Tag: eugene cunningham

December 1934 issue ~ cover art by Fred Craft

December 1934

cover art by Fred Craft

~ Dwight V. Babcock, “Too Many Slips”, ‘1st Al, bodyguard, story’, 3rd of 21 stories in BM

~ W.T. Ballard, “Murder Isn’t Legal”, 11th of 27 stories with ‘Bill Lennox, troubleshooter for Consolidated Films’, 11th of 43 stories in BM

~ Eugene Cunningham, “An Old Spanish Custom”, 2nd of 2 with Western with Pony Kerr, 12th of 14 stories in BM

~ Hugh Lundie, “A Farewell to Strife”, author’s sole appearance in BM

~ H.H. Stinson, “Trivial, Like Murder”, 2nd of 14 with ‘Ken O’Hara, fighting reporter on Los Angeles Tribune’, 2nd of 27 stories in BM

The Black Bird

cover art by H.C. Murphy

~ Eugene Cunningham, “Bar Nuthin’, Puzzle Buster”, ‘Western;with Bar Nuthin’ is main character’, 2nd of 14 stories in BM

~ Erle Stanley Gardner, “Hanging Friday”, 9th of 10 Bob Larkin stories, 44th of 99 stories in BM

~ Dashiell Hammett, “The Maltese Falcon”, part 1 of 5 serialized parts before hardcover publication (1931), reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 35th of 45 stories in BM

~ Horace McCoy, “Dirty Work”, 1st of 14 stories with ‘Capt. Jerry Frost, Texas (Air) Ranger’, reprinted in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (Vintage, 2010), 2nd of 17 stories in BM

~ Frederick L. Nebel, “New Guns for Old”, 6th of 37 with Captain Steve MacBride and local reporter Kennedy, ‘MacBride in Richmond City without Kennedy’, reprinted in Winter Kill: Complete Cases of MacBride & Kenney, v.1 (Altus, 2013), 18 of 67 stories in BM

~ Henry Wallace Phillips, “The Pets”, 3rd Red Saunders, 6th of 12 stories in BM

~ Lester Reynard, “’He’s Give the Works’” [title as Hagemann gives it], ‘Ted Bland; airplanes’, 3rd of 5 stories in BM

~ Raoul [Fauconnier] Whitfield, “The Squeeze”, Gary Greer, 8th (of 9) in the Laughing Dead series, ‘presented as separate stories rather than conventional serial; pub. As Five (1931) under the pseudonym of Temple Field’, 33rd of 67 stories in BM [see also 24 stories as Ramon Decolta]

It is no overstatement to claim that the publication of this issue of this magazine was a landmark event in American Literature.

While those involved with publishing the magazine would’ve known that they had something special on their hands with Hammett’s story, no one then could’ve understood the magnitude of the influence of it on everything that came since – the entire history and run of mystery fiction stems from this issue, and one could argue that all of Film Noir comes from this as well.

This issue of Black Mask, and this story, altered history.

©Seattle Mystery Bookshop