What do you think?
Rate this book
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes
Three dark and disturbing horror stories from an astonishing new voice, including the viral-sensation tale of obsession, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke . For fans of Kathe Koja, Clive Barker and Stephen Graham Jones. Winner of the Splatterpunk Award for Best Novella.
A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.
A couple isolate themselves on a remote island in an attempt to recover from their teenage son’s death, when a mysterious young man knocks on their door during a storm…
And a man confronts his neighbour when he discovers a strange object in his back yard, only to be drawn into an ever-more dangerous game.
Three devastating, beautifully written horror stories from one of the genre’s most cutting-edge voices.
What have you done today to deserve your eyes?
A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.
A couple isolate themselves on a remote island in an attempt to recover from their teenage son’s death, when a mysterious young man knocks on their door during a storm…
And a man confronts his neighbour when he discovers a strange object in his back yard, only to be drawn into an ever-more dangerous game.
Three devastating, beautifully written horror stories from one of the genre’s most cutting-edge voices.
What have you done today to deserve your eyes?
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 6, 2022
About the author
Eric LaRocca
47 books2,808 followersEric LaRocca (he/they) is a 2x Bram Stoker Award® finalist and Splatterpunk Award winner. Named by Esquire as one of the “Writers Shaping Horror’s Next Golden Age” and praised by Locus as “one of strongest and most unique voices in contemporary horror fiction,” LaRocca’s notable works include Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Everything the Darkness Eats, The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories, and You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood. His upcoming novel, At Dark, I Become Loathsome, will be published by Blackstone Publishing in January 2025 and has already been optioned for film by The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,001 reviews
March 30, 2024
2024 general additional thoughts: I've been thinking about Eric LaRocca's work and why I think their writing is not only very overrated but just plain bad.. and sure, they don't seem to rewrite anything and immediately publish everything they put to paper.. and sure, it seems like their work never is seen by an editor, leaving in all kinds of plotholes and incongruities.. and sure, their ideas are fine but pretty much never logically thought through, becoming non-sensical and decidedly sloppy.. but I think more than anything it's that their stories present themselves as psychological horror, without any of the actual psychological horror stuff. The characters are cardboard and barely behave or think like human beings, they jump to conclusions and extreme behaviour with almost no lead up. So you get visceral, icky descriptions without emotion. And where's the horror in that?
Original review: This was a big disappointment, mostly because I had seen how many people loved the first and titular story of the three published in this collection. It's certainly the best story here, but sadly that isn't saying much.
Things Have Gotten Worse (the story) starts very promising, a set up that slowly unfolds into scarily shifting barriers.. my problem is that it isn't slow enough, and could've been a real sea of dread washing over you. Now it's more of a glass of water in the face, short and semi-sharp, but also over quickly. This is a refrain that comes back to haunt us in the other two stories.
The second story, The Enchantment, is really quite bad. Characters' motivations make little sense, and change at the drop of a hat, without even leading to the story becoming more interesting. It feels like LaRocca has a bad grip on his characters, and a worse grip on what he is trying to say. (Also, how exactly is crucifying yourself to a cross supposed to work..?)
That's bad enough, but then the story's writing is also terrible. It's some of the most amateurish writing I have come across in a published book, in a long time. I could be wrong, but it reads like a detailed film treatment, badly rewritten to novella format. The writing is dull as dishwater, structurally boring and repetitive, very uninspired.
The third story isn't very good either, although it at least is written slightly better. Here we run across the same problems - the idea is that a character will be pushed over their own limits because they're stuck in social acceptable behaviours, and I don't buy it for a second. Especially not when it's built up this badly. I think an idea like this could work, but here it seems the main character complies with riskier and riskier requests, out of politeness. Politeness is a much too thin social behaviour to make this convincing.
There are some interesting ideas here, but they fall because of poor execution.
(Thanks to Titan Books for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)
Original review: This was a big disappointment, mostly because I had seen how many people loved the first and titular story of the three published in this collection. It's certainly the best story here, but sadly that isn't saying much.
Things Have Gotten Worse (the story) starts very promising, a set up that slowly unfolds into scarily shifting barriers.. my problem is that it isn't slow enough, and could've been a real sea of dread washing over you. Now it's more of a glass of water in the face, short and semi-sharp, but also over quickly. This is a refrain that comes back to haunt us in the other two stories.
The second story, The Enchantment, is really quite bad. Characters' motivations make little sense, and change at the drop of a hat, without even leading to the story becoming more interesting. It feels like LaRocca has a bad grip on his characters, and a worse grip on what he is trying to say. (Also, how exactly is crucifying yourself to a cross supposed to work..?)
That's bad enough, but then the story's writing is also terrible. It's some of the most amateurish writing I have come across in a published book, in a long time. I could be wrong, but it reads like a detailed film treatment, badly rewritten to novella format. The writing is dull as dishwater, structurally boring and repetitive, very uninspired.
The third story isn't very good either, although it at least is written slightly better. Here we run across the same problems - the idea is that a character will be pushed over their own limits because they're stuck in social acceptable behaviours, and I don't buy it for a second. Especially not when it's built up this badly. I think an idea like this could work, but here it seems the main character complies with riskier and riskier requests, out of politeness. Politeness is a much too thin social behaviour to make this convincing.
There are some interesting ideas here, but they fall because of poor execution.
(Thanks to Titan Books for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)
September 30, 2022
I read this in one sitting - really hit the spot for disturbing, grim stories I couldn’t look away from.
August 30, 2022
Unsettling. Unusual. Ultimately satisfying. These are the words that come to mind when I think about this collection.
I shouted to the world how much I loved the titular story when I first read it. You can read my review of it here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
In this volume, the above novella has been bundled with two new short stories:
THE ENCHANTMENT is the story of lost faith. Can it ever be regained? Should it be?
YOU'LL FIND IT'S LIKE THAT ALL OVER is the weird tale of a man who finds a bone in his yard. The bone leads him down a strange path, involving the man's racist spouse and his foreign neighbor. It also involves a lot of betting. Sounds weird, right? This tale is so off beat, yet completely satisfying. Therein the problem lies with me and weird fiction. I like weird, but I also want a conclusion to the story. For me a lot of supposedly great weird fiction stories have fallen flat..sometimes it's like there's no story at all. It drives me crazy. That is not the case with Eric LaRocca.
He writes stories that captivate your mind to the point where you don't care how weird it is, you must keep reading. You MUST. Failing to finish is not an option. That is where he rises above most weird fiction that I've read. It's so exciting to discover an author like this just as he's making a name for himself. I can't wait to read what he writes next!
My highest recommendation-most especially to lovers of weird, dark fiction!
*I won this book in a giveaway directly from the author. This in no way affected the contents of this review.*
I shouted to the world how much I loved the titular story when I first read it. You can read my review of it here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
In this volume, the above novella has been bundled with two new short stories:
THE ENCHANTMENT is the story of lost faith. Can it ever be regained? Should it be?
YOU'LL FIND IT'S LIKE THAT ALL OVER is the weird tale of a man who finds a bone in his yard. The bone leads him down a strange path, involving the man's racist spouse and his foreign neighbor. It also involves a lot of betting. Sounds weird, right? This tale is so off beat, yet completely satisfying. Therein the problem lies with me and weird fiction. I like weird, but I also want a conclusion to the story. For me a lot of supposedly great weird fiction stories have fallen flat..sometimes it's like there's no story at all. It drives me crazy. That is not the case with Eric LaRocca.
He writes stories that captivate your mind to the point where you don't care how weird it is, you must keep reading. You MUST. Failing to finish is not an option. That is where he rises above most weird fiction that I've read. It's so exciting to discover an author like this just as he's making a name for himself. I can't wait to read what he writes next!
My highest recommendation-most especially to lovers of weird, dark fiction!
*I won this book in a giveaway directly from the author. This in no way affected the contents of this review.*
December 3, 2023
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, yeah, that's an understatement! Epistolary novella about two women meeting in a chatroom and things going downhill from there. There are two other stories included in this edition, the first was the best.
September 16, 2022
This one is going to be harsh.
I thoroughly hated Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and yet, it only went downhill from there.
OVERALL
The writing seems inexperienced at best, amateruish at worst. To the point that I have reservations about reading other books from this same publisher (knowing that that is unfair.) Repetitive and unimaginative in its language. I have developed new pet peeves against the words/phrases "merely," "he/she/they sensed [bodily sensation]", and "what he/she/they didn't seem to notice was ..."
Forced use of similes that are often really jarring in ways that don't seem intentional.
Characterisation across all three novels are extremely bland and flat and motivations and emotional states of the characters are inconsistent/erratic for no purpose.
Edgelordy and juvenile in tone and often in how the topics are handled.
SPOILERS AHEAD
THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE
Positives
I liked the Oedipus element, the implication that Agnes will stab her eyes out after her girlfriend leaves her like her mother did. However, it was both underutilised and over-explained.
I liked the Prince Lindworm element a lot but I feel uncomfortable with how desperate these lesbians were to have a baby and the angst of not being able to give it to one another.
The premise is cool. Execution LACKING.
The rest...
The pacing is HORRIBLE and kills all emotional investment.
The characters are indistinguishable, their voices/lines stilted and overly performative.
This is one of those epistolary pieces that is anything but interested in being epistolary and is just BURSTING at the seems to be regular prose. Set it free, lord, please set it free from these confines that also contribute to the awful pacing.
Most of the horror elements are little stories that the two women tell each other and which have nothing to do with what you're here for — a downward spiral of a terrible, bad sadomasochistic relationship.
The awfulness of said relationship is juvenile and edgelordy in nature and it goes from 0 to 100 way too fast.
I would never, ever recommend this to anyone based on interest in sadomaschism. If a character, who is a grownass woman, is going to say, in all seriousness, that what she wants from a relationship would scare her love interest away, that she scares herself sometimes... Then she better not just be talking about a bloody 24h M/s relationship, good lord! It's just not that dark, fellas! Welcome to my twisted mind.
