Black Mask (Vol. 15, No. 2 — April, 1932)

Black Mask Plain Talk — and to Heck with Modesty

BLACK MASK is unique among fiction magazines, appealing to a wide group of readers ranging from those who like action fiction for action alone, where it is real and convincing, to the most discriminating readers in the professional classes — clergymen, bankers, lawyers, doctors, the heads of large businesses, and the like.

While it is commonly classed as a detective fiction magazine, it has, with the help of its writers, created a new type of detective story which is now being recognized and acclaimed by book critics as inaugurating a new era in fiction dealing with crime and crime combatting.

BLACK MASK stories republished in book form have been best sellers in the open book market and their writers have achieved international fame.

The magazine has developed such authors as Dashiell Hammett, Raoul Whitfield, Frederick Nebel, Carroll John Daly, Erie Stanley Gardner, Nels Leroy Jorgensen, Horace McCoy, Earl and Marion Scott, Tom Curry, William Rollins, Jr.; and a number of others, all of whom have been recognized by critics when their stories have appeared in book form or have been included among the anthologies of best stories selected by O’Brien and the O. Henry Memorial.

It has a flock of new writers, whose first stories are appearing in the magazine and who promise to become every bit as famous — such as Paul Cain, Ed Lybeck, Stewart Stirling, James Moynahan, J. J. des Ormeaux and the like.

It publishes as well stories of the BLACK MASK peculiar type by other authors, already widely known — as H. Bedford-Jones, Thomson Burtis, Bertrand W. Sinclair, Eugene Cunningham.

BLACK MASK’S requirements are simply expressed, but it holds rigidly to a high standard of readable, fast-running, convincing fiction. It does not accept poor stories.

These are some of the reasons why BLACK MASK differs from all other magazines and stands alone, by itself, and why it cannot be imitated successfully.

The Editor.