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: Lovecraft
Rediscovered: Of Derleth and Dreamland
Until I came to San Francisco in 1974, I had lived most of my life only 70 miles from Nashville. I believe it was a couple of years later, during a two year stint in St. Paul, when I landed a copy of the weird … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Frisco, Lit, REH
Tagged Alan Gullette, Ambrosia, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Cthulhu Mythos, Henry Kuttner, Joe T. Soshi, John D. Haefele, July 4, Lord Dunsany, Lovecraft, M.R. James, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Robert M. Price, The New York Review of Science Fiction, Weird Tales
Two-Gun Bob: Norris Chambers RIP
I’m running behind on memorial notices, as pals of mine have been kicking off right and left, it seems. And even though I did a Memorial March theme last year, noting the anniversaries for the deaths of Lovecraft and ERB, as … Continue reading
Posted in News, REH, Willeford
Tagged Edgar Rice Burroughs, George Orwell, Leo Grin, Lovecraft, Norris Chambers, Tarzan, Texas, The Cimmerian, Tompk
Hammett: And Machen
Around Xmas, as I was in the midst of that big reread of H. P. Lovecraft I alluded to a couple of times, I got the urge to do yet another reread on the Dyson stories by Arthur Machen — for … Continue reading
Rediscovered: Bob Bloch Refs Jim Tully
My Robert E. Howard pal Deuce Richardson noticed something he thought I should let fans of Jim Tully know about — no less than Robert Bloch doing a name check on Tully seven years before Tully’s death in 1947. Bloch … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged Cthulhu Mythos, Deuce Richardson, Jim Tully, John D. Haefele, Lovecraft, Psycho, Robert Bloch
Rediscovered: At Last, Derleth and His Mythos
Guess it didn’t quite squeak across the finish line in time to make it under the Xmas tree this year — and barely slipped under the wire for a 2012 pub date! — but John Haefele’s book on August Derleth, … Continue reading
Posted in Lit, News
Tagged "The Festival", August Derleth, Cthulhu Mythos, John D. Haefele, Lovecraft, Rah Hoffman, Vincent Starrett, Xmas
Sinister Cinema: Cheese Zombies
In the words of a Great American Icon, “DOH!!!” Here I’ve been goofing off, not updating the Blog of the Mean Streets and the Eldritch Spheres (and whatever else attracts my interest at the moment — and, yes, I’m still … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, News
Tagged Bill Arney, Brad Pitt, Cheese Theatre, Eddie Muller, Emmett Kelly, George Romero, I Am Legend, John Stanley, Last Blood, Lovecraft, Night of the Living Dead, Richard Matheson, Rock Hudson, The Fat Man, The Last Man on Earth, The Walking Dead, World War Z, Zombie Apocalypse
Sinister Cinema: Conjure Wife
On the Fritz Leiber Tour the other day I was asked if any movies have been made from his books. Sure. A few, at least — topped by no less than three versions of his excellent supernatural horror novel Conjure … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Lit
Tagged A. Merritt, Conjure Wife, Fritz Leiber, Fritz Leiber Tour, Halloween, John D. Haefele, Lon Chaney Jr., Lovecraft, The Walking Dead, Weird Woman
Tour: Fritz Leiber!
Okay, before I head out the door on another trip, yes, I am planning a Fritz Leiber Tour for Sunday October 28th — details to follow. I figure it won’t begin any earlier than noon, no later than 3 p.m. … Continue reading
Posted in Frisco, News, Tour
Tagged August Derleth, Cthulhu Mythos, Fritz Leiber, Fritz Leiber Tour, John D. Haefele, Lovecraft, Our Lady of Darkness
Tour: Living Near Hammett
One of the walkers who showed up on September 16 and got in on The Maltese Eagle Caper was a guy named Michael — e-yclept Mjsoltys — who e’ed in advance to check about the date and mentioned: “I lived … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Frisco, News, Tour
Tagged "Tulip", Bacall, Bogie, Ernest Hemingway, Hardscrabble Farm, Key Largo, Key Largo Angler's Club, Key lime pie, Key West, Lillian Hellman, literary homes, Lovecraft, Maltese Eagle, Stephen Bogart, Tennessee Williams
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
