Familiar Spirit

by Lisa Tuttle, Will Errickson (Introduction)

Now that her life with Brian was over, she would have a home of her own. She could begin again. But something was waiting for Sarah in her new house, waiting to welcome her, to make her feel at home. Something was waiting for Sarah in the night with golden eyes that glowed and burned, commanding her obedience, demanding her soul, promising her...

Sarah tried to escape the power, but night after night it drew her back, filling her with screaming horror one moment, and relentless, burning pleasure the next.

Sarah tried to escape the house, to fight the evil. But she came back. She will always come back. Because now Sarah is never alone...

This reissue of Lisa Tuttle’s first novel Familiar Spirit (1983) features the classic cover art by Lee MacLeod and a new introduction by Will Errickson.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Romance, Gothic, Paranormal, Witches, Gothic Horror

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1983

About the author

(Wife of Colin Murray) aka Maria Palmer (house pseudonym).

Lisa Tuttle taught a science fiction course at the City Lit College, part of London University, and has tutored on the Arvon courses. She was residential tutor at the Clarion West SF writing workshop in Seattle, USA. She has published six novels and two short story collections. Many of her books have been translated into French and German editions.

Reviews

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who is Lisa Tuttle and why is she such a pervert? We may never find an answer to that second question. After all, what drives an author to write some of the most psychologically harrowing, squick-inducing, “find your soft places and dig in with my fingernails” mass market paperbacks of the 1980s? Why does she seem to delight in our discomfort? But maybe the answer is easy.

Why is Lisa Tuttle so perverse? It might be because her books taste better that way.

Especially this one.

Get squicky and read the rest of this review.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Familiar Spirit had some potential, and Tuttle gives us some bizarre foo with spirits, but I found this a bit of a slog, especially with the main protagonist being such a frustrating character Sarah. After a brief prologue where a young woman named Valerie, when attempting to conjure a spirit, becomes possessed in a way, the story turns to the trials and tribulations of Sarah. Sarah recently broke up with her live-in boyfriend, or rather, she got dumped by him. She moved in with some friends from school (she is a graduate student at UT Austin). One day while sitting on the Quad at UT, Valerie approaches Sarah to ask where she might post an ad for a house to rent. Well, Sarah is looking for a new place to live and one thing leads to another. Seems like a nice house and the rent is dirt cheap. On her first night there, however, some spirit attempts to take over her body...

Something between a haunted house story and a witch tale, the story centers on Sarah's struggles with the house and the spirit. The story relies upon some pretty cliche horror tropes and lots of dubious decisions by Sarah and her friends. I thought the story became increasingly frustrating due to Sarah and her actions. Should she move out? What about the next person who rents? Can we somehow banish this demon? Maybe it is just my imagination... Even the big reveal came off as cliched and tired. 2.5 spiritual stars, rounding down for the denouement.

[Sadie Hartmann]

Another DNF this week. This was a real disappointment. I'm already halfway through the book and there's nothing keeping me here--I wasn't looking forward to the development of this story and where it was going. The evil entity trapped inside the different animals with the glowing eyes felt dated and cheesy. Ugh, hurts to say that, I really wanted something more.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever been so desperate after an earth shattering breakup that you’re horny for almost anything, even a demon? Then this book will read like an autobiography. Truly, it did bring back some emotional memories for me remembering my last, really heartbreaking breakup and the risks and stupid decisions I made following after it. An interesting read but be mindful that there is rape and animal abuse in this book, as well as a lot of sentences ending in question marks? Because of rhetorical thinking?

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so confused because I thought I reviewed this months ago. Whoops! I love the idea of reading lesser known horror novels from the 80s, so I'm a big fan of this line of books. Familiar Spirit was entertaining but I didn't connect with the main character. I oddly think I would enjoy this more as a movie.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

One night, Valerie decides to summon a demon, wishing it to obey her and grant all her wishes - but something goes wrong and it ends up commanding her instead. It needs a healthy, young body, and demands Valerie lure such a woman to the house for it, assuring her that he will not only release her, but fulfill all her dreams as well.
Valerie promptly moves, and shows her house to Sarah, newly single and looking for a place of her own. Sarah loves the isolation, and the peace and quiet it will provide, not to mention she can't resist the price - the only thing throwing her off is Valerie's demeanor. She's acting very strange, and appears absolutely desperate for Sarah to move in. Despite her slight hesitation, she falls in love with the house and agrees to take the place anyways.
Immediately upon moving in, Sarah begins to hear noises in the walls and under the floors. She is plagued by horrible nightmares. She finds a mutilated cat in the basement. Then there are the animals appearing in and around the house, with glowing gold eyes that seem to paralyze Sarah when she looks at them - the animals that project a voice into her head urging her to give into it and dismiss her self control.
Sarah realizes something is possessing these animals. There is an evil entity in the home, that can jump into whatever living creature it so chooses. She is able to ward off it's mental intrusions - but for how long? Instead of taking the easy way out, Sarah refuses to be driven from her home, and with the help of her best friends, and eventually Valerie, vows to fight this spirit and banish it once and for all.
-----------------
I have to say I don't really get why Jade (the spirit) didn't just possess Valerie if it wanted a body? Why didn't it just possess Sarah? Them being too strong would be the obvious answer, but that's clearly not the case, because it's able to get into theirs minds and make them do things whenever it wants. That's really the only thing I didn't get. I definitely did like the book though.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Austin in the 70s . . . . grubby apartments, cheap rent, no traffic, smart friends, good parties, demons. I was there and remember most of it. Deepest gratitude to Lisa and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this excellent, tight horror story. Familiar Spirit is a dark pleasure to read, not just for the strength of its story and the power of its descriptions, but from the memories it evokes. Would be fun to see a sequel set in the Austin of, maybe not 2020 but a better year, 2019 or --please all the powers of light -- 2021.