THE ENCHANTMENT
Cool idea, lacking in execution. It feels like a first draft that was never looked at again (did an editor read this?) and it feels like it was written with breaks where the writer forgot what they were doing in between writing sessions. I don't know what to tell you. I longed for The Road and for the heart fetishist story in The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. Among other things.
Things that could have been used to unsettle the reader (how does a teenager crucify themselves, alone? what's up with how they're about to run out of food almost immediately and yet somehow keep having access to food?) seem most of all like plot holes. Perhaps it was intentional but the skill is just not there to make it WORK. The surrealism/spooky elements are not given enough attention to not look like accidents/plot holes.
YOU'LL FIND IT'S LIKE THIS ALL OVER
I have never read Goosebumps but this is what I imagine Goosebumps is. The creepy factor is now in sub-zero territory.
Cool idea about how politeness and deference to social niceties gets us into some fucked up situations (like letting our husband's racism/xenophobia slide) but the execution is... Lacking.
You will have to sit through the main character painstakingly solving each word in one of those picture word puzzles despite the fact that by the second word, it is obvious that the result is the title of the story.
In all honesty, Things Have Gotten Worse nowhere near lives up to the hype and the other two pieces are of such quality that I would not be surprised to hear that they slipped past just for a chance to publish the overhyped THGW.
I thoroughly hated Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and yet, it only went downhill from there.
OVERALL
The writing seems inexperienced at best, amateruish at worst. To the point that I have reservations about reading other books from this same publisher (knowing that that is unfair.) Repetitive and unimaginative in its language. I have developed new pet peeves against the words/phrases "merely," "he/she/they sensed [bodily sensation]", and "what he/she/they didn't seem to notice was ..."
Forced use of similes that are often really jarring in ways that don't seem intentional.
Characterisation across all three novels are extremely bland and flat and motivations and emotional states of the characters are inconsistent/erratic for no purpose.
Edgelordy and juvenile in tone and often in how the topics are handled.
SPOILERS AHEAD
THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE
Positives
I liked the Oedipus element, the implication that Agnes will stab her eyes out after her girlfriend leaves her like her mother did. However, it was both underutilised and over-explained.
I liked the Prince Lindworm element a lot but I feel uncomfortable with how desperate these lesbians were to have a baby and the angst of not being able to give it to one another.
The premise is cool. Execution LACKING.
The rest...
The pacing is HORRIBLE and kills all emotional investment.
The characters are indistinguishable, their voices/lines stilted and overly performative.
This is one of those epistolary pieces that is anything but interested in being epistolary and is just BURSTING at the seems to be regular prose. Set it free, lord, please set it free from these confines that also contribute to the awful pacing.
Most of the horror elements are little stories that the two women tell each other and which have nothing to do with what you're here for — a downward spiral of a terrible, bad sadomasochistic relationship.
The awfulness of said relationship is juvenile and edgelordy in nature and it goes from 0 to 100 way too fast.
I would never, ever recommend this to anyone based on interest in sadomaschism. If a character, who is a grownass woman, is going to say, in all seriousness, that what she wants from a relationship would scare her love interest away, that she scares herself sometimes... Then she better not just be talking about a bloody 24h M/s relationship, good lord! It's just not that dark, fellas! Welcome to my twisted mind.
THE ENCHANTMENT
Cool idea, lacking in execution. It feels like a first draft that was never looked at again (did an editor read this?) and it feels like it was written with breaks where the writer forgot what they were doing in between writing sessions. I don't know what to tell you. I longed for The Road and for the heart fetishist story in The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. Among other things.
Things that could have been used to unsettle the reader (how does a teenager crucify themselves, alone? what's up with how they're about to run out of food almost immediately and yet somehow keep having access to food?) seem most of all like plot holes. Perhaps it was intentional but the skill is just not there to make it WORK. The surrealism/spooky elements are not given enough attention to not look like accidents/plot holes.
YOU'LL FIND IT'S LIKE THIS ALL OVER
I have never read Goosebumps but this is what I imagine Goosebumps is. The creepy factor is now in sub-zero territory.
Cool idea about how politeness and deference to social niceties gets us into some fucked up situations (like letting our husband's racism/xenophobia slide) but the execution is... Lacking.
You will have to sit through the main character painstakingly solving each word in one of those picture word puzzles despite the fact that by the second word, it is obvious that the result is the title of the story.
In all honesty, Things Have Gotten Worse nowhere near lives up to the hype and the other two pieces are of such quality that I would not be surprised to hear that they slipped past just for a chance to publish the overhyped THGW.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2022
TW: Animal deaths, animal murders, pregnancy issues, suicide, manipulation, relationship abuse, disturbing food scenes, toxic workplace, toxic family, bdsm, depression, divorce, loss of child, miscarriage, racism,
*****SPOILERS*****
About the book: A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.
A couple isolate themselves on a remote island in an attempt to recover from their teenage son’s death, when a mysterious young man knocks on their door during a storm…
And a man confronts his neighbor when he discovers a strange object in his back yard, only to be drawn into an ever-more dangerous game.
Release Date: September 6th, 2022
Genre: Horror
Pages: 288
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ (2.5)
What I Liked:
• Creepy story
• You have no idea what the point is
• Some parts are disgusting
• Format of telling the story
What I Didn't Like:
• The ending
• The writing seemed different on different conversations.
• All the animals killed (my poor heart)
Overall Thoughts:
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (original review from when I read in 2021) - I'm honestly surprised at all the hype around this book. This reads like a novella found on Kindle Unlimited (no insults to those authors but that's where you find the "odd" horror stories.) For me it felt like at certain points it was different people writing this book. We went from emails from Agnes where they were so poetically written and descriptive to IMs where she's just talking like hey and not much just watching tv. The writing just didn't seem to match. Little things bothered me about this book....They never talked about ages or anything personal. What happened to A/S/L? We only get Agnes' age from the authors note. It bothered me that Zoe asked for a photo of Agnes in her red dress but I remember digital cameras being expensive so she just whips one out on demand. Was there even a discussion on her even owning one? I just felt like a lot of things were left out and we were only getting a small picture of what happened. I found it odd that Agnes never pushed to talk on the phone or it was even brought up. Months went by and no one mentions a phone call. On another note... How the hell was Agnes living on the $1500 a month? Even in 2000 it's not that much.
The conversation from apple peeler to sexual talk happens so fast that it felt unbelievably rushed. No where in the conversation is it hinted at that there was something more than friendship. It's safe to assume that some parts might be missing since in the author's notes it's written; The author has noticeably marked these redacted elements with [omitted.] The absent contents remain in the archives of the Henley’s Edge Police Department and are strictly forbidden from being removed from their records." . So I guess some pages are missing.
I hated that it's made out the bdsm is just being selfish and personally pushing someone to do something they clearly don't want to do for the fun of it.
There are so many many scenes where living things are killed in this book that just made me sad. I had to skip over them because they are so graphic.
And last but not least the ending.... Why? Did the author not want us see her slip into madness anymore? I suppose it's already talked about in Agnes' emails that she's on the edge of killing herself. In one of the first emails we she says;
"I don’t know what I could possibly ever do to repay you, but just know that you have changed the life of someone who was seriously contemplating ending it all if things kept going the way they were going. It’s not as if I had a plan or anything. I didn’t go out and buy a rope or rat poison to stir in my morning coffee. But I was sincerely considering doing something to change my life in an irreversible way. You plucked me right from the edge before I was about to jump. I hope you know that."
So we already know she's desperate and she put a lot of trust and love into Zoe.
For the most part I enjoyed it but there was some stuff that bothered me. Definitely worth a read since it's so short and easy to get through with the email/IM format. I honestly think this book is an almost rip off of Dennis Cooper's "The Sluts" , which is one messed up book.
The Enchantment - There is ZERO way dude can nail himself to a cruifex by himself. Zero👏🏻! Like the only way you can nail your feet down is if you nail your wrists up first because your feet nailed to the board would not hold you up enough to finish hands. As soon as it's mentioned that this kid is building a cruifex you know he's going to nail himself to it. Didn't understand how this super religious person is chill with suicide.
This story was interesting. I wouldn't say this story had a twist. As she's slowly slipping into madness and desperation from missing her son Olive thinks the man that shows up is an angel here to save them. I didn't understand then how she ended up pregnant because I'm assuming that James couldn't get her pregnant. So the angel got her pregnant? But then when she crossed him by changing his room he made her lose the baby or were these things really miracles? It doesn't make sense then for the angel to take them. Were they going to die from a gas leak and that was when he was going to take them? I left with too many questions.
Upon reading the sections again I realize Olive and her husband have been dead all along. There was gas in the house that killed them the first night.
“Oh. A word of warning. Careful with the gas stovetop. The dial’s broken. Sometimes you think it’s off when it’s really not.”
Olive rushes out of the kitchen and up the stairs. What she doesn’t seem to notice is how the gas dial for the stovetop has been left on, gas hissing as it leaks into the air.
The ferryman and the steward arrive at the small cottage, Olive trailing close behind. They cover their mouths , coughing, the stench of gas greeting them as soon as they enter. “Gas. The stove,” the ferryman says. The steward dashes into the kitchen. He turns off the gas stovetop. Then, flings open a window.
You'll Find Its Like That All Over - This story wasn't terrible but it felt like a filler. For a moment it reminded me of a Goosebumps book. Very tame & lame. Forgettable.
Final Thoughts: Most of the time it feels as though this author sets you up with an interesting story with descripitive details for it, only to pull the rug from under you and NONE of that mattered. You're left with a bunch of shit that is pointless and a confusing ending that makes no sense. I'm convinced that this author is out there making stories that are confusing just to mess with us - the readers - and charge $15 for 100 page "books". Ah. The added stories did nothing for the book. They were meh okay but they didn't add anything to the story that the previous novella didn't already have.
IG | Blog
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
*****SPOILERS*****
About the book: A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.
