Henry "Harry" Steeger co-founded Popular Publications

Popular Publications

Popular Publications was one of the largest publishers of pulp magazines during its existence, at one point publishing 42 different titles per month. Company titles included detective, adventure, romance, and Western fiction. They were also known for the several 'weird menace' titles...

 in 1930, one of the major publishers of pulp magazine

Pulp magazine

Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...

s, with Harold S. Goldsmith. Steeger handled editorial matters while Goldsmith took care of the business side. Both were veterans of the pulp magazine

Pulp magazine

Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...

 business. Steeger had edited war pulps at Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr.During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in...

 while Goldsmith had served as an editor at A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers

A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers

A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers was a publishing house established and owned by A. A. Wyn. It began in the 1930s as a pulp magazine publisher, and included titles such as Ace Mystery and Ace Sports. They also used the name "Periodic House", and also branched out to publishing comic books as Ace...

.

Steeger's new firm launched four titles which debuted on the newsstands with cover dates of October 1930. Battle Aces was the only title to survive and more titles were produced with the ensuing months.

With Horror Stories

Horror Stories (magazine)

Horror Stories was an American pulp magazine that published tales of the supernatural, horror, and macabre. The first issue was published in January 1935, three years after the weird menace genre had begun with Dime Mystery Magazine. Horror Stories was a sister magazine to Terror Tales, whose first...

and Terror Tales

Terror Tales

Terror Tales was a long-running American pulp magazine of the horror comics and weird menace genres. It was originally published by Popular Publications. The first issue was published in September 1934...

, Steeger started the "Shudder Pulp

Weird menace

Weird menace is the name given to a sub-genre of horror fiction that was popular in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and early 1940s. The weird menace pulps, also known as "shudder pulps", generally featured stories in which the hero was pitted against sadistic villains, with graphic scenes of...

" genre. Albeit short lived, this genre was responsible for some of the most striking cover art of the pulp era. The over-the-top stories of torture and tittilation however, led the public look down on the fiction found in pulp magazines.

Steeger also edited (anonymously) the last issues of Black Mask.