From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine Black Mask published pulp crime fiction. The first hard-boiled detective stories appeared on its pages. Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Erle Stanley Gardner and John D. MacDonald got their start in Black Mask. The urban crime stories that appeared in Black Mask helped to shape American culture. Modern computer games, films, and television are rooted in the fiction popularized by âthe seminal and venerated mystery pulp magazineâ (Booklist).
Otto Penzler selected and wrote introductions to the best of the best, the darkest of these dark, vintage stories for the collection The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories. Now that collection is available for the first time on audio.
Includes: âDirty Workâ by Horace McCoy; read by Bart Tinapp âMerely Murderâ by Julius Long; read by Eric Conger âMurder in One Syllableâ by John D. MacDonald; read by Jeff Woodman and Carol Monda âThree Apes from the Eastâ by H.H. Stinson; read by Scott Brick âDeath Stops Paymentâ by D.L. Champion; read by Eric Conger