The death of Mohammed Ali yesterday spurred our resident Mean Streets boxing expert, Brian Leno — now in the thick of writing a book on Robert E. Howard and the world of pugilism he knew — to show how closely … Continue reading
Posted in Boxing, REH
Tagged Archie Moore, Cassius Clay, Charlie Light, Duke Tramel, Kid Dula, Lovecraft, Mohammed Ali, The Alabama Kid
Rediscovered: Life and Death for the Boxers
Boxing is in the air I’m breathing this weekend. Need to drop in for a birthday party for my pal Floyd Salas, who is hitting 85 years on the Mean Streets — and some of the streets he went up and down were unquestionably … Continue reading
Posted in Boxing, REH
Tagged Billy Papke, Brian Leno, Floyd Salas, Hype Igoe, John Lardner, Lovecraft, Manuel A. Mora, Nat Fleischer, Nathan Ward, Pete "The Goat" Stone, Stanley Ketchel
Hammett: Into the Ring
You haven’t heard the last of Nathan Ward on These Mean Streets — but you knew that. And make that Edgar Nominee Nathan Ward. Yeah, Nathan’s The Lost Detective — his bio of Hammett — just made the cut for the Edgar … Continue reading
Rediscovered: “Cowboy” Dula, a Gold Watch from Dempsey, and Frazier
Our occasional Guest Blogger Brian Leno jumps swinging into Bio Month with a post about boxing. I’ve long thought that Leno would be the guy to do a history — in effect, a biography — of the Old School boxers, since … Continue reading
Posted in Boxing, News, REH
Tagged Autographs, Brian Leno, Brownwood Texas, Damon Sasser, Frazetta, Haakon Hansen, Hans Jacob Nielsen, Jack Dempsey, Joe Frazier, Kid Dula, Muhammad Ali
Rediscovered: Another Round in the Posthumous Fame Ring for Jim Tully
Up and Down These Mean Streets favorite Jim Tully gets another chance to climb up off the mat and be a contenda — a public radio deal from last November with an illo-filled article. He’s not going to be counted … Continue reading