A couple isolate themselves on a remote island in an attempt to recover from their teenage son’s death, when a mysterious young man knocks on their door during a storm…
And a man confronts his neighbor when he discovers a strange object in his back yard, only to be drawn into an ever-more dangerous game.
Release Date: September 6th, 2022
Genre: Horror
Pages: 288
Rating: ⭐ ⭐ (2.5)
What I Liked:
• Creepy story
• You have no idea what the point is
• Some parts are disgusting
• Format of telling the story
What I Didn't Like:
• The ending
• The writing seemed different on different conversations.
• All the animals killed (my poor heart)
Overall Thoughts:
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (original review from when I read in 2021) - I'm honestly surprised at all the hype around this book. This reads like a novella found on Kindle Unlimited (no insults to those authors but that's where you find the "odd" horror stories.) For me it felt like at certain points it was different people writing this book. We went from emails from Agnes where they were so poetically written and descriptive to IMs where she's just talking like hey and not much just watching tv. The writing just didn't seem to match. Little things bothered me about this book....They never talked about ages or anything personal. What happened to A/S/L? We only get Agnes' age from the authors note. It bothered me that Zoe asked for a photo of Agnes in her red dress but I remember digital cameras being expensive so she just whips one out on demand. Was there even a discussion on her even owning one? I just felt like a lot of things were left out and we were only getting a small picture of what happened. I found it odd that Agnes never pushed to talk on the phone or it was even brought up. Months went by and no one mentions a phone call. On another note... How the hell was Agnes living on the $1500 a month? Even in 2000 it's not that much.
The conversation from apple peeler to sexual talk happens so fast that it felt unbelievably rushed. No where in the conversation is it hinted at that there was something more than friendship. It's safe to assume that some parts might be missing since in the author's notes it's written; The author has noticeably marked these redacted elements with [omitted.] The absent contents remain in the archives of the Henley’s Edge Police Department and are strictly forbidden from being removed from their records." . So I guess some pages are missing.
I hated that it's made out the bdsm is just being selfish and personally pushing someone to do something they clearly don't want to do for the fun of it.
There are so many many scenes where living things are killed in this book that just made me sad. I had to skip over them because they are so graphic.
And last but not least the ending.... Why? Did the author not want us see her slip into madness anymore? I suppose it's already talked about in Agnes' emails that she's on the edge of killing herself. In one of the first emails we she says;
"I don’t know what I could possibly ever do to repay you, but just know that you have changed the life of someone who was seriously contemplating ending it all if things kept going the way they were going. It’s not as if I had a plan or anything. I didn’t go out and buy a rope or rat poison to stir in my morning coffee. But I was sincerely considering doing something to change my life in an irreversible way. You plucked me right from the edge before I was about to jump. I hope you know that."
So we already know she's desperate and she put a lot of trust and love into Zoe.
For the most part I enjoyed it but there was some stuff that bothered me. Definitely worth a read since it's so short and easy to get through with the email/IM format. I honestly think this book is an almost rip off of Dennis Cooper's "The Sluts" , which is one messed up book.
The Enchantment - There is ZERO way dude can nail himself to a cruifex by himself. Zero👏🏻! Like the only way you can nail your feet down is if you nail your wrists up first because your feet nailed to the board would not hold you up enough to finish hands. As soon as it's mentioned that this kid is building a cruifex you know he's going to nail himself to it. Didn't understand how this super religious person is chill with suicide.
This story was interesting. I wouldn't say this story had a twist. As she's slowly slipping into madness and desperation from missing her son Olive thinks the man that shows up is an angel here to save them. I didn't understand then how she ended up pregnant because I'm assuming that James couldn't get her pregnant. So the angel got her pregnant? But then when she crossed him by changing his room he made her lose the baby or were these things really miracles? It doesn't make sense then for the angel to take them. Were they going to die from a gas leak and that was when he was going to take them? I left with too many questions.
Upon reading the sections again I realize Olive and her husband have been dead all along. There was gas in the house that killed them the first night.
“Oh. A word of warning. Careful with the gas stovetop. The dial’s broken. Sometimes you think it’s off when it’s really not.”
Olive rushes out of the kitchen and up the stairs. What she doesn’t seem to notice is how the gas dial for the stovetop has been left on, gas hissing as it leaks into the air.
The ferryman and the steward arrive at the small cottage, Olive trailing close behind. They cover their mouths , coughing, the stench of gas greeting them as soon as they enter. “Gas. The stove,” the ferryman says. The steward dashes into the kitchen. He turns off the gas stovetop. Then, flings open a window.
You'll Find Its Like That All Over - This story wasn't terrible but it felt like a filler. For a moment it reminded me of a Goosebumps book. Very tame & lame. Forgettable.
Final Thoughts: Most of the time it feels as though this author sets you up with an interesting story with descripitive details for it, only to pull the rug from under you and NONE of that mattered. You're left with a bunch of shit that is pointless and a confusing ending that makes no sense. I'm convinced that this author is out there making stories that are confusing just to mess with us - the readers - and charge $15 for 100 page "books". Ah. The added stories did nothing for the book. They were meh okay but they didn't add anything to the story that the previous novella didn't already have.
IG | Blog
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced copy of the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
August 17, 2022
I flew through the pages of these three dark horror stories. Disturbing and thought provoking each has it’s own style.
A bizarre exchange between two women in a chat room.
A couple mourning their son on an isolated, creepy island.
An old man who finds something odd in his backyard gets drawn into a game right out of the movie saw.
They were creepy and atmospheric. I really enjoyed them.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is available September 6,2022.
Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for this arc in exchange for my honest review.
A bizarre exchange between two women in a chat room.
A couple mourning their son on an isolated, creepy island.
An old man who finds something odd in his backyard gets drawn into a game right out of the movie saw.
They were creepy and atmospheric. I really enjoyed them.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is available September 6,2022.
Thank you to Netgalley and Titan Books for this arc in exchange for my honest review.
October 6, 2022
SPOOKTOBER IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!!!
review to come!
July 31, 2023
You won’t eat me. No matter how much you enjoy the way I taste.
3 1/2 stars. This is a three-story collection, and yet the one I keep coming back to is the first and titular story, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, following Agnes and Zoe, two women meeting online and participating in over-the-internet BDSM. This one gets incredibly fucked up, and I found it genuinely fascinating.
Thematically, there is so much to unpack here with regards to consumption. SPOILER: The entire premise of 'my lover can't impregnate me so I will impregnate myself with something that will literally eat me alive, because that is the best representation of my lover' is so, so interesting. What is a bad relationship but a consumption of what you are, until you can manage to reproduce whatever has been eaten out of you?
I have one or two notes about this story. There are some sections where the voices of the writing just doesn't totally match - specifically, the IMs vs the incredibly poetic emails. Additionally, as Alexis Hall pointed out, Zoe's voice is really not very striking, which makes her much harder to believe. Also, as an extremely negative reviewer on this page pointed out, what she wants out of Agnes is, to start with, quite literally just 24/7 BDSM. A lot? Yeah. Horror movie, "you would be disgusted by me if you knew what I wanted" a lot? This is just what Christian Grey was into. (Tragically, Christian Grey wasn't into tapeworm reproduction.)
Second story The Enchantment follows James and Olive in the aftermath of the death of their son, and is essentially a slow descent into madness. It's solid horror and I really liked the ending, but found the pacing slightly off. Final story You'll Find Its Like That All Over is much shorter than the other two, and feels slightly out of place; I think this collection should have been shorter or longer to justify its inclusion. I was honestly somewhat underwhelmed by parts two and three, and think the first story - which is definitely a four on its own - could be edited more tightly.
Still absolutely love the first story, still glad I read this.
Blog | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | About |
Read
September 6, 2022Previously read the titular tale and loved it—jumped in today to read the two companion stories and after reading the author’s afterword, I think I understand the connection between all three. I’m still processing that second one. Still marinating; mulling it over :) a sign of provocative art
December 11, 2022
this book is like comically bad. the writing is very amateurish, typos included. very unsuccessful as a horror novel bc its all just stuff the author thought would be gross shoved in there for shock value with no buildup. two separate storylines which as far as i can tell were only included because the author thinks pregnancy is gross. also two separate crucifixion scenes? one in which a kid crucifies himself? somehow? very surface level christian imagery shoved in everywhere so people could include some of the writing snippets in their angelcore moodboards i guess. please give me back the hour i wasted reading this.
Read
August 19, 2022Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if they’re glowing. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book, then write a detailed review about it that some people on GR will look at would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.
*******************************************
Help, this was awful, and I mean that as a compliment.
What we have there are three thematically connected but otherwise distinct horror stories, which are queer in the sense that some of the involved characters are queer, rather than the horror is itself queer. I’m drawing that distinction somewhat cautiously because I don’t want to make sweeping statements about how queerness should (or does) manifest in modern horror. But I’m still so used to queerness being a direct source of horror to the mainstream that the kind of queer horror I’m most comfortable with is as a reader involves queer characters but isn’t directly queer focused in its themes.
Anyway, how the hell do you talk about horror: “I was deeply discomforted by these stories but in a way that reflected well on the skill and intentions of the author”? I admired the tonal and stylistic range between all three stories, although the first is probably the most impressively “voicey” of the three. In fact, it was probably a little bit unbalancing because, for me, it was the most striking and also incidentally the longest, taking up about the first 50% of the book, while the middle story is takes you to about 85%, and the final story fills up the last 15%. It’s probably an unfair quirk of perception, but the fact there’s only three stories, and they decrease so noticeably in length … it kind of makes the book as a whole feel like it’s deflating as it goes? Like an old party balloon. Or, um, a post-ejaculatory penis. The last story is the closest to optimistic that they get (which is, y’know, a highly qualified statement) so in that respect it’s a softer landing for the reader. But it also, perhaps inevitably, felt like a weaker one.
