The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft [Hardcover]

Thomas M. Disch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1999

Following The Businessman, The M.D., and The Priest, Thomas M. Disch, heralded by Newsweek as "the most formidably gifted unfamous American writer," now continues his masterful series of horror-fantasy novels set in his own "supernatural Minnesota."

At the very moment substitute teacher Diana Turney recovers memories of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, she finds herself weilding a potent brand of witchcraft: the Circe-like ability to turn people into their totemic animals. But once she unleashes these exhilarating matamorphoses on the citizens of the small hamlet of Leech Lake, she learns that she has not been given these powers so much as she has been given to them; that others, including her enemies, have similar gifts; that she has become the conduit of her ghastly father's evil energies, long dormant but now sprung to life; and that despite her unearthly gifts, escape this time might prove impossible.

A work of fiendishly pleasurable plotting and prose, The Sub weaves a myriad number of strands—including New Age, Native American, and fundamentalist thinking—into a tapestry that is ethically devious, blackly comic, and increasingly horrifying.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

All is not remotely well in the unusual town of Leech Lake, Minnesota. Substitute teacher Diana Turney has lost her job, and is finally beginning to recall long-lost memories of being molested by her father, Wes. To make matters worse, Wes's ghost is beginning to stir in the old smokehouse--the house that Diana has moved back into so she can take care of her sister's child, Kelly. Her sister has been shipped off to the big house to serve a year behind bars after taking a shot at her philandering husband, Carl.

Diana exacts her revenge on Carl by turning him into a pig, courtesy of some supernatural powers that she has recently inherited. But Diana's "gift" is slowly bringing her over to the dark side (and slowly turning the residents of Leech Lake into barnyard animals), with a bit of help from dear old dad out in the backyard. Luckily, there are a few good characters like Jim Cottonwood who keep things from getting totally out of hand. But Cottonwood is also in the joint, sentenced for a rape he didn't commit.

It may sound pretty confusing, but you'll find yourself thoroughly caught up in Thomas M. Disch's bizarre, satirical story of life, love, and death in the supernatural Midwest. --Craig Engler

From Publishers Weekly

Disch's Supernatural Minnesota novelsAwhich include The Businessman: A Tale of Terror; The M.D.: A Horror Story; and The Priest: A Gothic RomanceAcomprise a mock epic on modern American values. This new addition to the series builds on the achievement of its predecessors and secures his tenure as the Swift of supernatural satire. The titular "sub" is Diana Turney, a second-grade teacher hired by the Willowville elementary school after two of its faculty are prosecuted for satanic abuse of students. Diana seems just a harmless eccentricAprone to lacing her lessons with gleanings from her unorthodox beliefs in Wicca and vegetarianismAuntil a session with her astrologer-therapist uncovers repressed memories of sexual mistreatment by her father. Empowered by her new awareness, and aided by a magic herbal tea brewed from mandrake root, Diana becomes a latter-day Circe who entices men sexually and then transforms them physically into the image of their (mostly) piggish natures. This unsympathetic portrait of the victim turned predator is just part of Disch's broad and refreshingly unrestrained critique of our current culture of dysfunction and victimization, represented by a large cast of social misfits that includes Diana's sister Janet, who is serving a prison stint for shooting her husband during one of his adulterous liaisons, and her sexually na?ve paramour, Alan Johnson, who discovers he's been sired by his grandfather, a Protestant minister. Though the characters are tabloid fodder, and the ingredients of the complex plotAwhich include incest, parenticide, emasculation, serial murder, cannibalism and religious hypocrisyApotentially weighty, the novel is a light souffl? of black comedy, kept tantalizingly aloft by Disch's deadpan wit. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (June 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679442928
• ISBN-13: 978-0679442929
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,197,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another virtuoso entertainment, October 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft (Hardcover)

Tom Disch is an incredibly accomplished writer in numerous genres: science fiction, horror, short story, poetry, children's, essays, etc. Not only is his work page-turning entertainment, his style never fails. He throws off sentences like virtuoso jazz riffs. The Sub relates the story of a teacher in her 30's discovering her gift for witchcraft, venting her evil and that of her father's ghost by transforming family and acquaintances into beasts. This is being marketed as horror, and it may disappoint some conventional horror readers, as some other reviews suggest, because it differs in tone from more conventional fare. Disch is a comic writer, in the best cruel and distant tradition, with a deep knowledge of both classical mythology and Christianity. All of his fiction is both ironic and moral at the same time. If you like The Sub, check out The Businessman and On Wings of Song.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A delicious, devilish satire, June 7, 2000

By 

Randall Ivey "Randall" (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft (Hardcover)

Some previous reviewers seem to be missing the point when they call Disch a misogynist. Yes, he pokes fun at certain feminist and New Age shibboleths, but please note that he also targets religious fundamentalism as well, and the slimiest character in the book is not Diana but the incestuous reverend.

In any event, the novel is satire, which explains its sharp edge and unflinching eye. This is not Disch's best work, but it's mighty entertaining, funny, and, yes, frightening (the scene where Diana transforms her potential lover into a stag is particularly adept and scary).

Disch remains a consistently interesting writer worthy of much wider attention.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not very pleasant, May 8, 2002

By 

mrliteral - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft (Hardcover)

This is one of Disch's horror novels and - although stand-alone - is a companion novel to The MD, The Businessman and The Priest (the last of which I have not read). As with his other horror novels, Disch breaks away from normal conventions; no one would confuse his work with Stephen King in either content or tone.

This story follows the descent into evil of a woman as she becomes infected with the malignant spirit of her father. With her change in character come new and nasty powers.

The main flaw with this story is its general air of unpleasantness. There are few appealing characters and the book often has the feel of a rural soap opera. Nonetheless, this is a well-written book and for horror fans, it is a nice change-of-pace story.