George Carroll Sims (May 30, 1902 – June 23, 1966), better known by his pen names Paul Cain and Peter Ruric, was an American

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...

author and screenwriter. He is best known for his novel ''Fast One'', which is considered to be a landmark of the pulp fiction genre and was called the "high point in the ultra

hard-boiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence ...

manner" by Raymond Chandler.''Danger Is My Business: An Illustrated History of the Fabulous Pulp Magazines'', by

Lee Server Lee Server (May 27, 1953 – December 28, 2021) was an American writer. He was a graduate of New York University Film School. Server wrote several books about Hollywood cinema and pulp fiction. His book on Ava Gardner, ''Love is Nothing'' (2006) ...

(Chronicle Books, 1993) (p.70). Sims enjoyed a brief career in Hollywood as a screenwriter during the 1930s, including writing the screenplay for the

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film '' Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established ...

vehicle ''The Black Cat''. He died in North Hollywood in 1966.

Career

Sims moved to Los Angeles in 1918 and began working as a screenwriter in 1923. '' Black Mask'' first published ''Fast One'' as five novelettes in 1932. It was then published in book form by Doubleday in 1933. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' described it as “a ceaseless welter of bloodshed and frenzy, a sustained bedlam of killing and fiendishness, told in terse staccato style . . .”"Latest Works of Fiction: Gangsters Gone Mad; FAST ONE. By Paul Cain. 304 pp. New York: Doubleday. $2." Archived
via the

TimesMachine ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,''

'', October 29, 1933. Sims wrote a total of 17 stories for ''Black Mask''. He left the magazine when editor Joseph Shaw was fired in 1936. Additionally, Sims had stories published in ''Detective Fiction Weekly'' and ''Star Detective Magazine'', and several articles in ''

Gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...

''. In 1946, a paperback collection of his best stories called ''Seven Slayers'' was published by Saint Enterprises. Sims wanted to change his listed name to Ruric but the publisher insisted on sticking with the name Cain.

References

External links

Essay about Paul Cain
on detnovel.com
IMDb listing for "Peter Ruric"

at HARD-BOILED site (Comprehensive Bibliographies by Vladimir)
Paul Cain: An Introduction
Boris Dralyuk's extensive introduction to Cain, which includes a wealth of newly discovered biographical material; published in PAUL CAIN: THE COMPLETE STORIES and THE PAUL CAIN OMNIBUS (Mysterious Press/Open Road Media/Black Mask Library), 2013.
Boris Dralyuk's review article on The Complete Slayers (Centipede Press, 2012)
at the Los Angeles Review of Books. 1902 births 1966 deaths American mystery writers American male screenwriters Writers from Des Moines, Iowa 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Iowa Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from Iowa 20th-century American screenwriters {{US-screen-writer-stub