The first story is about the relationship between two women that evolves following a chance meeting on a queer ListServ back in the early 2000s. The exchange of emails and IMs is framed as part of a longer piece of journalism attached to an on-going police investigation, so you know from the beginning that it’s all going nowhere good. The second story concerns two parents dealing with the aftermath of their son’s suicide and involves hotel-sitting on an island over the winter and a mysterious visitor. And the last, is about an unhappily married man who gets trapped in an increasing series of outrageous bets with his sinister neighbour out of a crushing fear of being impolite. That last story: did the author need to get so fucking personal? Sheesh.
The three stories do complement each other in intriguing ways. As the afterward explains in, perhaps, unnecessary detail they’re all about the human need for connection, be in romantic, in faith and family, or just the overwhelming pressure to feel socially acceptable. While, in some cases, queerness does contribute to these characters’ sense of isolation there is something quite deeply horrifying—at least to me—to see that fundamental search for connection becoming increasingly twisted and detached from anything meaningful or real. The middle story has some explicitly supernatural elements, but in the first and last the awfulness is mostly kind of banal and human. And, because of that, incredibly effective. There’s a sort of flinching despair and incipient dread that wends its way through all three stories. Fun times. Good stuff.
Of the three, the second story is probably the weakest. There’s a lot going on it (death of a child, a failing marriage, an island hotel, a storm, a mysterious visitor who may be an angel, a demon or a child from the husband’s previous marriage, a sudden pregnancy, visions of the apocalypse, poisoned cabernet) and it’s all set against this backdrop of a world where the afterlife has apparently been scientifically proven to not exist. Like, maybe tell me more about that, please? And, now I’ve said it, I think possibly all of these stories could have benefited slightly from a bit more “maybe tell me more about that please”, especially when came to the characters. I mean, I gave up entirely on trying to understand Olive and James in Story II, but I think, in Story III, bit more grounding on how Mr Fowler’s overwhelming need to be accepted in all contexts manifests in his general life would have ratcheted the tension in his “now I am sucked into a sinister betting game” even further. In Story I, the fact we have direct access to Agnes’s voice, via her messages and emails, is extremely successful in creating our sense of her as a person (an extremely damaged person with a phenomenal turn of phrase), but Zoe (after her initial messages) feels just a touch less vivid. And, again, they jump from talking about an apple peeler to kinky sex disconcertingly quickly, even by the standards of a ListServ from the 2000s. And, believe me, disconcertingly quickly by the standards of a ListServ from the 2000s is incredibly fucking fast.
All of which said, this is an impressive, assured and genuinely discomforting trio of stories. I know I’ve sort of whined that I wanted slightly more characterisation and slightly slower pacing here, but I think it’s usually a good sign when you want more from a writer in general.
Do read with care, and check trigger warnings, if you’re not a horror aficionado. Or even if you are because, fucking hell, there’s some stuff in here.
Relevant disclaimers: none
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.
And remember: I am not here to judge your drag, I mean your book. Books are art and art is subjective. These are just my personal thoughts. They are not meant to be taken as broader commentary on the general quality of the work. Believe me, I have not enjoyed many an excellent book, and my individual lack of enjoyment has not made any of those books less excellent or (more relevantly) less successful.
Further disclaimer: Readers, please stop accusing me of trying to take down “my competition” because I wrote a review you didn’t like. This is complete nonsense. Firstly, writing isn’t a competitive sport. Secondly, I only publish reviews of books in the subgenre where I’m best known (queer romcom) if they’re glowing. And finally: taking time out of my life to read an entire book, then write a detailed review about it that some people on GR will look at would be a profoundly inefficient and ineffective way to damage the careers of other authors. If you can’t credit me with simply being a person who loves books and likes talking about them, at least credit me with enough common sense to be a better villain.
*******************************************
Help, this was awful, and I mean that as a compliment.
What we have there are three thematically connected but otherwise distinct horror stories, which are queer in the sense that some of the involved characters are queer, rather than the horror is itself queer. I’m drawing that distinction somewhat cautiously because I don’t want to make sweeping statements about how queerness should (or does) manifest in modern horror. But I’m still so used to queerness being a direct source of horror to the mainstream that the kind of queer horror I’m most comfortable with is as a reader involves queer characters but isn’t directly queer focused in its themes.
Anyway, how the hell do you talk about horror: “I was deeply discomforted by these stories but in a way that reflected well on the skill and intentions of the author”? I admired the tonal and stylistic range between all three stories, although the first is probably the most impressively “voicey” of the three. In fact, it was probably a little bit unbalancing because, for me, it was the most striking and also incidentally the longest, taking up about the first 50% of the book, while the middle story is takes you to about 85%, and the final story fills up the last 15%. It’s probably an unfair quirk of perception, but the fact there’s only three stories, and they decrease so noticeably in length … it kind of makes the book as a whole feel like it’s deflating as it goes? Like an old party balloon. Or, um, a post-ejaculatory penis. The last story is the closest to optimistic that they get (which is, y’know, a highly qualified statement) so in that respect it’s a softer landing for the reader. But it also, perhaps inevitably, felt like a weaker one.
The first story is about the relationship between two women that evolves following a chance meeting on a queer ListServ back in the early 2000s. The exchange of emails and IMs is framed as part of a longer piece of journalism attached to an on-going police investigation, so you know from the beginning that it’s all going nowhere good. The second story concerns two parents dealing with the aftermath of their son’s suicide and involves hotel-sitting on an island over the winter and a mysterious visitor. And the last, is about an unhappily married man who gets trapped in an increasing series of outrageous bets with his sinister neighbour out of a crushing fear of being impolite. That last story: did the author need to get so fucking personal? Sheesh.
The three stories do complement each other in intriguing ways. As the afterward explains in, perhaps, unnecessary detail they’re all about the human need for connection, be in romantic, in faith and family, or just the overwhelming pressure to feel socially acceptable. While, in some cases, queerness does contribute to these characters’ sense of isolation there is something quite deeply horrifying—at least to me—to see that fundamental search for connection becoming increasingly twisted and detached from anything meaningful or real. The middle story has some explicitly supernatural elements, but in the first and last the awfulness is mostly kind of banal and human. And, because of that, incredibly effective. There’s a sort of flinching despair and incipient dread that wends its way through all three stories. Fun times. Good stuff.
Of the three, the second story is probably the weakest. There’s a lot going on it (death of a child, a failing marriage, an island hotel, a storm, a mysterious visitor who may be an angel, a demon or a child from the husband’s previous marriage, a sudden pregnancy, visions of the apocalypse, poisoned cabernet) and it’s all set against this backdrop of a world where the afterlife has apparently been scientifically proven to not exist. Like, maybe tell me more about that, please? And, now I’ve said it, I think possibly all of these stories could have benefited slightly from a bit more “maybe tell me more about that please”, especially when came to the characters. I mean, I gave up entirely on trying to understand Olive and James in Story II, but I think, in Story III, bit more grounding on how Mr Fowler’s overwhelming need to be accepted in all contexts manifests in his general life would have ratcheted the tension in his “now I am sucked into a sinister betting game” even further. In Story I, the fact we have direct access to Agnes’s voice, via her messages and emails, is extremely successful in creating our sense of her as a person (an extremely damaged person with a phenomenal turn of phrase), but Zoe (after her initial messages) feels just a touch less vivid. And, again, they jump from talking about an apple peeler to kinky sex disconcertingly quickly, even by the standards of a ListServ from the 2000s. And, believe me, disconcertingly quickly by the standards of a ListServ from the 2000s is incredibly fucking fast.
All of which said, this is an impressive, assured and genuinely discomforting trio of stories. I know I’ve sort of whined that I wanted slightly more characterisation and slightly slower pacing here, but I think it’s usually a good sign when you want more from a writer in general.
Do read with care, and check trigger warnings, if you’re not a horror aficionado. Or even if you are because, fucking hell, there’s some stuff in here.
November 9, 2022
This review assumes you have read the book. Otherwise, my recommendation is do not read it.
This book is actual garbage. The writing is absolutely atrocious. LaRocca is an immature author who does not possess the ability to create a character of any substance. Every character lies on one side of a choice while another character is on the opposite side of that choice. There is no nuance at all. "Hey I want to do this" "I don't want to do this" "Okay grr" "Grr" That is the exact scenario LaRocca is limited to in his dialogue interaction. The lack of any driving force behind characters is in part due to the inability of LaRocca to write female characters. Every female character is subject to the stereotypes of hysteria and fickleness. So of course when they manically change their minds for no reason it makes them feel like a marionette for the author puppeteer to dance towards some strange end. His entire effort is spent on working towards some shock purely for the value of shock. There is no compelling story here, no interesting motivation the characters have, only a train chugging for 5 minutes to get to a poorly described destination of grotesquery.
And the destination of the title story is so vague as to be a frustrating nothingness. I literally cannot imagine what this woman is going to do with an apple peeler and a defecated tapeworm. Not because I don't have a capably gross mind, but because nothing makes sense. Is she going to peel the worm? Peel her skin somehow in a helical shape, only to see she's unable to reinsert the tapeworm? Is she going to bake an apple pie in her bathroom? I thought an apropos ending using Chekhov's apple peeler may be Agnes piercing her eyes because she does not deserve them (the repeated motif). But it's an extremely gratuitous stretch to reach that ending.
Ironically, the second 'misfortune' is such a common and boring trope it is essentially the same level of nothingness. She is a ghost and someone walked through her and now she's trapped in this earthly purgatory. This is the least creative ending anyone could have done with ghosts. Sixth Sense, The Haunting of Bly Manor (The Turn of the Screw), SCOOBY DOO showcase this sort of ending. It is not allegorical, like The House that Jack Built. It's not an insight into a character's mind, like The Shining. It's just a childish trope.
There are many portions that make it impossible to suspend a sense of disbelief. No one posts their life story trying to sell an apple peeler on a LGBTQ forum. A tapeworm can live hooked in the intestinal wall for years. And a baby cannot kick after one month of fetal development. Seriously, some basic cursory research (google searches really) would have gone a long way.
