Help me remember this smutty novel I read as a teen

January 22, 2014 9:53 AM

[NSFW Book Filter] I only remember vague details about the book, which involved witches, a coven, the devil/demon/Satan and explicit sex scenes.

I would have read this in the 90's, but it may have been published prior to that. I believe someone in my family bought a box of used books and it found its way into our bookcase.

The plot involved a young woman who discovers she is a witch, and witnesses her mother meeting with a coven that met regularly and practised dark magic.

Later on I believe the coven summons a demon/devil/Satan and the girl is tied down on an altar and forced to have sex with it.

I can't recall much else, but I've been trying to remember the name of this book for years and my searches have been coming up blank. Hopefully it's enough for the awesome power of Metafilter!

posted by stealthy_hippo to Writing & Language (8 answers total)

I vaguely remember reading Lasher by Anne Rice as a teenager, and all of this rings a bell, minus the "tied down at the altar" bit. If I recall, tying her down was not necessary!
posted by artemisia at 10:39 AM on January 22, 2014

Best answer: Is it Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop?
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:25 AM on January 22, 2014

I've read this book! Could it be Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg? I'll check my shelf of occult horror books when I get home but that is ringing bells for me.
posted by goo at 1:36 PM on January 22, 2014

Home now. I've checked Falling Angel and it definitely has that scene but some of the other details you give don't fit (the young woman is not the main protagonist, for a start). Worth checking out if you like that sort of thing anyway!
posted by goo at 3:42 PM on January 22, 2014

Witch Hill or one of the other occulty books by Marion Zimmer Bradley? I'm fairly sure that one at least has altar sex and a threesome and it was definitely one of those books that got passed around, heavily dog-eared, at school in the 90s.
posted by notquitemaryann at 4:37 PM on January 22, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions so far. It's definitely not Lasher, Falling Angel or Witch Hill.

Daughter of the Blood meets many of the criteria, but it was published in 1998, and I'm fairly certain that I read this book in the early 90's.

Words and themes that come to mind: daughter, mother, blood, bloodlines, dark magic, misandry, matriarchal society, coven, cult, witches, occult.
posted by stealthy_hippo at 8:05 AM on January 23, 2014

Hmm. Perhaps MZB's Dark Satanic? I no longer have a copy as it was utter rubbish and went straight to the charity shop as soon I'd finished it, and I can't find an English-language pdf that's not part of a huge torrent of her entire bibliography to check. It has a family element, definitely.
posted by goo at 12:17 PM on January 23, 2014

Could it be something by Tanith Lee? That scene sounds familiar and Tanith Lee is the name that popped into my head. I don't know which book it would be though, I haven't read her in years.
posted by BoscosMom at 7:27 PM on January 23, 2014