WINNING THOSE AWARDS

In the photo above you can see Don posed with the three Cimmerian Awards he has landed thus far — this shot being an alternate that wasn’t used in the new Cimmerian Awards issue coverage. For that issue Don contributed numerous blurbs as well as a short essay comparing the Cimmerian Awards with various trophies which belonged to the late, great fantasy and science fiction grandmaster Fritz Leiber — in fact, he sent in more blurb matter than could be squeezed in. If you want the story-behind-the-story of the existential ordeal he experienced trying to figure out what kind of photo to take, click here to read a mini-essay that ended up on the magazine’s cutting room floor.

THE APRIL CIMMERIAN

Also available now is the April 2008 issue of The Cimmerian, which in addition to other features offers a taste of the new French book on Robert E. Howard in English translation. You can order Échos de Cimmérie to read Don’s essay “The Feast Is Over” in French, or you can read the American version in the April issue of TC along with two other pieces Fabrice Tortey has lined up for his tribute to the creator of Conan.

LOCAL ACTION

Don had a great time at NoirCon last month, of course, hanging out with Dennis McMillan and Ken Bruen and company — one little highlight was when George Pelecanos spotted a copy of the Richard Stark paperback original novel The Outfit for Don to buy when they were browsing in a warehouse-sized Philadelphia bookstore. Plus local noir guy Eddie Muller made the scene, too — and Eddie tells us that he has a long feature piece on current San Francisco and Bay Area noir and hard-boiled writers in the book review section of the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday May 4^th. If you want to check out the latest on our local action, don’t miss that one.

DON WANDREI AT 100

Last month saw the centennial birthday of Donald A. Wandrei, and our pal Morgan Holmes over on the REHupa website did a nice blog post pointing out several reasons why Wandrei stands as one of the more important figures in the history of fantasy and science fiction. Surf over to that post if you’re curious — and expect more Wandrei material here as his centenary year marches on.

TOURS EVERY SUNDAY

And finally, just like it says on the Tour Page, you’ll find a Hammett walk going every Sunday this month at noon. Grab ten bucks, pick a Sunday, show up and walk the walk — that’s all there is to it.

Anyone who wants to track Don down at the NoirCon in Philly will find him hanging around the bar from April 3 through 6. Doesn’t look as if there will be a formal panel devoted to Charles Willeford during the convention, but they have a “tribute” set for Sunday morning and Don popped in a little essay for the program book, spotlighting a previously unreported quote that Willeford fans will love. Say hello or just come over and talk noir if you feel like it.

DON WANDREI HITS 100

April 20 of this month marks the centennial birthday of fantasy and science-fiction titan Donald A. Wandrei, who was born on that date in 1908 (though we should mention that April 20 actually irked Wandrei, since he shared the day-of-month birth date with Adolph Hitler). Our Hammett Tour Don knew Wandrei pretty well, and figures he may as well see what he can do to recognize the centenary. First up for this month you’ll find the article “Collecting Donald Wandrei,” which will give you a quick and easy overview of his life and writings.

TOURS BY APPOINTMENT

For April Don is offering only tours by appointment, but you’ll find walks offered every Sunday in May if you can hang on till then. And if you’re in Stockton, you could kick off May with a walk on Saturday May 3^rd being hosted by another “Big Read” program covering The Maltese Falcon, this one sponsored by the Stockton Public Library.

PALM SUNDAY

Anyone who wants to show up, willing to hand over a tenspot, is welcome to join in the Dashiell Hammett Tour offered on Palm Sunday — that’s Sunday March 16 with a noon start at the Main Library as usual. No reservations required or taken, just make the scene by noon and walk that hard-boiled walk.

WILLEFORD

The tour this month is offered in memoriam the great absurdist crime writer Charles Willeford, who died on Palm Sunday — March 27, 1988 — twenty years ago. Don of course did the book Willeford on his life and works, and as always recommends Willeford’s writing — books such as Miami Blues, The Burnt Orange Heresy, Cockfighter — as among the essential crime fiction anyone with taste needs to read. Just recently William Denton, founder of the noir and hard-boiled chat group RARA-AVIS, drifted into town and Don as a courtesy to a fellow Willeford fan took him around to see some Hammett sites and also tossed in the Powell Hotel on Powell Street, where Willeford said he stayed when he wrote his first novel. Don gets queries about Willeford at this website pretty often, with some folk late last year fired up with the idea that they might be able to track down some of the paintings and other artwork Willeford is known to have created. Don took the question to Willeford’s widow Betsy, who answered: “I never saw any of them, except the Tab Hunter construction he entered in the college faculty art show. He may have thrown them away himself, or Mary Jo may have tossed them out the window of their apartment. I'd asked him about the paintings a few times but he didn't give me a direct answer, so I stopped asking.” Mary Jo Willeford was the second wife, who purged Willeford’s collection of books when he was hospitalized at one point — this was when they were living in the apartment building that serves as the model for the building where the characters live in the long novel The Shark-Infested Custard. Over the years Don has been amused by the various guys who have read his book and gone on rants suggesting that if they had been there to interview Willeford, they would have gotten much more info out of him than Don did. These guys are genuine saps who just don’t understand the accurate picture Don drew of Willeford’s personality. If Willeford didn’t want to answer a question, sorry, he just didn’t answer the question — didn’t matter if you were his own wife, he just clammed up — though if he thought you were a likely candidate for some serious kidding, he’d tell you whatever he felt like at the moment. Yeah, he was a tough interview, but ranks as one of the all-time greats. Twenty years after his death, the cult for his work remains as strong as ever.