This book is actual garbage. The writing is absolutely atrocious. LaRocca is an immature author who does not possess the ability to create a character of any substance. Every character lies on one side of a choice while another character is on the opposite side of that choice. There is no nuance at all. "Hey I want to do this" "I don't want to do this" "Okay grr" "Grr" That is the exact scenario LaRocca is limited to in his dialogue interaction. The lack of any driving force behind characters is in part due to the inability of LaRocca to write female characters. Every female character is subject to the stereotypes of hysteria and fickleness. So of course when they manically change their minds for no reason it makes them feel like a marionette for the author puppeteer to dance towards some strange end. His entire effort is spent on working towards some shock purely for the value of shock. There is no compelling story here, no interesting motivation the characters have, only a train chugging for 5 minutes to get to a poorly described destination of grotesquery.
And the destination of the title story is so vague as to be a frustrating nothingness. I literally cannot imagine what this woman is going to do with an apple peeler and a defecated tapeworm. Not because I don't have a capably gross mind, but because nothing makes sense. Is she going to peel the worm? Peel her skin somehow in a helical shape, only to see she's unable to reinsert the tapeworm? Is she going to bake an apple pie in her bathroom? I thought an apropos ending using Chekhov's apple peeler may be Agnes piercing her eyes because she does not deserve them (the repeated motif). But it's an extremely gratuitous stretch to reach that ending.
Ironically, the second 'misfortune' is such a common and boring trope it is essentially the same level of nothingness. She is a ghost and someone walked through her and now she's trapped in this earthly purgatory. This is the least creative ending anyone could have done with ghosts. Sixth Sense, The Haunting of Bly Manor (The Turn of the Screw), SCOOBY DOO showcase this sort of ending. It is not allegorical, like The House that Jack Built. It's not an insight into a character's mind, like The Shining. It's just a childish trope.
There are many portions that make it impossible to suspend a sense of disbelief. No one posts their life story trying to sell an apple peeler on a LGBTQ forum. A tapeworm can live hooked in the intestinal wall for years. And a baby cannot kick after one month of fetal development. Seriously, some basic cursory research (google searches really) would have gone a long way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2023
[abby lee miller voice] BORING. YAWNING. SLOPPY. LAZY.
there are three stories collected in this book and all three of them are shit from a butt. just a goddamn waste of my time.
things have gotten worse since we last spoke:
just so dumb. people have called this "horrifying" when it's really just a bit gross, boring, and overall pointless. is this really what wlw have to settle for while mlm get all the gorgeously written queer horror? bye...
the enchantment:
the shining meets catholicism meets the lighthouse (2019)... this was my favorite out of the three but it still fell flat in the end. too much buildup for a mediocre ending
you'll find it's like that all over:
i would've maybe enjoyed this if they didn't explain the point of the story at the very end 💀💀💀 LIKEHSJFHD imagine if all authors just started telling us what their stories are about on the last page just in case the reader is fucking stupid
what a bad start into the new year
there are three stories collected in this book and all three of them are shit from a butt. just a goddamn waste of my time.
things have gotten worse since we last spoke:
just so dumb. people have called this "horrifying" when it's really just a bit gross, boring, and overall pointless. is this really what wlw have to settle for while mlm get all the gorgeously written queer horror? bye...
the enchantment:
the shining meets catholicism meets the lighthouse (2019)... this was my favorite out of the three but it still fell flat in the end. too much buildup for a mediocre ending
you'll find it's like that all over:
i would've maybe enjoyed this if they didn't explain the point of the story at the very end 💀💀💀 LIKEHSJFHD imagine if all authors just started telling us what their stories are about on the last page just in case the reader is fucking stupid
what a bad start into the new year
September 14, 2022
4 stars
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke ages like fine wine, the new materials are just fine, not as immediately impactful or fully fleshed out; considering this short stories collection as '1 feature presentation + 2 bonus materials' then you won't be disappointed.
There's an evident thread across all 3 stories — the desperate desire for human connection. The new stories, The Enchantment and You'll Find It's Like That All Over, while each manage to tackle the collective theme from a provocative perspective, both are a couple steps away from feeling polished or as cohesive as THGWSWLS.
The Enchantment has a very powerful opening (reminds me of the suffocating dread of a Ari Aster film), and some beautifully depicted imagery, but it also meanders aimlessly (particularly during the middle), and never fully explores the intriguing spirituality inquiry it puts forward at the start.
You'll Find It's Like That All Over is simply way too short to let its intention breathe, resulting in the whole thing feeling under-baked and oversimplified — I get its message, but the execution is very bare-bone.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke basically carries the star rating for this short stories collection, which remains powerful (and grotesque) upon re-read. The remainder is inoffensive at best, forgettable at worst — if you're expecting a consistent caliber as THGWSWLS, you may find the overall experience a slight letdown .
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke ages like fine wine, the new materials are just fine, not as immediately impactful or fully fleshed out; considering this short stories collection as '1 feature presentation + 2 bonus materials' then you won't be disappointed.
There's an evident thread across all 3 stories — the desperate desire for human connection. The new stories, The Enchantment and You'll Find It's Like That All Over, while each manage to tackle the collective theme from a provocative perspective, both are a couple steps away from feeling polished or as cohesive as THGWSWLS.
The Enchantment has a very powerful opening (reminds me of the suffocating dread of a Ari Aster film), and some beautifully depicted imagery, but it also meanders aimlessly (particularly during the middle), and never fully explores the intriguing spirituality inquiry it puts forward at the start.
You'll Find It's Like That All Over is simply way too short to let its intention breathe, resulting in the whole thing feeling under-baked and oversimplified — I get its message, but the execution is very bare-bone.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke basically carries the star rating for this short stories collection, which remains powerful (and grotesque) upon re-read. The remainder is inoffensive at best, forgettable at worst — if you're expecting a consistent caliber as THGWSWLS, you may find the overall experience a slight letdown .
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
September 5, 2022
The need for human connection. To feel understood, validated, a little less alone. Taking a chance on one another, each risk leading to yet another gamble. These three stories show what lengths some may take to fill the void. Story one is set between 2 women in an online chat room. Story two is set between a married couple and an unexpected visitor on an isolated, remote island. Story three is set between two neighbors in a quiet cul-de-sac.... only there is nothing quiet about it. None of these tales will end the way you might predict. This is Eric LaRocca and his words are seeking a connection of their own, leaving an impression on the reader with dark memories not soon forgotten.
Thank you to the following for permitting me access to an advance reader's copy (ARC) of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes. This generosity did not impact my honesty when rating/reviewing.
Source: NetGalley
Author: Eric LaRocca
Publisher: Titan Books
Genres: Horror
Pub Date: September 6, 2022
Thank you to the following for permitting me access to an advance reader's copy (ARC) of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes. This generosity did not impact my honesty when rating/reviewing.
Source: NetGalley
Author: Eric LaRocca
Publisher: Titan Books
Genres: Horror
Pub Date: September 6, 2022
September 22, 2022
This book kind of blew me away 😅 I’ve been waiting months to read “Things have gotten worse since we last spoke”. It’s the story of a woman named Agnes who’s desperate to feel anything but lonely .
Then you have “The Enchantment “the story of a couple name Olive and James. They are trying to recover from the loss of their child , repair their marriage and find faith .
Last in this book you have “You”ll find it’s like that all over” the story of Mr. Fowler who finds a bone in his yard. The bone in turn leads him to his neighbor where his will to be polite and fit in are tested.
This book was definitely one of the better ones I’ve read this year. And one of the very few I can say that each story was as good as the last . It was well worth my wait. Highly recommend to anyone that likes the dark and macabre.
Then you have “The Enchantment “the story of a couple name Olive and James. They are trying to recover from the loss of their child , repair their marriage and find faith .
Last in this book you have “You”ll find it’s like that all over” the story of Mr. Fowler who finds a bone in his yard. The bone in turn leads him to his neighbor where his will to be polite and fit in are tested.
This book was definitely one of the better ones I’ve read this year. And one of the very few I can say that each story was as good as the last . It was well worth my wait. Highly recommend to anyone that likes the dark and macabre.
August 29, 2022
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last
Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca is a collection of three short stories. Included are Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, The Enchantment, and You'll Find it's Like that all Over. I'm not going to write a synopsis because I highly recommend going into this completely blind. Also, I truly feel like I couldn't write a fair enough blurb without spoiling anything for readers.
Without giving anything away I will say that all three stories have a reoccurring theme but each story is unique in its own style which shows the author has a lot of range. This is my first read by the author and I am very impressed by his writing. I loved how each story evoked a strong emotion in me and I loved how each story was vastly different. The author managed to keep my interest piqued and had me dying to learn what would happen next.
This book will not be for everyone. It’s very dark and at times gruesome with no happy endings. I'm not a big fan of gore and I honestly felt as if some of those elements could have been removed and it wouldn't have taken away from the overall story. Since it contains a ton of things that could be triggering, I will only recommend it to only seasoned horror readers.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last
Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca will be available on September 6. Many thanks to Netgalley and Titan Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca is a collection of three short stories. Included are Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, The Enchantment, and You'll Find it's Like that all Over. I'm not going to write a synopsis because I highly recommend going into this completely blind. Also, I truly feel like I couldn't write a fair enough blurb without spoiling anything for readers.
Without giving anything away I will say that all three stories have a reoccurring theme but each story is unique in its own style which shows the author has a lot of range. This is my first read by the author and I am very impressed by his writing. I loved how each story evoked a strong emotion in me and I loved how each story was vastly different. The author managed to keep my interest piqued and had me dying to learn what would happen next.
This book will not be for everyone. It’s very dark and at times gruesome with no happy endings. I'm not a big fan of gore and I honestly felt as if some of those elements could have been removed and it wouldn't have taken away from the overall story. Since it contains a ton of things that could be triggering, I will only recommend it to only seasoned horror readers.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last
Spoke And Other Misfortunes by Eric LaRocca will be available on September 6. Many thanks to Netgalley and Titan Books for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
June 18, 2024
Dziwne, niepokojące, cudowne!
