<p>From its launch in 1920 until its demise in 1951, the magazine <i>Black Mask</i> 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 <i>Black Mask</i>. The urban crime stories that appeared in <i>Black Mask</i> 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” (<i>Booklist</i>).<br /><br />Otto Penzler selected and wrote introductions to the best of the best, the darkest of these dark, vintage stories for the collection <i>The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories</i>. Now that collection is available for the first time on audio.<br /><br />Includes:<li>“A Taste for Cognac” by Brett Halliday; read by Peter Ganim</li><li>“Sauce for the Gander” by Day Keene; read by Richard Ferrone</li><li>“A Little Different” by W. T. Ballard; read by Jeff Gurner</li><li>“The Shrieking Skeleton” by Charles M. Green; read by David LeDoux</li><li>“Drop Dead Twice” by Hank Searls; read by Jeff Gurner </li>