Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

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And in November, Weirdpunk is accepting submissions for an upcoming anthology titled Stories of the Eye, edited by Sam Richard and Joanna Koch. They’re seeking horror stories “that explore the complex relationships between artists and models. Go beyond the male gaze. Show us the queer gaze, the disabled gaze, the un-colonialized gaze, the intergalactic gaze.” 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. So why—and how—did this independently published epistolary novel gain so much recognition? Their next best-selling title has sold around 500 or 600 copies. It’s a question Weirdpunk gets from other indie writers and publishing houses all the time. And Richard… well, he doesn’t really know.

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. I did and I absolutely do not regret it, his is one of the most exciting new voices in horror for a very long time. We’ll have cover reveals for Eric LaRocca’s disturbing Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Maria Abrams’ haunting She Who Rules the Dead over the next couple of weeks, too!Last year, with Richard at the helm, Weirdpunk started publishing horror novellas. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, released this June, was the indie publisher’s seventh short and spooky release. 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. You also get a book within a book (written by Martyr one of the MCs) and poems in this. The poems I’m gonna be honest, did nothing for me. I liked the book within a book at first as it was really eerie and had the spooky video game trope going for it . But it was super rushed and clunky as well by the end and wasn’t satisfying. Tbh I would have preferred the story within the story be the entire book. It was a lot more interesting than the story with Ambrose and martyr. This honestly really feels like it tried to get by on weird and pretty writing, which I will admit this author has beautiful prose. But it just didn’t do it for me.

I thoroughly hated Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and yet, it only went downhill from there. Part Dennis Cooper’s’The Sluts’,part David Cronenberg’s’The Brood’… Eric LaRocca’s’ Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke‘is a masterpiece of epistolary body horror.”– Max Booth III author of We Need to Do Something The second is about Tamsen and her brother Presley who move to a big dark mansion to complete a half-made game and some weird and dark stuff starts occurring. (Can't say much) There's something Godlike about holding something so small - something that solely depends on your kindness, your generosity. I had never thought about hurting something before. Until now. I imagined what it might be like. I imagined closing my hand to make a fist until its tiny body was squished, its innards squeezed out like toothpaste from its mouth open in a muted scream." The story opens with a plea for its realism, classifying the story as ‘evidence’ to which we have been granted access: ‘… Because the litigation surrounding Zoe Cross’s case remains open at the time of this publication, certain elements of their communication have been redacted or censored at the behest of the Henley’s Edge Police Department’ (p.ii). The ‘redacted’ content acts as a negative space in the centre of the story; an insistence on journalistic integrity that undermines the assumed omnipotence of a fictional voice. Calling to mind the openings of H.P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Shadow Over Innsmouth’, M. R. James’s ‘A Warning to the Curious’, or the always-unsettling ‘The following is edited from real footage…’ at the start of every found footage horror film, ‘Things Have Gotten Worse…’ is a love-letter to established horror forms from the very first word.

He said increasing universal credit would be “the single most important step that the UK could meet towards meeting its international obligations”. Domestic Abuse: Zoe initially sets herself up as a Dominatrix, promising to take care of Agnes as long as the latter remains her slave. However, as the story unfolds her actions appear closer to this trope. Not quite played straight, as by the end Agnes and Zoe never meet each other in real life. 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; In the year 2000, two gay women - Agnes Petrella and Zoe Cross - meet online as Agnes attempts to sell a family heirloom. As their relationship develops, they find themselves succumbing to a spiral of depravity. 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.

Two stories feature here. Chapters of each intersperse the other and I anticipated them to conjoin at the book's close. They did not and this, initially, left me feeling a little perplexed. I don't usually gravitate or enjoy abstract pieces of fiction, preferring a hard and firm truth to be revealed in what I read, but here no closure or meaning was provided and it left me feeling initially bereft. 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,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. 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. 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.

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..?)

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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 collection also includes two other short stories: THE ENCHANTMENT and YOU’LL FIND IT’S LIKE THAT ALL OVER. While I didn’t love the former (3⭐️), I did really enjoy the latter (5⭐️) and thought it was another extremely effective short story.