Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca

Synopsis:

“Things have gotten worse since we last spoke.”

Sadomasochism. Obsession. Death.

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.

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

Edition:

Paperback

Triggers:

• animal cruelty/death
• body horror
• gore
• mental/emotional abuse

My Thoughts:

Well, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is a doozy. This book is brand new, so no awards/nominations yet, but I will be 0% surprised if it receives…all of them.

The story is told as a series of email and Instant Message exchanges between two women – Agnes and Zoe. It begins innocently enough, with one trying to purchase an antique apple peeler from the other. And it escalates. And escalates. Then it HOLYFUCKINGSHITBALLS escalates. For anyone who remembers the birth of instant messaging, this may be less surprising than it probably should be. But still, I promise that the escalation happens in such a way that you will be left absolutely reeling.

“I’m better off without you.”

Things Have Gotten Worse is a short book. And it kind of lays out for you where it’s going (more or less) in the first page and a half. Those things by themselves would be risky – but the combination is incredibly bold. And for many a writer, it probably would have failed spectacularly. But it appears that Eric LaRocca is no ordinary writer. He’s a fucking brilliant writer. He is able to imbue each word with so much power, weight, tension, and visceral horror that it absolutely boggles the mind. I am being completely honest when I say I haven’t read writing this gloriously terrifying outside of Clive Barker.

The amount of squealy, delighted trepidation (that’s definitely a thing) that I felt upon finishing this book is something I’ve not experienced since I first read The Hellbound Heart sometime around when Things Have Gotten Worse is supposed to have taken place. Now that I’ve typed this out, maybe my response isn’t so much to they style of writing as it is to the connection both stories make between S&M and horror. Something, something, the call of the void, maybe?

Also, I just have to cry over that GORE-geous (I know what I did. I refuse to feel bad.) cover! It was done by artist Kim Jakobsson, whose work you can obsess over here.

About the Author:

Eric LaRocca (he/they) is the author of several works of dark fiction and poetry including Fanged Dandelion (Demain Publishing), Starving Ghosts in Every Thread (independently published), and Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (Weirdpunk Books). They are represented by Ryan Lewis/Spin a Black Yarn for Film and Television. Follow them on Twitter @ejlarocca.

Rating:

“What have you done today to deserve your eyes?”

I hope it’s that you’ve bought this book. Seriously, it’s amazing.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
By Eric LaRocca
Weirdpunk Books
Published: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 9781951658120
Paperback, E-book
120 Pages
Publisher's Website