4.5 ⭐️
4.5 ⭐️
November 2, 2024
This is bad horror. In a storyline in which it would not have been hard to maintain story logic from front to back, the plot still makes no sense. So overhyped. And the filler stories in the collection didn't make even the smallest impression. Somebody please tell me why everyone is in love with this writer?
Full review:
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. They definitely get points for horrifying situations and descriptions. Trigger warning for disordered eating, forced eating, rotten food, food poisoning.
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. The author is taking us the long way into the story, which isn't bad necessarily. But it is absurd.
2. This is an exceedingly sad book: I think all of us feel empty most of the time and we merely pretend to fill the vacuum with laughter, crying, apologies—anything to make us feel human. p73
3. This form is a nightmare for a screen reader. I think it bothers me because the format in which text messages are written typically, using text bubbles on both sides of the "paper," wouldn't have fought with the screen reader. Why did the author write them in this laborious way?
4. Why isn't this story more logical? It's not a complicated concept.
5. These characters are not remotely relatable or likeable. They're not even unlikable. They have all the substance of bug farts.
6. I didn't realize this was a collection of stories. But honestly, the first novella is so shocking (and shockingly bad), the others sort of get lost in its horribleness.
Rating: 🪱 /5 wiggly worms
Recommend? Not even a little
Finished: Oct 29 '24
Format: Digital, Kindle, Libby
Read this book if you like:
👻 horror stories
🩸 gore / splatterpunk
👨👩👧👦 family stories, family drama
☠️ toxic relationships
✝️ religious horror
🫁 body horror
I found a digital copy of Things Have Gotten Worse Between Us by Eric La Rocca on Libby. All views are mine.
Full review:
Three (or more) things I loved:
1. They definitely get points for horrifying situations and descriptions. Trigger warning for disordered eating, forced eating, rotten food, food poisoning.
Three (or less) things I didn't love:
This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.
1. The author is taking us the long way into the story, which isn't bad necessarily. But it is absurd.
2. This is an exceedingly sad book: I think all of us feel empty most of the time and we merely pretend to fill the vacuum with laughter, crying, apologies—anything to make us feel human. p73
3. This form is a nightmare for a screen reader. I think it bothers me because the format in which text messages are written typically, using text bubbles on both sides of the "paper," wouldn't have fought with the screen reader. Why did the author write them in this laborious way?
4. Why isn't this story more logical? It's not a complicated concept.
5. These characters are not remotely relatable or likeable. They're not even unlikable. They have all the substance of bug farts.
6. I didn't realize this was a collection of stories. But honestly, the first novella is so shocking (and shockingly bad), the others sort of get lost in its horribleness.
Rating: 🪱 /5 wiggly worms
Recommend? Not even a little
Finished: Oct 29 '24
Format: Digital, Kindle, Libby
Read this book if you like:
👻 horror stories
🩸 gore / splatterpunk
👨👩👧👦 family stories, family drama
☠️ toxic relationships
✝️ religious horror
🫁 body horror
I found a digital copy of Things Have Gotten Worse Between Us by Eric La Rocca on Libby. All views are mine.
July 11, 2022
A set of three short works, all falling into that bleak, almost nihilistic type of horror. This style is hit or miss for me, sometimes it all just works like gangbusters and sometimes I feel like it's piling on for piling on's sake. These all are in the middle for me, a few recurring themes that are nice since the three stories are very very different otherwise.
I think one of the problems with these types of stories, especially after word of mouth says it's going to really mess you up, is that it can be kind of hard to live up to. Perhaps it is that I am old and seen too much but the BDSM elements in the first story were not all that shocking to me. The body horror was definitely the more effective piece, but I struggled with that first novella because it just never fully clicked for me. The characters felt built around the story rather than the story around the characters. In a story with only two people told entirely through emails and IM's, one of the two is basically a cipher, so empty that it's hard to instill the meaning that's necessary to make the rest of it work.
Third story may have actually been the best in terms of being a cohesive whole, though it was clunky in a few spots.
All that said I think LaRocca is interesting and I'll definitely be paying attention to their work in the future. It's particularly nice reading horror with queer characters that don't go too heavy on the queer suffering. (There's some in the first story that I think comes on much too strong and detracts from the overall effect.)
I think one of the problems with these types of stories, especially after word of mouth says it's going to really mess you up, is that it can be kind of hard to live up to. Perhaps it is that I am old and seen too much but the BDSM elements in the first story were not all that shocking to me. The body horror was definitely the more effective piece, but I struggled with that first novella because it just never fully clicked for me. The characters felt built around the story rather than the story around the characters. In a story with only two people told entirely through emails and IM's, one of the two is basically a cipher, so empty that it's hard to instill the meaning that's necessary to make the rest of it work.
Third story may have actually been the best in terms of being a cohesive whole, though it was clunky in a few spots.
All that said I think LaRocca is interesting and I'll definitely be paying attention to their work in the future. It's particularly nice reading horror with queer characters that don't go too heavy on the queer suffering. (There's some in the first story that I think comes on much too strong and detracts from the overall effect.)
January 17, 2023
"I guess that’s what makes people do horrible things- they think whatever they’re doing isn’t nearly as bad as what somebody else will do."
This book spoke to me as soon as I’ve seen the cover. It’s grotesque but beautiful at the same time. That may sound weird but it contains something that is very appealing to the eyes.
When I started reading this, I was confused and very intrigued. Not knowing what was going on or what to expect was thrilling. The further I progressed in the story, the more darkness surrounded me. This is what true dark obsession is like. It really begs the question of how far would you go to please the one you love?
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes was a cruel masterpiece. This is exactly what I love about horror novels. They suck you in with a story where you have no idea where it’ll lead and then it ends in such a shocking and horrifying way. It was genius.
What have you done today to deserve your eyes?
This book spoke to me as soon as I’ve seen the cover. It’s grotesque but beautiful at the same time. That may sound weird but it contains something that is very appealing to the eyes.
When I started reading this, I was confused and very intrigued. Not knowing what was going on or what to expect was thrilling. The further I progressed in the story, the more darkness surrounded me. This is what true dark obsession is like. It really begs the question of how far would you go to please the one you love?
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes was a cruel masterpiece. This is exactly what I love about horror novels. They suck you in with a story where you have no idea where it’ll lead and then it ends in such a shocking and horrifying way. It was genius.
What have you done today to deserve your eyes?
September 1, 2022
Julia Lloyd’s cover art might have been what brought me here in the first place but I was sucked in by each of the three stories included in this collection.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
Over the course of three months, Agnes and Zoe exchanged a series of emails and instant messages. This redacted communication give you unprecedented access to their relationship, which continually ups the ante in its toxicity. It’s compelling and cringey and unsettling, and I couldn’t look away. And to think, this all happened because of an apple peeler.
Parents grieving the loss of their son become winter caretakers on an island. A knock at the door changes everything.
Mr. Fowler finds something in his backyard that shouldn’t be there. His discovery leads him to his neighbour’s home, where the stakes are raised.
The son’s manner of death in The Enchantment didn’t seem physically possible but, because it fit with one of the themes of the story, I wasn’t overly concerned about the question marks that popped up over my head when I read about it.
The story that’s going to stay with me the longest is Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, especially the scene describing Agnes’ dinner. I definitely want to read more books by this author.
Content warnings include mention of .
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this collection. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
Over the course of three months, Agnes and Zoe exchanged a series of emails and instant messages. This redacted communication give you unprecedented access to their relationship, which continually ups the ante in its toxicity. It’s compelling and cringey and unsettling, and I couldn’t look away. And to think, this all happened because of an apple peeler.
“What have you done today to deserve your eyes?”The Enchantment
Parents grieving the loss of their son become winter caretakers on an island. A knock at the door changes everything.
“I’m here to share a message”You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over
Mr. Fowler finds something in his backyard that shouldn’t be there. His discovery leads him to his neighbour’s home, where the stakes are raised.
“But I bet you’d fancy another bet.”I flew through this book. While I wish there were more stories included, I enjoyed all three. There’s a common theme of connection and some very memorable scenes of body horror.
The son’s manner of death in The Enchantment didn’t seem physically possible but, because it fit with one of the themes of the story, I wasn’t overly concerned about the question marks that popped up over my head when I read about it.
The story that’s going to stay with me the longest is Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, especially the scene describing Agnes’ dinner. I definitely want to read more books by this author.
Content warnings include mention of .
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this collection. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
August 27, 2022
3 stars--I liked the book. Content warnings for animal violence.
This collection includes three stories. Overall I enjoyed them, but they were all very short--the first one is barely a novella, and the other two are short stories.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke: Definitely the best of the bunch, and I always enjoy a story in email/text format, but I wish we had more character development. Things happened quickly and I didn't feel like I really knew the characters. Great ending.
The Enchantment: I liked the elements of religious horror, but again felt it was too short/not enough character development.
You'll Find It's Like That All Over: A fragment. Enjoyable, but just a few pages long.
I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!
This collection includes three stories. Overall I enjoyed them, but they were all very short--the first one is barely a novella, and the other two are short stories.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke: Definitely the best of the bunch, and I always enjoy a story in email/text format, but I wish we had more character development. Things happened quickly and I didn't feel like I really knew the characters. Great ending.
The Enchantment: I liked the elements of religious horror, but again felt it was too short/not enough character development.
You'll Find It's Like That All Over: A fragment. Enjoyable, but just a few pages long.
I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!
September 30, 2024
This is a collection of two novellas and a short story, and I had already read the titular novella, which I had enjoyed, and that's why I wanted to check out this collection. However, I didn’t really like the other two stories. Everything felt a little under-baked and sophomoric. The writing style wasn’t interesting, it just felt rough. It could be argued to be brutalist and blunt, but it didn’t feel intentional, just like it needed more work. The stories had interesting ideas but that wasn’t really enough, for me. If not for the titular novella this collection would be two stars.
October 16, 2022
In the name of ‘’exactly not the kind of book for me’’, I hereby do not like this one.
