Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Season 5 Episode 9: His Brother's Keeper by Dashiell Hammett

The Man Himself, Dashiell Hammett
Welcome back, fellow fans of pulp pugilism and nihilistic noir! We have a doozy of a story this week, courtesy of Mr. Dashiell Hammett. We briefly get into the fascinating details of Mr. Hammett's life, and if you're not familiar with the man a short exploration of his bio is in order! He worked as a detective for the Pinkerton agency, was a veteran of both World Wars, created several enduring characters such as The Continental Op and Sam Spade and helped lay the foundation for the "hard boiled detective" genre, was involved in politics, and spent some time in prison for his involvement with the communist movement in the US during the 1950's. 
Now it's time to dive into one of Hammett's boxing short stories, "His Brother's Keeper" (read it on Project Gutenberg Canada, eh?), originally published in the February 1934 issue of Collier's Magazine. We really enjoyed this story, but rather then delve deeply into the details here, we'll provide a brief prelude in Hammett's words:
"Explaining Kid Bolan, his brother—and a woman: The story of two battles, one of which was fought in the ring."
One Things
Jon: The Dollop podcast, an entertaining look at history. We recommend the Cassius Clay episode!
Josh: The Sword's live album Greetings From...
Luke: New Big Dragon Games Unlimited, old school RPG accessories, particularly The Creature Compendium, D30 DM Companion, and D30 Sandbox Companion. 
Note: The Sword, Lucero, and Clutch put on a killer concert in Louisville! It was a good time! Catch them if they're coming through your area!
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Next week: A boxing crime-noir from 1949: The Set Up, with special guests Dynamo Marz and Johnny Wolfenstein from the excellent Trick or Treat Radio Podcast!

Legal Mumbo-Jumbo
Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Beginning theme: Sudden Defeat by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.

Closing theme: "Subtle Hustle" by Clutch from their album Blast Tyrant. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!