The funny part about reading stories from the prohibition era, is they almost always are drinking like it isn’t the prohibition era.

Only occasionally does the illegality actually come up. Been reading a collection of early Dashiell Hammett, and it only just dawned on me that the entire collection was written during prohibition.

San Francisco is always billed as Dashiell Hammett's town, but did you know that fellow hard-boiled master Raymond Chandler lived there first?

Check out my little piece on the unexpected experience they had in common during their time in the city on crime fiction blog The Rap Sheet:

https://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2025/02/whose-town-is-it-anyway.html

#raymondchandler #dashiellhammett #hammett #chandler #AmReading @bookstodon #books #Bookstodon #WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity #noir #thriller

Spade & Archer in color

Lots of cool stuff entered the public domain this year.

I particularly love Red Harvest and Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.

And Pandora’s Box, another fantastic silent film.

Always worth looking at the list:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2025/

Lobby of the Flood Building in San Francisco, where the Pinkertons and investigator Dashiell Hammett had an office in the 1920s. See more here:

http://www.mikehumbert.com/Dashiell_Hammett_18_Flood_Building.html

Literarischer #10Januar

„Wenn ein Mensch etwas oft genug sagt, ist es sehr wahrscheinlich, dass er früher oder später eine Art Glauben daran entwickelt.“

#DashiellHammett #TheSecondStoryAngel Tod 1961

Good Books Now In The Public Domain

In addition to being the first day of the New Year, January 1 is also known as Public Domain Day, when titles previously under copyright enter the public domain in many countries, including the U.S.

This year’s titles include a host of good books by some authors you might have heard of including William Faulkner, Earnest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Dashiell Hammett, Thomas Wolfe, Sinclair Lewis, Edith Wharton and Mahatma Gandhi among others.

Standard EBOOKS is celebrating by providing links to twenty of the titles available to download in different formats that should work with most ebook readers.

These book titles, were first published in 1929. I won’t get into the length of copyrights and all the issues surrounding that, but instead say this is an interesting collection of works, some early or first works by some of the authors listed above.

Keep in mind that on Public Domain Day a number of titles in other media also entered the public domain. Duke University publishes a more extensive, but not complete list that includes titles of plays, movies, characters, music compositions, art,  and sound recordings. The date for sound recordings is 1924 and includes Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. 

Today in Labor History December 1, 1912: The rustling card system was put into place by the Anaconda Mining and Smelter Company. Rustling cards verified employees’ identities and employment status. The company used spies to identify union agitators and refused them rustling cards and jobs. In 1920, the IWW called a strike at the Anaconda mines around Butte, Montana. They demanded the end of the rustling cards system, and the implementation of the 8-hour day and higher wages. Author Dashiell Hammett served as a Pinkerton strikebreaker in the 1920 Anaconda miners’ strike. However, when the Pinkertons enlisted him to assassinate Native American IWW organizer Frank Little, he refused, and quit the agency. On 4/21/1920, guards opened fire on unarmed picketers, killing one and injuring sixteen, while vigilantes lynched Frank Little. Dashiell Hammett depicted the strike in his first novel, “Red Harvest.” André Gide called Red Harvest “the last word in atrocity, cynicism, and horror.”

You can read my biography of Frank Little here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/

You can read my essay on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

You can read my biography of Hammett here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/dashiell-hammett/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #mining #wages #unionbusting #books #fiction #franklittle #assassination #indigenous #nativeamerican #author #writer #dashiellhammett #pinkertons @bookstadon

#currentlyreading #hwangboreum #anncleeves #dashiellhammett

“Such stuff as dreams are made of” at the end of John Huston’s “The Maltese Falcon” (1941). #111Words #JohnHuston #TheMalteseFalcon #DashiellHammett #HumphreyBogart #WardBond #WilliamShakespeare #TheTempest #Prospero #Movies #Literature https://andrewjshields.blogspot.com/2024/10/such-stuff-as-dreams-are-made-of-at-end.html

Elisha Cook, Jr., in “The Maltese Falcon” (1941) and “The Big Sleep” (1946) – and in a 1949 adaptation of “The Great Gatsby”. #111Words #ElishaCookJr #TheMalteseFalcon #JohnHuston #DashiellHammett #SydneyGreenstreet #HowardHawks #TheBigSleep #LaurenBacall #RichardMaibaum #TheGreatGatsby #FScottFitzgerald #Movies #Literature https://andrewjshields.blogspot.com/2024/10/elisha-cook-jr-in-maltese-falcon-1941.html

On Sept 04 I was surprised to read news on ✪#FBI raid of homes of top aides to#NewYork Mayor #EricAdams and seizing theire-devices
When reading a story at media a redneck like me always looks for literary and I thought of#HardBoiled novel "Red Harvest" by #DashiellHammett

Today in Assorted Nonsense, my newsletter on Substack, a review of Dashiell Hammett's classic novel The Maltese Falcon, a deeper understand of what hiring equitably is all about, and other assorted goodies. Free to subscribe!

https://mahoneyj.substack.com/p/on-hiring-equitably?r=1wgmq

Just finished watching the 6-part mini-series, Monsieur Spade. As a massive fan of Dashiell Hammett's work, I went in feeling pretty sceptical. But it won me over fairly quickly and in the end I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well worth a watch.

Trigger warnings for violence and a scene of implied sexual assault though.

In rereading Dashiell Hammett's Continental Op stories, I'd say that "The Golden Horseshoe" (one of his best) was the turning point, the moment in which Dashiell Hammett became Dashiell FUCKING Hammett. It is the first of his stories which exquisitely balanced plot and character. At this point, his prose is so taut, muscular, and badass. And I also like the way Hammett lets us inside the Op's contact base. All smiles on this bald man's face right now!

Literarischer #27Mai

„He felt like somebody had taken the lid off life and let him see the works.”

#DashiellHammett #TheMalteseFalcon Geburt 1894

Literarischer #10Januar

„You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain‘t one.“

#DashiellHammett Tod 1961

We are only 12 days away from the return of Sam Spade, the iconic detective from Dashiell Hammett's classic novel. Learn more about the upcoming series and this beloved character.

#monsieurspade #amc #acorntv #samspade #cliveowen #dashiellhammett #maltesefalcon #humphreybogart #tvshow #tvseries #policeprocedural #tvshow #crimesolvers

https://www.talkteav.com/clive-owen-plays-sam-spade-amc-series-monsieur-spade-cast-details-trailer

Ok. I have questions.