Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

Product Information

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. Eric LaRocca (he/they) is the author of several works of horror and dark fiction, including the viral sensation Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. About the book:"Each precious thing I show you in this book is a holy relic from the night we both perished-the night when I combed you from my hair and watered the moon with your blood. You've lost a lot of blood . . ."

Some horror walks you down a dark corridor, where there’s whispers and laughter, sobs and screams. Other horror starts down at the end of that corridor, where there’s a door that opens on to you don’t know what. Read this, and then decide where Eric LaRocca has left you. Not that it matters. There’s no way out.”– Stephen Graham Jones, author of The Only Good Indians and My Heart is a Chainsaw 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. But the story isn’t just parroting genre conventions. The form is familiar, but its narrative is ground-breaking in its exploration of the darker side of online queer ‘safe’ spaces. It is a skillful interplay between the intense psychological trauma of its characters, the sexual simulacrum of online dating, and the unfeeling bureaucracy of legal paperwork – a juxtaposition similarly explored by Nat Ogle’s 2021 novel In the Seeing Hands of Others. Unsettling. Unusual. Ultimately satisfying. These are the words that come to mind when I think about this collection.

Read More:

Misfortunes is a subtle understatement when delving into the horror and ramifications of identity, loss and wanting to belong which thread these stories together. No disrespect to Eric LaRocca but maybe they doesn’t get out much. There are some verrrry gruesome books and stories out there, not to mention movies. This was like a 3.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. It was a trifle nauseating in places, and I most people shouldn’t read this while eating lunch. But people, you shouldn’t read and eat anyway. You might get stuff on your book. 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 . 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.

The awfulness of said relationship is juvenile and edgelordy in nature and it goes from 0 to 100 way too fast. I think the grotesque extremes really put me off, here. It was like the author was trying so hard to make his points that he went in hard and brutal instead of opting for any kind of elegance. The writing just wasn't that great. The ideas are solid but the execution was messy and abrasive. A nightmarish fever dream of inspiration, an arduous ordeal of painstaking creativity.. I quite literally pushed myself to dangerous areas of my mind during those five days of creative Armageddon.He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association and currently resides in Boston, MA with his partner. Third story may have actually been the best in terms of being a cohesive whole, though it was clunky in a few spots. Until he finds the book. One that calls forth a shadowy horned figure. She comes with unexpected gifts and the comfort of a dependable presence. And she asks for very little in return, really. The more Ben offers her, the easier it gets. 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.