Lancer Books was a publisher of paperback books founded by

Irwin Stein Irwin may refer to: Places ;United States * Irwin, California * Irwin, Idaho * Irwin, Illinois * Irwin, Iowa * Irwin, Nebraska * Irwin, Ohio * Irwin, Pennsylvania * Irwin, South Carolina * Irwin County, Georgia * Irwin Township, Venango County, Pe ...

and Walter Zacharius that operated from 1961 through 1973. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

tales, the first publication of many in paperback format. It published the controversial novel ''Candy'' by

Terry Southern Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to ...

and Mason Hoffenberg, and Ted Mark's ribald series '' The Man from O.R.G.Y.'' Lancer paperbacks had a distinctive appearance, many bearing mauve or green page edging.

History

The founders: Stein and Zacharius

Walter Zacharius (1923–2011) was a Brooklyn native who served in the Army in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, taking part in

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

and the liberation of Paris. In the 1940s and 1950s he worked with

Macfadden Publications Macfadden Communications Group is a publisher of business magazines. It has a historical link with a company started in 1898 by Bernarr Macfadden that was one of the largest magazine publishers of the twentieth century. History Macfadden Publ ...

, for magazines like '' True Confessions'' and '' True Story''. Later, he moved to

Ace Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, and soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first scienc ...

, where he helped publisher

A. A. Wyn Aaron A. Wyn (May 22, 1898 – November 3, 1967), born Aaron Weinstein, was an American publisher. Wyn's father was Jacob Weinstein, born in 1864 in Russia. His mother, Rebecca Weinstein, was born in 1865 in Russia. The Weinsteins married in 188 ...

create the

Ace Double American company Ace Books began publishing genre fiction starting in 1952. Initially these were mostly in tête-bêche format with the ends of the two parts meeting in the middle and with a divider between them which functioned as the rear cover ...

Novels line of paperbacks.Grimes, William
"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"
''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). After working for a Chicago newspaper, in 1949 Irwin Stein returned to New York, where he wrote comic book scripts for

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Notable, long-running titles published by Qualit ...

(''

Doll Man Doll Man is a superhero first appearing in American comic books from the Golden Age of Comics, originally published by Quality Comics and currently part of the DC Comics universe of characters. Doll Man was created by cartoonist Will Eisner a ...

'', ''

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...

'') and

Hillman Periodicals Hillman Periodicals, Inc., was an American magazine and comic book publishing company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-runni ...

before employment as the comic book editor with

St. John Publications St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During the 1947-1958 existence of its comic-book division, St. John established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John, the firm was located in Manhattan a ...

. In 1954, Stein and his wife Helen began a magazine company, Royal Publications, which published the

pulp magazines Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

''Our Life'' and ''Celebrity'' from Royal's East 44th Street offices. During 1955, Stein added the magazines ''

Infinity Science Fiction ''Infinity Science Fiction'' was an American science fiction magazine, edited by Larry T. Shaw, and published by Royal Publications. The first issue, which appeared in November 1955, included Arthur C. Clarke's " The Star", a story about a pl ...

'' 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''.

Foundation of Lancer

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." Lancer Books imprints include: ''Domino'' (adults-only), ''Oracle Books'' (soft-porn), and ''Valentine Books'' (romance).

Bankruptcy and Kensington Books

The company filed for bankruptcy in September 1973. In 1974, Zacharius and Roberta Bender Grossman co-founded

Kensington Books Kensington Publishing Corp. is an American, New York-based publishing house founded in 1974 by Walter Zacharius (1923–2011)Grimes, William"Walter Zacharius, Romance Publisher, Dies at 87,"''New York Times'' (MARCH 7, 2011). and Roberta Bender G ...

(with the

Zebra Books Zebra Books is an imprint of American publisher Kensington Publishing Corp. As the company's flagship imprint until the late 80s, it currently publishes women's fiction, romantic suspense and bestselling historical, paranormal and contemporary ro ...

and Pinnacle Books imprints following shortly). Kensington was initially known mostly for

romance novels A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

. Stein continued into the 1990s as a book packager.

Genres

Lancer's science fiction and

science-fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scienti ...

books were noted for the frequent use of cover art by

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers, and other media. He is ...

. Frazetta began doing covers for Lancer with John Benyon Harris's '' The Secret People'' (1964) and Ted White's ''Phoenix Prime'' (1966), and later did several covers for Lancer's Conan series. In addition to science fiction and heroic fantasy, Lancer published private detective adventures with sexual themes,

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

and espionage stories, plus

Gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

such as ''Shadows'' (1970) by Jan Alexander (pseudonym for

Victor J. Banis Victor Jerome Banis (May 25, 1937 – February 22, 2019) was an American author, often associated with the first wave of West Coast gay writing. For his contributions he has been called "the godfather of modern popular gay fiction." He was Coming ...

Lesbian fiction Lesbian literature is a subgenre of literature addressing lesbian themes. It includes poetry, plays, fiction addressing lesbian characters, and non-fiction about lesbian-interest topics. Fiction that falls into this category may be of any gen ...

authors published by Lancer included Rea Michaels (''Duet in Darkness'', ''Cloak of Evil''), Sylvia Sharon (pseudonym used by Paul Little) and Florence Stonebraker.Mount Saint Vincent University: Lesbian Pulp Fiction Collection
Lancer Books published paperback editions of classic novels, reprinting

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

works. This series was designated Magnum Easy Eye Classics, as the typography of the books was larger, enabling readers to avoid eye strain. Among the authors represented in this series were

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

Samuel Clemens Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

, Helen Keller and

Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912) was an Irish author who is celebrated for his 1897 Gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Sir Henry Irving and busine ...

. Besides the complete and unabridged text, each book included a brief, unsigned biographical article about the author. Because the works were in the public domain, Lancer included a copyright notice for the ''special contents'' (i.e., the biographical information) for each book. Lancer also published books of social commentary, such as ''The Angry Black'', edited by John Williams. Lancer's popular culture titles included ''The Beatle Book'' (1964).

Comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s were collected in ''

Broom-Hilda ''Broom-Hilda'' is an American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russell Myers. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, it depicts the misadventures of a man-crazy, cigar-smoking, beer-guzzling, 1,500-year-old witch and her motley cr ...

'' (1971).

References

External links

"Love or Money," ''The New York Times'' (January 25, 1998.)Andrew Porter, ''Degler'' #5
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancer Books Publishing companies established in 1961 1961 establishments in New York City Book publishing companies based in New York City Defunct book publishing companies of the United States 1973 disestablishments