The Long Goodbye: Clute and Edwards Conduct Final "Behind the Black Mask" Interview

There's an outside chance it isn't over. Regardless, it's been one hell of a ride.

In the last two years, we've had the chance to speak with many of the rising stars and established masters of English language crime fiction—American, English, Irish, and Scots. The guests on these twenty-eight episodes have earned a staggering number of fiction and film festival awards (too many to count, really, for the tally keeps going up), and their literary reputations continue to grow.

But more remarkable than their accomplishments is their generosity. They have given freely of their time, and have never hesitated to reveal the secrets of their craft. Their efforts have created a remarkable archive of the greatest crime fiction works and authors of the new millennium. That archive, which is to say these twenty-eight podcasts, will remain available online in order to promote these authors' works, satisfy their fans' curiosity, and serve as a resource for readers and writers.

Moreover, we're currently undertaking a new project. We're working with many of these authors to transcribe and edit those interviews that explicitly address the lingering shadows of hard-boiled style in modern crime fiction, and how these authors have burnished the style into a mirror they hold up to our own times to reflect upon this darkness more than night.

News regarding the future publication of this collection is reason enough not to unsubscribe from "Behind the Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed," but there are others. We will continue to publish occasional updates on our other podcast series, and projects associated with those podcasts. A gloriously illustrated manuscript based on our "Out of the Past: Investigating Film Noir" podcasts is currently under consideration by a prestigious university press. Our most recent series, "Yaddocast"—which explores the history, culture, and artistic achievements of artist guests of the prestigious artists' retreat Yaddo—received mention in the January 2009 issue of "O, The Oprah Magazine" (www.yaddo.org for more informtion). In short, many good things are happening for us, so we'd encourage you to keep your free "Behind the Black Mask" subscription alive.

We should also share the important personal changes that factored into our decision to put this podcast on hiatus—the sort of information we've never provided of ourselves, but is certainly relevant. Richard Edwards has a six year old and a one year old daughter, and is busy pursuing tenure at his job at IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis). Shannon Clute and his wife just had their first child in November, and Shannon is busy with his new position in Brand Development and Publishing at Turner Classic Movies. In short, so many good things have happened recently that we have had to make tough decisions with our allocation of time. For the foreseeable future, "Behind the Black Mask: Mystery Writers Revealed" is on hiatus to make time for other podcasting, professional, and personal priorities.

We want to thank you for your ongoing and enthusiastic support of this podcast series. Without the public, all would be silence—as our guest authors well know. As always, we welcome your comments, and hope we'll have many opportunities to hear from you, meet you, and create podcasts you love.

For now, that's show out (but stay tuned, just the same).

Clute and Edwards, 2005-2012