September 1, 2022
Thank you to Titan for sending me a copy, I really appreciate it and sorry for rating it so low, but here is my honest review. This book would probably be ok if you want a very easy shock value horror, however l was really disappointed by this as a whole. Each story fell flat for me and I had expected more from the writing. The characters in all three stories felt undeveloped and two dimensional and the plots, though interesting concepts, felt less well executed than I’d hoped.
** spoilers ahead **
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
First of all, the things I enjoyed were the epistolary format and the overall idea of the story. However, I think the only reason this is popular is because of shock value.
I understand that character development is difficult given the format, but i found that the two characters didn’t even have distinct voices and I often had to double check whose email or message I was reading. This lack of character development means that I struggled to believe their relationship even from Agnes’ side which was meant to appear genuine throughout. This meant that it didn’t make sense that Agnes ever agreed to do anything, even just putting on the red dress. It felt like they barely knew each other and I feel like a lot of the horror could have come from the realisation that someone we had learn to trust and know could ask these things of her but since we didn’t know Zoe well enough this didnt come through at all. I also felt there was no decline which was intended to be the main part of horror aside from shock value. It really went from 0 to 100 in terms of the decline of Agnes’ mental stability and it felt like we didn’t see enough build up or cracks to warrant a breakdown on this scale.
I also had an issue with the way the characters texted. As well as showing no personal information or personality to get to know each other, the way they spoke felt really forced and unconvincing. It felt like the author was trying to show off their writing skills, meaning the characters texted as it they were authors in awkward superfluous language rather than speaking as though they are actually human.
Finally and most importantly was the issue of lesbian trauma being used as a horror trope. I don’t feel good about the fact that this wasn’t written by a sapphic person because it made me feel extremely uncomfortable and unhappy with the way it was handled.
The Enchantment
This was just fine. Again, it had an interesting concept but the execution left something to be desired. Once again, the characters were bland and unbelievable and the story simultaneously felt drawn out and underdeveloped. The first plot point was way too predictable and also logistically impossible, how does someone crucify themselves? I also found the story, though having quite a good atmosphere and being potentially interesting, didn’t really make sense. I guess this was due to them being dead all along but even that wasn’t made clear at the end and the reason for everything that happened wasn’t either. I found it forgettable and undeveloped.
You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over
Once again, it was just ok. I felt that the characters had a bit more personality than the ones in previous stories, but I still felt they lacked discernible motivation for anything that happened. I also don’t realy understand why Mr Fowlers husband was such a violent racist. I didn’t find it added anything to the story and the fact that although he says he disagrees, Fowler doesn’t seem to really care and is not shown to refute it at any point. For me it just felt like the inclusion of violent racism for no reason whatsoever and, while Im not sure this is problematic it was definitely unnecessary and uncomfortable (but not in the way horror should be.)
** spoilers ahead **
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
First of all, the things I enjoyed were the epistolary format and the overall idea of the story. However, I think the only reason this is popular is because of shock value.
I understand that character development is difficult given the format, but i found that the two characters didn’t even have distinct voices and I often had to double check whose email or message I was reading. This lack of character development means that I struggled to believe their relationship even from Agnes’ side which was meant to appear genuine throughout. This meant that it didn’t make sense that Agnes ever agreed to do anything, even just putting on the red dress. It felt like they barely knew each other and I feel like a lot of the horror could have come from the realisation that someone we had learn to trust and know could ask these things of her but since we didn’t know Zoe well enough this didnt come through at all. I also felt there was no decline which was intended to be the main part of horror aside from shock value. It really went from 0 to 100 in terms of the decline of Agnes’ mental stability and it felt like we didn’t see enough build up or cracks to warrant a breakdown on this scale.
I also had an issue with the way the characters texted. As well as showing no personal information or personality to get to know each other, the way they spoke felt really forced and unconvincing. It felt like the author was trying to show off their writing skills, meaning the characters texted as it they were authors in awkward superfluous language rather than speaking as though they are actually human.
Finally and most importantly was the issue of lesbian trauma being used as a horror trope. I don’t feel good about the fact that this wasn’t written by a sapphic person because it made me feel extremely uncomfortable and unhappy with the way it was handled.
The Enchantment
This was just fine. Again, it had an interesting concept but the execution left something to be desired. Once again, the characters were bland and unbelievable and the story simultaneously felt drawn out and underdeveloped. The first plot point was way too predictable and also logistically impossible, how does someone crucify themselves? I also found the story, though having quite a good atmosphere and being potentially interesting, didn’t really make sense. I guess this was due to them being dead all along but even that wasn’t made clear at the end and the reason for everything that happened wasn’t either. I found it forgettable and undeveloped.
You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over
Once again, it was just ok. I felt that the characters had a bit more personality than the ones in previous stories, but I still felt they lacked discernible motivation for anything that happened. I also don’t realy understand why Mr Fowlers husband was such a violent racist. I didn’t find it added anything to the story and the fact that although he says he disagrees, Fowler doesn’t seem to really care and is not shown to refute it at any point. For me it just felt like the inclusion of violent racism for no reason whatsoever and, while Im not sure this is problematic it was definitely unnecessary and uncomfortable (but not in the way horror should be.)
August 21, 2024
I read most of the first story and didn’t feel the need to continue with the other two. There was just nope vibes with this for some reason.
March 14, 2023
um...whew. i kind of picked this up under the hunch that i wasn't gonna be crazy about it, but since it's short i thought it would just be kind of a fun read. i was wrong. i can vibe with fun horror that isn't objectively a masterpiece--it's a genre i actually find very fascinating and fun!--but what i *really* don't like is poor-quality horror that tries to make itself into something serious via edgy imagery and pretentious tone. this was the latter and honestly i took it personally how little i liked this lmao.
the titular story was the main reason i picked this up, as i'm an out-of-touch grandpa who vaguely knew that it caused a stir upon its release and was curious. it was...fine, and largely the fun shocking read i was kind of craving. i wish it'd been slower, and the contrast between the rather ornate prose of the emails and the very casual im chat was jarring, but it's a narrative with a solid shape and i can see what it's trying to do. cool. fine. not nearly as shocking as the reaction to it warrants, but i guess i should know better after picking up multiple So Horrifying!!! novellas with full sentences as their titles and being super underwhelmed (see: "i'm thinking of ending things," "we had to remove this post"). if it were just this story, i'd give it an unenthusiastic 3/5.
unfortunately, though, this is not the only story, and the other two are awful. "the enchantment" in particular is one of the weakest stories i've read in a minute. the complete cliché nature of the twist isn't even the biggest issue i have with the plot; i got genuinely pissed off at the conceit that kicks off the story's biggest tragedy, which is scientists supposedly "proving" that the afterlife doesn't exist with such certainty that it is causing a global suicide spike. i kept waiting for elaboration on this, because it's such a huge thing to introduce into your worldbuilding: how do you disprove faith, something that is by nature nigh-impossible to disprove? but it soon became clear that larocca is not actually interested in this very complex question beyond using it as a stepping stone to redoing the edgy crucifixion imagery that he ALREADY uses in "things have gotten worse" (side note: lots of recycling in these stories; i'll address the most egregious instance in a minute). and then we're stuck with witnessing the aftermath of said crucifixion, which is propelled by three characters that are so deeply uninteresting and one-note that i, the person who once cried after eating a pastry made to look like a spider, felt absolutely nothing towards them. my favorite thing they did the whole story was die, but they even messed that up because i still had to fucking deal with them afterwards.
and the prose. good god. what happened? did an editor even look at this? this story has some of the worst syntax and paragraphing i've ever seen; why are there so many fragments, including fragments that begin entire sections? why is almost every single paragraphs 1-2 sentences, or maybe 3 if larocca's feeling real generous? the fact that "things have gotten worse" and "you'll find" aren't this terse makes me think it was a stylistic decision, but i cannot for the life of me speculate as to the rationale behind such a choice. it made the entire story feel like larocca was trying to finish it before an 11:59pm deadline. it ruined literally anything i could have gotten from this story, which was already very little.
one more thing about "the enchantment": it managed the impressive feat of making me like "things have gotten worse" less, because it revealed a trend in larocca's writing of women. i am not immune to the monstrous women trope--quite a fan, really--but if i'm being honest, i think it's real fucking weird and concerning for anyone to write multiple horror stories that revolve around hysterical and frankly stupid women whose main drive in life is to get pregnant. both agnes and olive make profoundly dumbass decisions for the goal of "carrying a life inside them," and are punished by violent miscarriages (yes, i know agnes's baby was a tapeworm, but the imagery is clearly there) that ultimately motivate them down even more destructive pathways. what are we supposed to get from this? is it supposed to be satisfying to watch these women suffer the physical consequences of their unfulfilled motherhood? is it cathartic to see pregnancy loss turned into nothing more than a shocking image, a spooky story? if i'm being brutally honest, it feels like a cheap appropriation of the horror that women and people of other marginalized gender identities have made in order to navigate their relationships with their oppressed bodies. it's shallow, it makes me angry, and it's the primary reason that i'm giving this one star rather than doing what i'd normally do and round up to 2/5. don't do this shit.
the last story, "you'll find it's like that all over," is honestly just stupid. the prose isn't as choppy as "the enchantment," thank god, but it's still lackluster at best. it also has the same issues of having the stupidest and most boring characters in existence, and a plot that is solely propelled by said stupidity and boringness. it is also the most egregious offender in larocca's quest to seem deep when he really has little to say. it's hammered into our heads repeatedly that mr. fowler is only doing this inane shit because he's too polite to say no, and then at the end we get a full paragraph once again telling us that people will do bonkers shit just to avoid being seen as rude. like...no? people have limits. go watch the egg scene from funny games, because that is how a normal person responds to weird shit like this. what happens in this story is fully a mr. fowler problem and frankly he SHOULD have been beheaded for it.
i can think of tons of scenarios in which fear of being rude can lead to harm, mainly through people not intervening in a situation where they should, such as in the case of witnessing abuse, bigotry, or harassment--which i assume is kind of what larocca is trying to get at by giving mr. fowler a racist husband that he's too timid to call out or divorce--but that is super different from the pathetic wet dog of a man agreeing to put his head under a guillotine because his neighbor asked him to. also, mr. fowler's entire motivation is undercut by the increasing sums of money that mr. perlzig offers, which are repeatedly followed with descriptions of how broke the former is. so like, we know it's not just him being polite! he also wants money! which is still not enough to carry this boring story because squid game is still streaming on netflix if someone wants that shit!
