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! Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com),
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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!

Bourbon & Barbarians Episode 19: Another One Bites the Dust...

Well met, brave adventurers! We have returned with yet another episode of Bourbon and Barbarians, an actual play recording of The Cromcast wherein we play some old-school D&D! In this episode, our PCs push the envelope with another expedition before nightfall... Does it pay off? Listen and see!

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. "Black Vortex" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Likewise Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Questions? Comments? Feedback? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

Season 5 Episode 8: The Destiny Gorilla (or Who in the Heck is Dennis Dorgan?!)

Welcome back, Cromrades! Today's episode features "The Destiny Gorilla" a rollicking, comedic, and romantic tale if there ever was one. We open by meeting up with Sailor... Dennis Dorgan? That can't be right, who's he? Tune in to find out what's up with the switcheroo and what sort of fate awaits our new friend!

Quick Wikipedia entry on Dennis Dorgan


One Things
Jon: In a Lonely Place, a 1950 film noir starring Bogart
Josh: Story Wonk, a group of podcasts; in particular check out There and Back Again and We Can do this All Day
Luke: The Leftovers from HBO!


Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com), You know you want to follow us on Twitter! Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner! Or, check us out on iTunes! We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play! Finally.... Call us! (859)429-CROM!

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: "Is She Really Going out with Him?" by Joe Jackson. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!

Bourbon & Barbarians Episode 18: Of Cyclorcs and Whispering Axes...

Well met, brave adventurers! We have returned with yet another episode of Bourbon and Barbarians, an actual play recording of The Cromcast wherein we play some old-school D&D! In this episode, our PCs consider their recent bounty, and skirt around an encounter with a new type of monster!

The guest appearance by cyclorcs this session was brought to you by New Big Dragon's Creature Compendium (CC1). Seriously, this is one of the best (if not THE BEST) pdf resources you can bring to your gaming table. If you wanna fight some monsters, this is legit OSR material, is substantive, and is ONLY $3!

Our episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. "Black Vortex" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Likewise Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Questions? Comments? Feedback? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com)

S5E07: Men of Iron Essay and Rocky (1976)

Welcome back, Cromrades! On this episode we take a deep dive into REH's views on "Iron Men", those boxers who have uncanny tolerance for pain! The "Men of Iron" essay is difficult to track down, but you can find it in the 1976 Donald Grant publication "The Iron Man" and a few other sources. One of those Iron Men that Howard found interesting was Joe Grim. This article by Ron Jackson should give you more of an idea about Grim and his boxing style and approach.

 Then, we visit the cinema to dissect Rocky (1976) directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote the screenplay), Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess Meredith, with music composed by Bill Conti. The score is brilliant, and the theme "Gonna Fly Now" has become iconic - just try to think of this movie without calling to mind the scene where Rocky triumphantly surges up the steps as the music swells! It's mythic. In fact, a deeper delve into this film reveals more of its mythic nature - with themes of redemption, renewal, and last chances. We get pretty deep on this one, folks! Let us know what you think!

Jon mentions a New Yorker article that covers the Rocky saga. It's titled "A Unified Theory of the Rocky Movies", and you can find it here.

One Things
Jon: The Fix, a comic from Image, by Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber.
Josh: The Real Ghostbusters cartoon on Netflix.
Luke: The OA, a Netflix original science fiction series. (Not affiliated with the Green Lantern Corps or Sector 2814).

We'll be back soon with a Sailor Steve Costigan Dennis Dorgan story, "The Destiny Gorilla."

Questions? Comments? Curses? Email us! (thecromcast at gmail dot com), You know you want to follow us on Twitter! Subscribe to our feed on FeedBurner! Or, check us out on iTunes! We're also on Stitcher Radio and Google Play! Finally.... Call us! (859)429-CROM!

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: "Gonna Fly Now" composed by Bill Conti. All music was obtained legally; we hope our discussion of this content makes you want to go out and purchase the work!