NOIRCON

Next up for Don is an appearance at NoirCon I in Philadelphia where he’ll be hanging around from April 3 through 6 — we believe the panel about Willeford that he’ll sit in on is the morning of Sunday the 6^th.  Say hello if you feel like it, and if you have a question about Willeford and related topics, bring it to the bar and let fly.

NOTHING SHAKING ON THE MEAN STREETS

Keeping his lazy streak working overtime, Don isn’t doing any tours this month where you can just show up, pay ten bucks, and walk the walk. But he knows he needs to get the tour up and going for the next thirty years, so he has chosen a date in March — Sunday March 16, noon start as usual — for a walk open to anyone who wants to go on it. He picked that one out of the battered fedora because it is Palm Sunday, which happens to be the date the late great Charles Willeford passed away. So, in memoriam of one of Don’s favorite writers, the Hammett tour kicks back into gear. Next month.

AT THE NOIR PANEL

A couple of people came up to Don during the noir panel at the Mechanics Institute last month to tell him that they had emailed him off this website and never heard back. Who knows what technological hurdle stood in the way at that moment, but rest assured, if you send Don an email he will answer it (so if you don’t hear back, try again — don’t let technology stand in your way). Even if you are one of those people who ask for a tour on Wednesday with only two days advance notice, don’t worry, you’ll get an answer — usually “No.” Think of those as like the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld — “No tour for you!”

LATER IN THE YEAR

After the noir panel, Peter Maravelis told Don that the release date for San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics currently is set for September, so anyone who wants that one has awhile to wait. Brief selections from that book were read during the panel, with a range of authors and periods ranging from Mark Twain through Hammett up to William T. Vollmann, and lots in between.

STAYING IN OUT OF THE RAIN

No extra tours set for this month, but if you want to hear Don offer a few opinions on noir and hard-boiled fiction while staying dry at the same time, come on down to the Mechanics Institute in Post Street on January 24^th for “San Francisco Noir: Past to Present.” Peter Maravelis, editor of the Akashic Press anthologies San Francisco Noir and the upcoming San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics, will moderate a discussion featuring Peter Plate, Craig Clevenger, Eddie “The Czar of Noir” Muller, Don and Joe Gores — not a bad line-up, so let’s hope no one gets jumped and blackjacked by a flu bug before the date. Free to Institute members, $10 for the general public.

“KNIVES IN THE DARK”

Don got invited to sit in on the Mechanics Institute noir fest because Maravelis decided to reprint his neo-Black Mask story “Knives in the Dark” from the Dennis McMillan anthology Measures of Poison in San Francisco Noir: The Classics — good news for anyone who wants to read that one and didn’t want to shell out the original $30 cover price on the trade edition (much less the tags being asked on the out-of-print market these days). Don will read a couple of scenes from that story, concentrating on Frisco settings — after the panel he’ll take anyone who is interested a block over from the Mechanics Institute to show them the location of the bootlegger tunnels that feature at the end of the story.

WHILE OVER IN FRANCE

Fabrice Tortey is taking pre-orders on the new critical and biographical anthology about Robert E. Howard, Echoes de Cimmérie — of course, it would help if you read French to get the full value out of the text, but Howard completists will want it regardless, and there are lots of photos and illustrations lined up for the English-only types. Don provided a ruminative essay on Howard at one hundred years, “The Feast Is Over” — now “La Fęte est finie” — to intro the section of new criticism devoted to the creator of Conan.

THIRTY YEARS DOWN

Other than some groups by appointment, no gumshoes are hitting the pavement of the mean streets this month, as thirty years eases quietly past — with year thirty-one to follow. The plans by Vince Emery to publish a completely revised and updated edition of the long out-of-print Dashiell Hammett Tour book are still rolling, don’t sweat it, although Vince got set back a few steps, delaying the release date until next year. When it is ready, we’ll let you know. Plus it looks as if Don’s neo-Black Mask story from Measures of Poison is poised for reprint in a more affordable trade paperback, for folk who haven’t had a chance to read it as yet. And at this moment Don is busy doing a short article about Charles Willeford and Dennis McMillan, some info never before seen in print, for the program book of Noir Con I — since Dennis will be a Guest of Honor at that gathering, it looks as if Don will be jumping on a plane for Philly in April 2008 to pay proper respect and ride around with McMillan posse. 

