Read Half: "Paul Cain: the complete Slayers" by Paul Clain

Read Half: Paul Cain: the complete Slayers by Paul Cain, 2011, 9781933618999.

Fifteen short stories and the novel Fast One.  Cain is a well known pulpist.  He did not publish many pieces but still has a following.  Enough of a following that Max Allan Collins and Lynn F. Meyers wrote a 25 page biography for this volume.

Cain is remembered for his spare style.  I know because each piece has its own introduction saying as much.     I have a paperback of Cain's Fast One at home.  I suppose I could reread that - I remember liking it.

This was 618 pages from Introduction through Afterword.  I burned out half way through.

I'm not certain how many copies of this book were printed.  This is a hardcover and the tip-in page signed by Collins and Meyer says "limited to 500 copies for sale."   Cheapest copy on Amazon.com is listed at $134 so I hope no one steals this library copy.

Comments:
1. I have the impression that Max Collins is such a devotee and historian of pulp magazines and paperbacks that he could have written much of the bio off the top of his head and only referred to reference materials to verify dates and spellings.
2.  I skipped reading the biography, too.
3.  Includes small color reproductions of each Black Mask cover in which the Cain stories appeared.
4. John Lutz did one of the introductions.  Each time I see Lutz's nameI think of the Lutz character on 30 Rock.
5.  Should Introduction and Afterword be italicized?
6.  Do I care enough to look it up?
7.  No.