![Cover image for Black mask stories. [5], The ring on the hand of death and other crime fiction for the legendary magazine](/client/assets/4.5.1/ctx/images/no_image.png "Cover image for Black mask stories. [5], The ring on the hand of death and other crime fiction for the legendary magazine")
Available:*
Library | Call Number | Material Type | Home Location | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | PS648.D4 B535 2012 | Adult Audiobook on CD | Audiobooks | Searching... | Searching... |
Searching... | PS648.D4 B535 2012 | Adult Audiobook on CD | Audiobooks | Searching... | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
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 "the seminal and venerated mystery pulp magazine" ( 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: "Ten Carats of Lead" by Stewart Sterling; read by Alan Sklar "Murder Is Bad Luck" by Wyatt Blassingame; read by Oliver Wyman "Her Dagger Before Me" by Talmadge Powell; read by Pete Larkin "One Shot" by Charles G. Booth; read by Alan Sklar "The Dancing Rats" by Richard Sale; read by Jeff Gurner
Reviews 1
Library Journal Review
Volumes 5 and 6 in this ongoing collection (see LJ 3/1/12, p. 56) offer a hit/miss mix. The Ring starts strong with Carroll John Daly's "Knights of the Open Palm," which dates to 1923 and is considered the original hard-boiled detective story. Gruff PI Race Williams's signature lines like, "When I'm gunning, I'm a bad man," are delivered in a slow, syrupy, matter-of-fact tone by narrator Eric Bergmann. This set is dominated by Rainbow Diamonds, a series of six stories by Ramon Decolta featuring Filipino detective Jo Gar, which, alas, are the least satisfying of the lot. The program ends strong with the title tale, whose teen protagonist is captured in a perfect gee-whiz tone by reader Dan Bittner. Containing only four stories, The Bloody Bokhara collection makes up for quantity with quality. The title story along with Theodore A. Tinsley's "Body Snatcher," Dwight V. Babcock's "Murder on the Gayway," and Cleve F. Adams's "The Key" are all top-shelf thrillers. Oddly, only "The Key" features a true detective, as Tinsley and Babcock offer reporters doing the crime-solving, and "Bokhara" stars a carpet salesman sleuth. VERDICT The assorted narrators are well matched to their pieces and do ample justice to the material. Once again, hard-boiled fiction fans are in for loads of fun as this series is proving to be one great listening experience after another. HighBridge, keep 'em coming!-Mike Rogers, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.