Lancer Books

Walter Zacharius (1923–2011) was a Brooklyn native who served in the Army in World War II, taking part in D-Day and the liberation of Paris. In the 1940s and 1950s he worked with Macfadden Publications, for magazines like True Confessions and True Story. Later, he moved to Ace Books, where he helped publisher A. A. Wyn create the Ace Double Novels line of paperbacks.[1]

After working for a Chicago newspaper, in 1949 Irwin Stein returned to New York, where he wrote comic book scripts for Quality Comics (Doll Man, Plastic Man) and Hillman Periodicals before employment as the comic book editor with St. John Publications.[3] In 1954, Stein and his wife Helen began a magazine company, Royal Publications, which published the pulp magazines Our Life and Celebrity from Royal's East 44th Street offices. During 1955, Stein added the magazines Infinity Science Fiction and Suspect Detective Stories (which became Science Fiction Adventures with its fifth issue). During 1958–59, Stein published two monster magazines, Monster Parade and Monsters and Things.

As various genre magazines became less common, Stein decided to close down Royal Publications and begin publishing paperback originals. He and Zacharius launched Lancer Books in June 1961 at 26 West 47th Street. Larry Shaw, who had edited Infinity Science Fiction and Royal's monster magazines, returned as the editor of Lancer Books in 1963. It was Shaw who negotiated the Conan series in 1966. When Shaw left in 1968, his replacement as editor was Robert Hoskins. In 1970, Hoskins and Stein brought Infinity back as a series of paperback anthologies, labeled "a magazine of speculative fiction in book form."[4]

The company filed for bankruptcy in September 1973. In 1974, Zacharius and Roberta Bender Grossman co-founded Kensington Books[1] (with the Zebra Books and Pinnacle Books imprints following shortly). Kensington was initially known mostly for romance novels. Stein continued into the 1990s as a book packager.