(as a side note: if you want an actually well-written and tense story about gambling written by an lgbt author, try "fiddler, fool, pair" from kathryn harlan's anthology fruiting bodies. in fact, maybe just read that anthology instead; it's not horror, but it sure as fuck has a lot more to say.)
i do like that the entire anthology ends with this brainless man trying to walk back home without letting anyone see the pee stain on his pants. that feels fitting.
i don't hate books often. i really hate this book. i paused my read of tehanu since i got this one from my public library and had a shorter loan period, and now i feel bad that i'm behind in that beautiful book so that i could waste my time reading this book and waste even more time yelling about it on here. i'm sorry, ursula. what the hell.
the titular story was the main reason i picked this up, as i'm an out-of-touch grandpa who vaguely knew that it caused a stir upon its release and was curious. it was...fine, and largely the fun shocking read i was kind of craving. i wish it'd been slower, and the contrast between the rather ornate prose of the emails and the very casual im chat was jarring, but it's a narrative with a solid shape and i can see what it's trying to do. cool. fine. not nearly as shocking as the reaction to it warrants, but i guess i should know better after picking up multiple So Horrifying!!! novellas with full sentences as their titles and being super underwhelmed (see: "i'm thinking of ending things," "we had to remove this post"). if it were just this story, i'd give it an unenthusiastic 3/5.
unfortunately, though, this is not the only story, and the other two are awful. "the enchantment" in particular is one of the weakest stories i've read in a minute. the complete cliché nature of the twist isn't even the biggest issue i have with the plot; i got genuinely pissed off at the conceit that kicks off the story's biggest tragedy, which is scientists supposedly "proving" that the afterlife doesn't exist with such certainty that it is causing a global suicide spike. i kept waiting for elaboration on this, because it's such a huge thing to introduce into your worldbuilding: how do you disprove faith, something that is by nature nigh-impossible to disprove? but it soon became clear that larocca is not actually interested in this very complex question beyond using it as a stepping stone to redoing the edgy crucifixion imagery that he ALREADY uses in "things have gotten worse" (side note: lots of recycling in these stories; i'll address the most egregious instance in a minute). and then we're stuck with witnessing the aftermath of said crucifixion, which is propelled by three characters that are so deeply uninteresting and one-note that i, the person who once cried after eating a pastry made to look like a spider, felt absolutely nothing towards them. my favorite thing they did the whole story was die, but they even messed that up because i still had to fucking deal with them afterwards.
and the prose. good god. what happened? did an editor even look at this? this story has some of the worst syntax and paragraphing i've ever seen; why are there so many fragments, including fragments that begin entire sections? why is almost every single paragraphs 1-2 sentences, or maybe 3 if larocca's feeling real generous? the fact that "things have gotten worse" and "you'll find" aren't this terse makes me think it was a stylistic decision, but i cannot for the life of me speculate as to the rationale behind such a choice. it made the entire story feel like larocca was trying to finish it before an 11:59pm deadline. it ruined literally anything i could have gotten from this story, which was already very little.
one more thing about "the enchantment": it managed the impressive feat of making me like "things have gotten worse" less, because it revealed a trend in larocca's writing of women. i am not immune to the monstrous women trope--quite a fan, really--but if i'm being honest, i think it's real fucking weird and concerning for anyone to write multiple horror stories that revolve around hysterical and frankly stupid women whose main drive in life is to get pregnant. both agnes and olive make profoundly dumbass decisions for the goal of "carrying a life inside them," and are punished by violent miscarriages (yes, i know agnes's baby was a tapeworm, but the imagery is clearly there) that ultimately motivate them down even more destructive pathways. what are we supposed to get from this? is it supposed to be satisfying to watch these women suffer the physical consequences of their unfulfilled motherhood? is it cathartic to see pregnancy loss turned into nothing more than a shocking image, a spooky story? if i'm being brutally honest, it feels like a cheap appropriation of the horror that women and people of other marginalized gender identities have made in order to navigate their relationships with their oppressed bodies. it's shallow, it makes me angry, and it's the primary reason that i'm giving this one star rather than doing what i'd normally do and round up to 2/5. don't do this shit.
the last story, "you'll find it's like that all over," is honestly just stupid. the prose isn't as choppy as "the enchantment," thank god, but it's still lackluster at best. it also has the same issues of having the stupidest and most boring characters in existence, and a plot that is solely propelled by said stupidity and boringness. it is also the most egregious offender in larocca's quest to seem deep when he really has little to say. it's hammered into our heads repeatedly that mr. fowler is only doing this inane shit because he's too polite to say no, and then at the end we get a full paragraph once again telling us that people will do bonkers shit just to avoid being seen as rude. like...no? people have limits. go watch the egg scene from funny games, because that is how a normal person responds to weird shit like this. what happens in this story is fully a mr. fowler problem and frankly he SHOULD have been beheaded for it.
i can think of tons of scenarios in which fear of being rude can lead to harm, mainly through people not intervening in a situation where they should, such as in the case of witnessing abuse, bigotry, or harassment--which i assume is kind of what larocca is trying to get at by giving mr. fowler a racist husband that he's too timid to call out or divorce--but that is super different from the pathetic wet dog of a man agreeing to put his head under a guillotine because his neighbor asked him to. also, mr. fowler's entire motivation is undercut by the increasing sums of money that mr. perlzig offers, which are repeatedly followed with descriptions of how broke the former is. so like, we know it's not just him being polite! he also wants money! which is still not enough to carry this boring story because squid game is still streaming on netflix if someone wants that shit!
(as a side note: if you want an actually well-written and tense story about gambling written by an lgbt author, try "fiddler, fool, pair" from kathryn harlan's anthology fruiting bodies. in fact, maybe just read that anthology instead; it's not horror, but it sure as fuck has a lot more to say.)
i do like that the entire anthology ends with this brainless man trying to walk back home without letting anyone see the pee stain on his pants. that feels fitting.
i don't hate books often. i really hate this book. i paused my read of tehanu since i got this one from my public library and had a shorter loan period, and now i feel bad that i'm behind in that beautiful book so that i could waste my time reading this book and waste even more time yelling about it on here. i'm sorry, ursula. what the hell.
February 10, 2024
[Story collection with overall average rating of 3½.]
I am extremely sympathetic to readers who look at horror fiction, particularly extreme horror, and ask, “What’s the point?” Why immerse yourself in a spectacle of human depravity when there are stories out there to uplift us? I get it. I have my limits too. We all do. Even when this material is done well, it can be difficult to recommend. And I would add that so many audiences for so long have been conditioned to think that horror fiction is meant to be silly and cheesy and laughed at that when they discover horror that actually (and successfully) sets out to horrify, they’re not sure how to react.
Perhaps that’s the point of such stories, to shock readers all the way out of their comfort? But it feels too reductive to put it such simplistic terms. Certainly there is much exploitive trash out there, offering nothing to give the atrocities it subjects audiences to any worthwhile context or meaning. But in good work, the horror of extremity is examining the limits of human emotional experience, and the discomfort and even disgust it evokes is something of a litmus test for our sense of empathy. Just how much capacity do we have to feel for people who suffer, or who cause suffering, because of their own bad decisions, or psychological traumas or disorders they haven’t properly processed and now have no healthy way of resolving?
Eric LaRocca deals in broken people like these. Sometimes they’re good people, sometimes bad. Sometimes they have no control over their circumstances, and sometimes they create those circumstances. But deep inside all of them is a heart that broke or a mind that shattered long ago, and it’s too late to put all the pieces back together again — and yet they try. LaRocca’s stories can make you feel viscerally ill, but first and foremost, they are deeply heartbreaking and tragic. It’s hard not to feel just as much pity as revulsion. For any writer, that would be a difficult tightrope to walk, and few writers walk it as skillfully as Eric LaRocca.
(Continued here with individual story reviews & ratings.)
I am extremely sympathetic to readers who look at horror fiction, particularly extreme horror, and ask, “What’s the point?” Why immerse yourself in a spectacle of human depravity when there are stories out there to uplift us? I get it. I have my limits too. We all do. Even when this material is done well, it can be difficult to recommend. And I would add that so many audiences for so long have been conditioned to think that horror fiction is meant to be silly and cheesy and laughed at that when they discover horror that actually (and successfully) sets out to horrify, they’re not sure how to react.
Perhaps that’s the point of such stories, to shock readers all the way out of their comfort? But it feels too reductive to put it such simplistic terms. Certainly there is much exploitive trash out there, offering nothing to give the atrocities it subjects audiences to any worthwhile context or meaning. But in good work, the horror of extremity is examining the limits of human emotional experience, and the discomfort and even disgust it evokes is something of a litmus test for our sense of empathy. Just how much capacity do we have to feel for people who suffer, or who cause suffering, because of their own bad decisions, or psychological traumas or disorders they haven’t properly processed and now have no healthy way of resolving?
Eric LaRocca deals in broken people like these. Sometimes they’re good people, sometimes bad. Sometimes they have no control over their circumstances, and sometimes they create those circumstances. But deep inside all of them is a heart that broke or a mind that shattered long ago, and it’s too late to put all the pieces back together again — and yet they try. LaRocca’s stories can make you feel viscerally ill, but first and foremost, they are deeply heartbreaking and tragic. It’s hard not to feel just as much pity as revulsion. For any writer, that would be a difficult tightrope to walk, and few writers walk it as skillfully as Eric LaRocca.
(Continued here with individual story reviews & ratings.)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,001 reviews