Princess of Darkness
Irwin Zacharia
Leisure Books, 1976
ISBN: 395DK
It happens every now and then, I discover some minor publisher through one randomly purchased paperback and find myself falling down a deep, dark rabbit hole. When I emerge I find my wallet lighter and my shelves heavier. It's enviable, like seeing the name Dean Koontz at a used book store or, I dunno, dying I suppose.
Back in the day editors were the tastemakers for a publisher, now its market research or whatever. I've especially found this to be the case with the smaller publishers. They each had their own quirks and picadillos, they might lean more toward sci-fi or more toward horror or more toward mysteries. This might produce a novel with a horror cover and a mystery plot inside. Or an action novel with a lot of sci-fi elements. If you read enough material published by the same publisher and roughly the same time a pattern emerges.
So, when you get deep into your book-mania you can find yourself buying stacks of random books based on a couple individual paperbacks. A small publisher in the early 80s, Carousel Books was an imprint of American Art Enterprises, which is a sort of funny name when you consider they primarily published porn novels. I guess anything in life can be considered “art.” This was their third attempt at trying a “mainstream” imprint, the previous ones Canyon and Major both also tanked, but were a little classier. Carousel/American Art Enterprises also seemed to be something of a money laundering scam for the Mafia, according to some internet-folklore. Take that with a grain of salt.
That’s a lot of important facts to talk about the author that drew me into Carousel’s web, one Irwin Zacharia. Irwin had three separate series running at Carousel. He had his Vendetta series, about a for-hire-vigilante, his (I’m not kidding) Landshark series about a quasi-mystical adventurer, and finally his Protector series. This series stars I.M. Reddy (again, no joking) a overweight private eye who uses his sumo wrestling skills to fight supernatural meanaces.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Princess of Darkness has a really tricky and surprisingly relevant plot but it’s also completely ridiculous and utterly goofy. A terrible group led by a dangerous woman is targeting
Israel with supernatural evil, gaining a large band of fanatics who wish for Israel to be wiped out for Palestine to move in. It’s sometimes sobering to be reading over-the-top vintage fiction to be faced with such a topical problem that is still happening in the world right now. And then for it all to be filled with Russian spies, astral projection, Black Masses, possessions, sweet Plymouth Barracudas and sumo fighting it's almost surreal. It’s very 70s in its hangups, like the aforementioned astral projection and black masses, which I.M. Reddy takes in stride, the supernatural is old hat to him by book #2. In later entries he tackles voodoo, zombie armies, “energy vampires,” and more. He’s a fairly charming protagonist who’s constantly munching down on pizza or sumo bumping baddies. He tells the story in classic Private Eye first person, so you begin to feel easy comradery with I.M. He’s an easy buddy to hang out with, just mind the monsters.
But who was Irwin Zacharia, author in residence at money-launder scam Carousel Books? Supposedly he’s Paul Hugo Little, author of OVER 700 books under a ton of pseudonyms. His nickname was The Man with 1000 Names. He was a Jewish man who was born in 1915 to wealth who was eventually shunned by his family and had to write his way out. He lived a colorful life before deciding sitting in front of a typewriter was his favorite thing to do. He wrote gothics, historical fiction, a ton of adult fiction, crime stuff, and adventure stuff. He also seemed to have a fondness for horror, as Hugo Paul he wrote the 1968 zombie novel Master of the Undead, as Sarita Iwrin he wrote To Love a Vampire.
He wrote by talking it into a dictation machine and letting typists pound keys, which helps with fast writing. And his work is fast writing. It’s unpolished and pretty rough with leaps of faith and some faults here and there. But, it’s also a lot of fun in a “seat-of-your-pants” kind of way. Like a slightly drunk guy in a bar or bus stop rambling his insane story about the monsters he’s faced. A pleasant and easy way to spend an afternoon.
Well, is Princess of Darkness a good book? Nah, probably not. I had more fun with it than I probably should have and will soon be checking myself in somewhere safe and padded. It’s pulp genre fiction at its fastest and loosest, if that’s something you enjoy then you might actually have a good time with it like me, but if you have any sense, I’m sure you won’t. The story BEHIND the book is more interesting than the actual novel. That being said, I have an extra large stack of Carousel books, most of which are probably worse. The horror elements are a little light in the series, but there’s usually an interesting take on a horror trope in there. Paul Hugo Little was at least inventive enough to put a twist on things and make you smile every once and a while. I guess that’s enough for me.
Roy Nugen is an award-winning writer, producer, property master, plus actor. He comes from a family of musicians, engineers, wildcatters, cops, lion tamers, and carpet salesmen. Evil Dead II changed his life and he once partied with Lloyd Kaufman.
He has written 15 short films including Bag Full of Trouble, Potboiler, Handle With Care, Death in Lavender, Hole in the Ground, and the feature film Arrive Alive, many of which have played across the country. He has been the property master on 17 short films and 2 feature films.
Roy is also a prolific book reviewer and collector of vintage pulp paperback books. You can read his reviews on his blog Bloody, Spicy Books and multiple magazines including Paperback Fanatic, Hot Lead and Sleazy Reader. He has also written afterwards for novels and for various websites. He lives in the only city that once arrested L. Ron Hubbard with his wife and cats.