[Richard Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to Follow

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are several tense moments in this horror novel. Sarah, a young woman fresh from the breakup of a long-term relationship moves into an isolated house where the rent is cheap. The woman who shows her the property acts strangely and as she tries to settle in she learns something else is in the house. She grows convinced that a demon is attempting to possess her. Wanting to establish herself on her own, Sarah tries to stay but keeps having to leave to avoid the spirit.

About halfway through the story Sarah recovers the diary of the original couple who’d conjured the entity. This helps to explain what’s been happening, but doesn’t go all the way. Set in Austin, there’s an almost claustrophobic feel to the story, even in the midst of a large city. I don’t want to put any spoilers here, but it is a creepy tale that has a somewhat unexpected ending.

Novels of possession are often difficult to pull off well. Tuttle definitely succeeds here. This was a novel I couldn’t wait to pick up again after I put it down. It’s sad, courageous, and even sexy. There’s a lot going on here and Sarah is a strong protagonist. There are some interesting parallels between the diary and her own life, and possession can mean more than one thing. I wrote a bit more about it here: (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World)

[Jamie Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Familiar Spirit by Lisa Turtle

Sarah is looking to move on from the aftermath of a broken relationship and to do so she seeks new accommodation, somewhere she can be alone. Not to wallow over her ex but to prove she can live without him, without anyone. So it seems to be good to be true when she meets Valerie and the big house she wants to leave. Sarah quickly discovers that her first thought is absolutely right, it is too good to be true as her new abode is haunted by something hungry.

I am a sucker for a good haunted house story so I was instantly attracted to this book, and while it is that - a haunted house story - it also shares similarities with The Exorcist, featuring a possessing spirit from somewhere beyond our realm of understanding. A lot this book from the descriptions to the character interactions reminded me of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Which is high praise from me as I adore that book, however it doesn’t reach the heights of that book in terms of its scares, and there aren’t as many of them as I would like. Yes, there are the tense moments of Sarah exploring her new home and discovering it’s haunted, but once that discovery is made it’s awhile before the creepy factor comes back into the book.

[Cody | CodysBookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

lisa tuttle is a helluva talented writer, no doubt about that, and lost futures is one of my all-time favorite novels. a nest of nightmares is a fantastic horror story collection, too: it is perfect reading for the halloween season.

that’s why i finished familiar spirit (1983) a bit disappointed, deflated. tuttle’s debut novel mostly works, yeah, but i never felt a “spark” while reading. it never really reached out and grabbed me. still, tuttle is unafraid of strangeness; this book combines possession and sexuality in a way that really works. and tuttle has a firm grasp on the personal tragedy and changes her main character is going through.

the characters are fine, the plotting is fine, the scares are fine. the occasional creepy scene and banger ending makes this a solid 3 star for me. not quite as good as i’d hoped, but still worth checking out. but maybe start with a nest of nightmares.

[Andrew Schultheis · Rating 4 out of 5]

more like a 3.5 rounded up to 4

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/6P_H3_KV1rQ➡️ wrap-up

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic slow-burn of a witchy horror tale. It's sexy and gory, with a slight melancholy that's perfect for October. Lisa Tuttle is an exceptional writer; she strings you along effortlessly and keeps you breathlessly turning the pages. I could have done without the violence toward cats (animal lovers steer clear), though I have to admit beginning the book with a cat killing certainly made me uneasy from the get-go.

[SpookyBird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent haunted house story and breakup story. Goes places not many novels will go, and it doesn’t hold back.

[Amy Gentry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A messy, horny, creepy, cringe-y book about all the messy, horny, creepy, cringe-y things you do in the wake of a horrible breakup; an exploration of the grinding repetitions of abuse and trauma; and, just for fun, a weirdly comprehensive guided tour of '70s Austin, from Camp Mabry to the Drag to Bee Caves Road to Medical Arts Boulevard. Turns out Austinites in Lisa Tuttle's day weren't so different from you and me, except for the thing where they could rent a whole-ass haunted house at 35th and Mopac for $85/month. Even the evil shape-shifting warlock couldn't afford to live there now.

