Search Results for: "discovering robert e. howard"

A (Black) Gat in the Hand: John D. MacDonald’s ‘Ring Around the Redhead’

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“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep (Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun) I’m putting the finishing touches on my long-delayed Jo Gar essay. But I realized I’ve not talked about my all-time favorite author yet here in A (Black) Gat in the Hand. I have written about…

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A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Dime Detective – August, 1941

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“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep (Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun)   Black Mask’s major competition came in the form of Dime Detective Magazine, which touted itself as “twice as good – for half the price” (Black Mask cost 20 cents at the time; though the…

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A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Rex Stout’s ‘The Mother of Invention’

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“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep (Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun) If you read more than just this Pulp series of mine each summer, you know that I am a gargantuan Nero Wolfe fan. It’s my favorite mystery series, and I have written a lot of…

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A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Ya Gotta Ask – Reprise

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“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.” – Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep (Gat — Prohibition Era term for a gun. Shortened version of Gatling Gun) Nine years ago this past January, I wrote a post here titled, Ya Gotta Ask. I felt like that one could use a bit of polish and expansion, and it would still be a pretty…

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Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone: ‘A Toast to Nero Wolfe, & ‘A Stay at Home Intro’

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Last week I gave a big recap of April’s Wolfe Pack gathering at the Greenbrier Resort, in West Virginia. Too Many Cooks, the fifth Wolfe novel, takes place at Kanawha Spa. Kanawha is essentially the Greenbrier, and that’s why the Wolfe Pack has a fun weekend there every five-ish years. This was the fifth of those, and my first. As I mentioned last week, I gave a toast to Nero Wolfe at the Friday Night (American) Dinner. The whole gathering…

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Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone: Welcome to Kanawha Spa – The Wolfe Pack 2024 Greenbrier Weekend

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So, last month, I joined fellow Wolfe Pack members for a long weekend at The Greenbrier Resort, in West Virginia. It was the fifth trip there for the group, though my first. It’s only a four hour-plus drive, which isn’t much for a Midwestern guy who also lived in Colorado and Texas. Too Many Cooks is the fifth Nero Wolfe novel. I think it’s better than the four prior ones, and it’s the first where the series really starts to…

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Diving Deep (again) into the Wonder that is Terry Pratchett

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I am working on a post about my trip to the Greenbrier Resort, with the Wolfe Pack. It was a neat time, and I’ve got a ton of pictures. What I do not have is a completed essay yet. So, I should have that next week. Today I’m gonna talk a little more about Terry Pratchett. A few months ago, I decided to start re-reading – and listening to – some Discworld books. I’ve been a Pratchett fan for decades,…

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Haining)

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Peter Haining was a notable Sherlockian who compiled/edited several useful Sherlock Holmes books. Back around 2005 or so, an article in the Wall Street Journal was about Barnes & Noble’s in-house publishing imprint. They have been reproducing classic works for years and selling them at affordable prices. But they range father afield than that, and my Sherlockian bookshelf includes several of their titles, such as The Sherlock Holmes Companion, The Lost Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Final Adventures of…

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Doyle’s Favorite SH Adventure (Doyle on Holmes)

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And it’s another essay by Arthur Conan Doyle about his famous detective. This was also the last one he wrote, appearing in The Strand in March of 1927. The fifth and final short story collection, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, was due out shortly. He wrote a piece to announce a contest for readers of The Strand to name their twelve favorite Holmes stories. He would make his own list and see how they compared. The response with the closest…

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Inferior Sleuth (Doyle on Holmes)

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Welcome to week four of Doyle on Holmes. We started with The Truth Behind Sherlock Holmes. Then, it was Some Personalia about Sherlock Holmes. Last week, A Gaudy Death. This week, it’s a poem war featuring Sir Arthur! All four of these essays can be found in Peter Haining’s The Final Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It’s a good book, and the only partial replacement I’ve found for Jack Tracy’s cornerstone book, Sherlock Holmes: The Published Apocrypha. The Science of Deduction…

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