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
Tag Archives: Adventure
Rediscovered: Yet Another John Hancock from Arthur O. Friel
Autograph Hound Saturday sneaks up on us again. . . . As I predicted the noted if not maniacal autograph collector Brian Leno was kind of jealous of the inscribed book by Arthur O. Friel — one of the top … Continue reading
Rediscovered: The Return of Arthur O. Friel
We haven’t had an Autograph Hound Super-Sunday rollout in awhile, and I wasn’t expecting Arthur O. Friel to be the guy scribbling the old John Hancock. From everything I’ve heard, Friel signatures — much less Friel inscriptions — are rare. … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Wetjen Returns
I’d almost suspect that Brian Leno has gone all lazy on me, since he hasn’t popped in a new post in over a month — my god, does he expect me to handle all the Mean Streets action by myself? … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Adventure, Albert Richard Wetjen, Autographs, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Frederick W. Skiff, Jim Tully, John Gilbert, W. F. Hopson
Rediscovered: Lost Adventure
Brian Leno has been ditching unwanted odds and ends on eBay, Stephen King and stuff like that, saleable at the moment (but what savant would bet money on those books keeping their value, long-term?) — which led to him sending … Continue reading
Rediscovered: 100 Years Ago
Recently noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook mentioned one of the features he does for his zine in the amateur press association devoted to pulps: I probably told you about it before, but every PEAPS mailing I do a … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit, REH
Tagged Adventure, Arthur O. Friel, Genghis Khan, Harold Lamb, Henry S. Whitehead, Kevin Cook, Khlit the Cossack, PEAPS, Rafael Sabatini
Rediscovered: Excerpts of Nostalgic Book Talk
Kicking the can around in email with noted book and pulp collector Kevin Cook, we hit a thread of wishing we’d been alive back when, getting new stories by favorite writers hot off the press. It began as Kevin was … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Lit, REH
Tagged A. Merritt, Adventure, Alfred Clark, Anthony Wall, Argosy All-Story Weekly, Arthur Machen, Austin Hall, Black Mask, Bram Stoker, Charles B. Stilson, Cthulhu Mythos, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Elak, Eugene Shade Bisbee, Francis Stevens, Frank Aubrey, George Allan England, H. G. Wells, H. Rider Haggard, Harold Lamb, Homer Eon Flint, John Taine, Kevin Cook, Pearson's, Perley Poore Sheehan, RLS, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Strand Magazine, Thongor, Weird Tales
Rediscovered: Hawkwood
Autograph Hound Saturday jumps me! Already? Yep. Via the offices of that maniacal collector Brian Leno, who tells me he has “a Francis Lederer coming today. Remember him as the Count in Night Gallery‘s version of Manly Wade Wellman’s ‘The … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Adventure, Autographs, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Doug Ellis, Marion Polk Angellotti
Two-Gun Bob: And Hugh Pendexter
Our prolific guest blogger and Robert E. Howard maven Brian Leno jumps in to keep the Two-Gun Bob pot cooking. Here’s Brian: I’ve never read Hugh Pendexter, but Robert E. Howard did. In a 1931 letter to H. P. Lovecraft, … Continue reading
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