[Joe Xtarr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first quarter of this book is slow to develop, but then spins into a respectable story. Tuttle's writing style is bland and clinical and I didn't experience a single moment of tension or anticipation. The characters are shallow and there's never a point when I felt invested in their fate. I think this book shoots for more shock than suspense. Even with that in mind, it falls well enough short to be a disappointment.

Full of convenient solutions and predictable twists. If you can put its shortcomings aside, this is still a decently fun read. My mistake, I think, was taking it too seriously at first. If I had known this would be a cheap B-movie type vibe, I probably would have experienced it much differently, instead of constantly wondering whether or not I should put it down.

So, while I might never explicitly recommend this to anyone, there are definitely worse titles from this era, and I wouldn't caution avoidance for anyone curious about this one. How's that for a lukewarm review? Meh.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This probably would have been better as a novella. There’s a lot of wheel-spinning and scenes that could have been condensed, but it really picks up in the second act. Once it become apparent that the Big Bad is the psychic ghost of a horny warlock guy and not a demon, it gets a lot weirder and more interesting. I only wish it had gotten to that point sooner or didn’t wait so long to make that reveal.

There’s some interesting stuff here about toxic relationships that feels like a forerunner to A24-type horror, and it works for the most part. The ending is warped in a good way. I feel like I didn’t get as much out of this as a male reader, but it’s still an interesting read and a good companion piece to Tuttle’s “Nest of Nightmares”.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

eponymous sentence:
p91: "...He's only my little familiar spirit; my little Lunch."

le mot juste:
p14: Only the grey cement steps, a glimpse of the black tarpaper roof, and the bright red splotch of a crookedly leaning mailbox revealed the house to a passing observer.

p14: The house had been built on a slope, so that while the back door was only three wooden steps from the ground, an imposing flight of cement stairs rose more than ten feet to the sagging wooden porch and the front door.

ocr:
p61: But all she had wort was a resting-spell.

p84: Valerie looked down at Sarah'^ fingers and she pulled away, her whole body seeming to shrink and recoil from contact.

p87: "...You don>t know what it's like."

p88: "...I found her /there, lying on the floor...."

p97: But whatever he saw, standing in her place, mad his face twist with a loathing so strong that it frightened her, and she backed away from her friend, .realizing she was retreating only when she bumped into the wall.

p113: And, pressing Sarah's shoulder quickly, she .was gone.

p116: That photograph--the tom snapshot which she had found the day she had taken the house.

p122: I must meet this man, and 1 tremble at the thought.

p179: "I see... 1 understand...."

I like this better than Straub's Ghost Story (published 4 years earlier).

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's an interesting interplay here in the book, where the main character might be a little unreliable, and the supernatural events are just her justifying her own behavior. It doesn't hold up for the entire book -- the events here are DEFINITELY supernatural -- but there's enough of a chunk of the book where it's not clear. I think it adds to the book, that it's a little of both. It reminds me a bit of The Haunting of Hill House, though the premises and themes of both books are very different.

There aren't a lot of books where the last sentence can have such an effect on its story, but Familiar Spirit is one of them.

[Jenni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hell yeah, this was horny as fuck. I'm so greatful that Grady Hendrix did the whole Paperbacks from Hell thing because outside of it old Lisa Tuttle books are hard to find.

But yeah, it's horny, it has rituals and possession and a 'haunted house'. It's a real page turner that doesn't overstay its welcome. I just wish it had lesbians (sorry I just love them).

[A.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This shocker is as sensual as eerie. A demon possessing a house tries to gobble up every soul that comes his way. Yet you root for the protagonist, hoping she’ll do what no one else has been able to, escape him and destroy him. But is that hope futile?

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evil spirits and sexual frustration = an absorbing, fun read.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even for a horror fan like me, some of the character decisions made here are...special. It's basically like that movie The Entity but with way more wheel spinning and constant references to Austin nonsense

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW for animal abuse/death multiple times throughout the book. I just skipped sentences when I knew what was coming.

A another very good read from Valancourt Books. This was a fun one, easy to read in a day or two.

[Dana Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my fav paperback from hell

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

About as good as an erotic haunted house thriller can be.

[Jeanette Greaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a bit of a fan of Lisa Tuttle, I've been reading her books since forever, but until the internet came along, my reading was informed by what was on the shelves in the bookshop. Last year I found out that 'Gabriel' was not her first novel, so I promptly ordered this little treasure.

It's a classic tale of possession, and I wish I'd read and re-read it years ago.

[Jason Kron · Rating 4 out of 5]

It starts strong with a fight in the mirror with a demon and a cat. The ending is excellent, the last paragraph in particular. The low quantity of characters makes it especially easy to follow. And I never realized how important severed demon penises were to a story until I read this.

[Becca Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a fun and wild ride! It’s not perfect, but somehow the flaws just don’t really matter so much because the plot is so fun and occasionally there are bits that are just truly masterful—the diary section, in particular is beautiful prose.

Would like to point out that Tuttle is using the idea of horcruxes years before Rowling. At least that’s how I interpreted the haunted dildo.