TOURS BY APPOINTMENT

Nothing extra shaking on the mean streets this month, although Don did his cicerone bit for a large tour by appointment negotiated by that organization whose origins go back to rescuing child slaves from the Tongs. Various people, though, still keep popping in emails requesting a tour in two or three days — with Don’s favorite the guy who asked about joining up with the walk “next Wednesday.” There is no walk next Wednesday. Any tours offered where folk can show up for $10 each appear here on the News Page, and if you are hauling into town and want to have one of those tossed on the burner, then you need to give Don at least a month’s lead time to announce it here. If you’re more a Caspar Gutman type with some bigger bills to toss around, then sudden negotiations may be made, and of course if you have your own large group ready to walk then gumshoes can kiss the asphalt anytime you want.

TOURS BY APPOINTMENT

Looks like October is going to be nothing but tours by appointment, including the sold-out walk Don is leading for the Pleasanton Library “Big Read” project covering that enduring novel The Maltese Falcon. With rain already sweeping in, November and December probably also will be given over to private groups willing to brave the elements, but if any walks open to all pop up, they’ll be listed here in the news.

LAST MONTH'S NEWS

The walks offered every Sunday in September brought back Mike Breiding after many a moon. One of the almost legendary Breiding clan that hovered on the edges of San Francisco’s cultural underground in the '60s and '70s (with the poet G. Sutton Breiding, one of the writers collected by the Bancroft Library, being the best known of that shadowy fraternity), Mike discovered that Hammett’s mean streets are still mean enough — the bike whose adventures he chronicles on his Epic Road Trips blog was only a memory and a severed lock when he got back to the library. John Byrne of Monterey, however, had an easier time of it — after planning his trip up, he had no problems whatsoever and worked up a glowing, atmospheric blurb, riffing like Raymond Chandler after a week-long bender. And toward the middle of September Sean McCourt did a write-up on the tour which was published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel — Sean did his detective work on the same walk on which Ace Atkins wore down his gumshoes earlier in the year.

LOST WORLDS STRIKES AGAIN

The fourth issue of the journal Lost Worlds, devoted to the life and work of the California fantasist and poet Clark Ashton Smith, is finally available — if interested, copies may be had from the bookseller Gavin Smith. Retailing for $15, the new issue covers the fantasy-horror story “Necromancy in Naat,” with detailed info on what CAS wrote for the first draft as well as what he cut out and what he changed in order to sell the tale to the pulps. That’s the bulk of the contents, but you’ll also find a memorial tribute Don wrote for the late, great Charles K. Wolfe, a pioneer CAS scholar as well as Don’s English advisor back in college in Tennessee, in addition to reviews and letters and the usual stuff of such journals.

TOURS ALL THIS MONTH

Just like it says on the Tour Page, you’ll find a Dashiell Hammett Tour offered at noon every Sunday this month. If interested, pocket a tenspot and meet Don near the revolving “L” sculpture located on the northwest corner of the Main Library in 100 Larkin Street, San Francisco’s Civic Center. No reservations required. Just show up.

OFF TO DENVER

Don is heading over to Denver for a good chunk of July, so no extra tours this month, open to just anyone who shows up — the tours arranged for groups by appointment are still rolling, of course. But you can mark your calendars now for Sunday August 5 and Sunday August 19, two tours with a noon start just like normal where all you have to do is show up with a tenspot in hand, everyone welcome. And in September you’ll find tours offered every Sunday in the month.

BACK FROM TEXAS

Last month Don drove out to Cross Plains, Texas, for the annual Robert E. Howard Days. His plan was to pick up the Cimmerian Award he got a couple of years ago for his critical anthology The Barbaric Triumph, but what ho!, in this year’s voting he ended up copping two more awards. He was presented with the Black River Award for discovering the typescript of Howard’s first book, A Gent from Bear Creek, plus a cache of heavily-annotated books owned by Howard’s father — discoveries he wrote up in the August and September 2006 issues of The Cimmerian.

Even better, he garnered a Black Circle Award for Life Achievement in Howard studies, the Big Kahuna of Howard-related awards. Very nice, and Don thanks all the folk who voted. He doesn’t know if he’ll be back in the running for any more Cimmerian awards in the future, but these three make for quite a haul already. Barbaric. Heavy marble bases. Cool skulls.

AFTER THE ACE TOUR

Last month Don did a tour for crime writer Ace Atkins and a bunch of other folk who showed up, ready to walk, and Ace recently popped in this update: “Just finished rereading The Maltese Falcon again. I can tell you I saw the book in a whole new – 3-D – way after the tour. I could get away from the engrained images from the film and see Spade’s apartment and the town at the time. I think your point about San Francisco being a new/fresh city in the ’20s is a major detail that’s easy to forget.”

After the walk Don and Ace and a couple of other guys adjourned to the Ha-Ra Bar on Geary Street, where they were joined for some hard-boiled talk and drinks by Bill Arney — and better yet, Carl the bartender. Carl is a prolific reader of detective novels and put the crew to the test with question after question. Luckily, Carl already owned a couple of Ace’s novels and Don knows enough about this stuff to hang in there when the questions got tough, so not only did they not get 86ed, but Carl stood them to a round of drinks. Thanks, Carl.