The Black Mask Magazine May 1920

by John Gregory Betancourt

The second issue of the legendary pulp mystery magazine, The Black Mask, dates from May 1920.

130 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2004

About the author

John Gregory Betancourt is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at Amazing Stories and editor of Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field, the revived Weird Tales magazine, the first issue of H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror (which he subsequently hired Marvin Kaye to edit), Cat Tales magazine (which he subsequently hired George H. Scithers to edit), and Adventure Tales magazine. He worked as a Senior Editor for Byron Preiss Visual Publications (1989-1996) and iBooks. He is the writer of four Star Trek novels and the new Chronicles of Amber prequel series, as well as a dozen original novels. His essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in such diverse publications as Writer's Digest and The Washington Post.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

A big fan of noir. I love the smoke, the grating larynx, past tense-first person, inner monologue; between dialogues, embellishment with semi-grinning irony. I imagine a lonely trumpet player, somber, middle of the night; playing on the corner of the block, outside a diner providing a place for couples on the precipice and deadbeats seeking a refuge.

Nighthawks: not aching to be seen but heard. Hardboiled: men imagining a life full of mystery, style, quick violence and the inevitable disappointment of it all.

It's a nice escape.

A couple of the stories play the archetype well, specifically "Ten Carats of Lead" and "Her Dagger Before Me" with the latter's melodrama wrapping up a little too nicely, but the rest feel like practice for a future job in screenplay writing. "The Dancing Rats" could be an ancestor to Ian Fleming sans Bond girl. "Murder is Bad Luck" sounds noir but feels Hitchcockian--a few years ahead of its time.

But what didn't mesmerize surely kept me entertained, and there is no doubt I'll be diving into more of Black Mask pulp. As the archetype is so good that even bad noir is better than most stories.