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: Brian Leno
Rediscovered: Jane Gaskell
Autograph Hound Saturday and the always reliable Brian Leno pulls something from his legendary trove for us to ponder. A novel from Jane Gaskell’s The Atlan Saga, sent to the Atlantis buff and LASFS regular Henry M. Eichner — young … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Henry M. Eichner, Jane Gaskell, LASFS, Ray Bradbury
Rediscovered: De Camp the Fan
Autograph Hound Saturday yet again, and we bring our old pal L. Sprague de Camp back with another John Hancock. He also does the weirdest personal “I” that I (imagine a regular I) recall offhand. De Camp of course mightily … Continue reading
Posted in Film, REH
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Frank Frazetta, L. Sprague de Camp, Lee Van Cleef, Lin Carter
Rediscovered: And More Leno Library
Keeping a roll going, here’s another snapshot of a corner of the Brian Leno library for those curious about such arcane matters. Brian is as big on statues and knickknacks as I am — bigger. Certainly he has more books, … Continue reading
Rediscovered: The Block Begins to Creak Under the Weight of All Those Comics. . .
Now here’s some news. Brian Leno let me know today that he has decided to sell a chunk off his horde of stuff. For years he’s been hawking wares on eBay, but I think of most of those listings as … Continue reading
Rediscovered: More Leno Library
Brian Leno has come into a group of display cabinets and now is working to fill them up. I imagine he’ll juggle some of the stuff around again, eventually. Maybe have one devoted to his Jack the Ripper collection. Or … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Metcalfe and Gawsworth
I used to get images from Brian Leno of his recent autograph purchases. I still do, but I used to, too. Yep, it’s Autograph Hound Saturday once again — this time featuring John Hancocks and holographic scribblings from writer John … Continue reading
Posted in Lit
Tagged Arthur Machen, Autographs, Brian Leno, John Gawsworth, John Metcalfe, M. P. Shiel
Rediscovered: The Library of Brian — Inspiration, or Warning!?!
Brain Leno has a story about when he was a kid in Bismarck, beginning to buy paperbacks. He’d sit in front of the small bookcase he shelved them on and savor his library. His father made the bookstand “out of … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Ex Libris Virgil Finlay
Autograph Hound Saturday. You know the drill. Another week has passed, and Autograph Hound Brian Leno has added more signatures to his collection. A thousand John Hancocks in the naked city. . . . This is the story of one. … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit
Tagged Autographs, Book Collecting, Brian Leno, Norman Lindsay, Seabury Quinn, Virgil Finlay
Hollywood Beat: That Photogenic Mug, Jim Tully
Autograph Hound Saturday yet again. . . . Back in 2012 I made a run down to Hollywood to hit Musso & Frank and hobnob with my fellow wizards. Leo Grin had mentioned that he noticed a nice signed photo … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Belly Band Tuesday
We’ve done belly bands before — notably, one on Michael Connelly’s first crime novel. But now I sense that our maniacal book collecting pal Brian Leno might have picked up a jones for those bands. Just in case, I better … Continue reading
