RARA-AVIS: Re: The Return of Black Mask

From: Richard Moore ( moorich@aol.com)
Date: 04 Oct 2007


I am curious about this announcement. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, under the direction of Fred Dannay, bought the rights to Black Mask after the original magazine folded. For several years, the logo on the contents page featured "Including Black Mask." This was not a big reach as EQ had reprinted most of Dashiell Hammett's short story output, helping to keep his name alive during the cloud of the Black List period and DH's jail sentence.

During EQ's Black Mask inclusion, certain stories would be labeled as Black Mask on the contents page and "a'la Black Mask" on the title page.

I assumed that either EQ sold its right to the Black Mask name or that it had licensed it for a set period which then ran out. After all, there was the "New Black Mask" in paperback format and there was the Black Mask website by someone claiming all rights to that name. I've heard people dispute that claim but have no way of determining the right or wrong of the matter.

Can anyone shed light on this?

Richard Moore

-- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Bill Crider" <macavityabc@...> wrote:
>
> If you have the latest issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine,
you've no
> doubt noticed the little blurb on the last page announcing the
return of Black
> Mask. I checked with Janet Hutchings, the editor, and she tells
me that the
> Black Mask section will feature one reprint from the original
magazine, to
> be paired with a new story. The January reprint will be
Hammett's "Bodies
> Piled Up," and the new story will be Chuck Hogan's "Two Thousand
Volts."
> Keith Allan Deutsch will have an introduction that explains the
relationship
> between Black Mask and EQMM.
>
> The new stories will tend to be edgier than the usual EQMM fare.
Sounds
> like a good idea to me.
>
> Bill Crider
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>



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