Things have gotten worse since we last spoke, and other misfortunes

Select an Action

Title :

Things have gotten worse since we last spoke, and other misfortunes / Eric LaRocca.

Title:

Things have gotten worse since we last spoke, and other misfortunes

Author:

LaRocca, Eric

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

283 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9781803361499

Production / Publication Information:

London : Titan Books, 2022.

Contents:

Things have gotten worse since we last spoke -- The enchantment -- You'll find it's like that all over.

Summary:

"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 backyard, only to be drawn into an ever more dangerous game. Three devastating, beatifully written horror stories from one of the genre's most cutting-edge voices"--Dust jacket flap.

Language:

English

Added Author:

Container of (work): Rocca, Eric. Enchantment.

Container of (work): Rocca, Eric. You'll find it's like that all over.

Genre:

Subject Term:

Sadomasochism -- Fiction.

Young women -- Fiction.

Loneliness -- Fiction.

Horror tales, American.

FICTION / Horror.

FICTION / Erotica / BDSM.

FICTION / LGBTQ+.

Chatrooms -- Fiction.

Social media -- Fiction.

SM -- Fiction.

BDSM -- Fiction.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	XX(1508206.5)	1508206-5001	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	F LAROCC	32116003934466	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library	FIC/LAROCCA	31482003023127	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groton Public Library	FIC LAROCCA	37003701964653	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tyngsborough Public Library	FIC/LAROC	32137002188722	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"Amongst the Top 50 Horror Books of All Time" - Cosmopolitan

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?

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

The three bloody stories of LaRocca's debut collection, all "tethered by the human need to connect with someone, something else," explore the nether sides of human relationships, digging into physical and emotional abuse and the lengths to which people will go to stay civil. The epistolary title story follows the online relationship between two women as it escalates into increasingly intense submission and domination, culminating in a horrifying event. In the Ari Aster--esque "The Enchantment," a husband and wife grieving the loss of their son under grotesque circumstances become caretakers of a remote island, where they are visited by a strange man who promises either closure or utter damnation. A man discovers a mysterious bone with his initials etched into it in "You'll Find It's Like That All Over" and engages in an escalating series of wagers with his elderly neighbor, stretching his personal boundaries for the sake of affability. These gore-soaked excesses have difficulty reaching satisfying resolutions; the stories' considerable guts never get a chance to function properly within the collection's body politic before they are ripped out. Still, the author's strong prose does an impressive job anchoring everything on solid ground even as the stories spiral into surrealist grotesquerie. LaRocca is a writer to watch. (Sept.)

Booklist Review

Indie superstar Eric LaRocca (We Can Never Leave This Place, 2022) presents three novellas that capture profound pain and unthinkable horror. The first centers on two women who bond over an antique, exploring the false sense of security and hope in online friendships, told in an epistolary format in email and text messages. In the second, a couple with a strained relationship celebrate their son's seventeenth birthday, but when they learn about his bizarre school project invoking religious horror, things escalate out of control. The fractures between the couple are painful and lead to a labyrinth of lies and deceit involving the overwhelming presence of a young man who lodges with them. In the third novella, the protagonist, Fowler, strikes a series of odd bargains with a neighbor. The story bears the strong influence of Ramsey Campbell in its elaborate game of cat and mouse. With shades of Nicole Cushing and Caitlín R. Kiernan, LaRocca's book is the ideal choice for readers who want depraved and disturbing horror that scares the living daylights out of them.