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: Lit
Hammett: vs. Thurber
Inspired by the trip to PulpFest and the side visit to the James Thurber house in Columbus, our occasional Guest Blogger Brian Leno pops in some info he uncovered which ought to amuse any and all surfers and lurkers in Up … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged Brian Leno, Burton Bernstein, James Thurber, Lillian Hellman, PulpFest, Pulps
Rediscovered: The Thurber House and Grave
When he was checking out the web to see what attractions we might want to see on the side during PulpFest, Brian Leno spotted a James Thurber house open as a museum in Columbus, Ohio. As I’ve said before, I’ll track down any literary residence for … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Stabbed in the Forehead! (and Other Pulp Thrills)
How about a postmortem on PulpFest before something else ripping Up and Down These Mean Streets distracts me? It’s always something — latest is juggling a date and time to do a walk for a Private Eye convention in October. (Tours … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit, News, REH
Tagged Alexandre Dumas, Anthony Tollin, Arkham House, Black Mask, Bob Clampett, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Chester Himes, Conan, Count of Monte Cristo, Dillinger, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Erle Stanley Gardner, Esquire, Fantomas, Fat Charley Makley, German Village, Green Lawn Cemetery, James Thurber, Jim Tully, John Carter, Mike Chomko, Nick Certo, O. Henry, Ohio Caverns, Ohio State Pen, PulpFest, Pulps, Rick Lai, Rusty Burke, Serpent Mound, Smart Set, St Marys Ohio, Stark House Press, Terry Zobeck, The Shadow, The Spider, Walker Martin, Walter B. Gibson
Rediscovered: The Derleth Mythos
Man, has LitCrit Month been disrupted, or what? Lots of potential posts as yet undone — but I’ve got a cool excuse for inaction. On the side I’ve been reading a proof of John Haefele’s upcoming book-length study of how … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Tully and Hammett and Chaney (Oh My!)
Finally got back from PulpFest, finished shaking the flakes of rotting wood-pulp dust off my traveling gear, and guess it’s time to jump back into the blogosphere. To reboot the action, how about some comments from Mark Dawidziak, the Jim Tully biographer, … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit, Willeford
Tagged Charmian London, Eugene O'Neill, George Jean Nathan, H. L. Mencken, Jack London, Jim Tully, Lon Chaney Sr., Mark Dawidziak, PulpFest, The American Mercury, Vanity Fair
Rediscovered: Yet More Fantômas
In a couple of hours I’m out the door for PulpFest (boom-boom-boom, boom-boom). Noticed that for the first evening’s programming they have a talk titled The French Connection — “How French Literature May Have Influenced American Pulp Heroes.” Dumas. Fantômas. … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Alexander Dumas, Batman, Fantomas, John D. Squires, Library of Congress, Louis Tracy, M. P. Shiel, PulpFest, The Shadow
Hammett: Dannay Does “Arson Plus,” per Nevins
Before his name came up again in connection with John Lawrence’s Marquis of Broadway stories, Mike Nevins got linked on this blog courtesy a bit he did about Frederic Dannay editing the Op tale “The Tenth Clew” — I put up … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit
Tagged "Corkscrew", "Nightmare Town", "The Tenth Clew", Ed Gorman, Fred Blosser, Frederic Dannay, John Lawrence, Marquis of Broadway, Mike Nevins, Terry Zobeck
Hammett: “The Advertisement IS Literature”
Even as he packs his valise for PulpFest 2012, our frequent Guest Blogger Terry Zobeck finds a moment to comment on the local action: “Nice post on Vidal. He’s one of my favorite writers. He got a little odd there … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, News
Tagged "Ber-Bulu", "Mike Alec or Rufus", "The Advertisement IS Literature", Anatole France, Aristotle, Benedetto Croce, Black Mask, Goethe, Gore Vidal, H. L. Mencken, Jim Tully, Joel Elias Spingarn, John Galsworthy, Joseph Conrad, Mark Dawidziak, Ohio State University, Phil Cody, PulpFest, Raymond Chandler, Ring Lardner, Terry Zobeck, The Editor, Thomas Carlyle, Western Advertising
Rediscovered: The Lost World of Pulp!
In less than a week I’m off to PulpFest 2012 in Columbus, Ohio, with side trips to look up Jim Tully sites in St. Marys plus check out one of the world’s best privately held collections of M. P. Shiel — and … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit, News, REH
Tagged Brian Leno, Clark Ashton Smith, Conan, Dime Detective, Donald Wandrei, E. Hoffmann Price, Ernest Hemingway, Esquire, F. Scott Fitzgerald, I. V. Frost, Jim Tully, John D. Squires, John Lawrence, M. P. Shiel, Marquis of Broadway, Mike Nevins, Pawang Ali, PulpFest, pure texts, Raymond Chandler, Terry Zobeck, The Shadow, Weird Tales
Mort: Gore Vidal
I wasn’t going to mention the passing of Gore Vidal the other day, since it seemed a little offtrail for this blog — hey, the guy was no H. P. Lovecraft. Yeah, yeah, I’ve been aware of him most of … Continue reading
