This skin was once mine and other disturbances

Title:

Author:

LaRocca, Eric,

ISBN:

9781803366647

Edition:

First edition.

Publication Date:

2024

Physical Description:

235 pages ; 20 cm

Language:

English

Subject Term:

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Blessing and cursing -- Fiction.

Family secrets -- Fiction.

Horror tales.

Genre:

Contents:

This skin was once mine -- Seedling -- All the parts of you that won't easily burn -- Prickle.

Summary:

"This Skin Was Once Mine : When her father dies under mysterious circumstances, Jillian Finch finds herself grieving the man she idolized while struggling to feel comfortable in the childhood home she was sent away from nearly twenty years ago. Then Jillian discovers a dark secret that will threaten to undo everything she has ever known about her father. -- Seedling : A young man's father calls him early in the morning to say that his mother has passed away. He arrives home to find his mother's body still in the house. Struggling to process what has happened he notices a small black wound appear on his wrist. Then he discovers his father is cursed with the same affliction. -- All the Parts of You That Won't Easily Burn : Enoch Leadbetter goes to buy a knife for his husband to use at a forthcoming dinner party. He encounters a strange shopkeeper who draws him into an intoxicating new obsession and sets him on a path towards mutilation and destruction... -- Prickle : Two old men revive a cruel game with devastating consequences..." --

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Status
Searching... Agoura Hills Library	Book	FIC LAROCCA	Searching... Unknown
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Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A brand-new collection of four intense, claustrophobic and terrifying horror tales from the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated and Splatterpunk Award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke .

THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE
When her father dies under mysterious circumstances, Jillian Finch finds herself grieving the man she idolized while struggling to feel comfortable in the childhood home she was sent away from nearly twenty years ago. Then Jillian discovers a dark secret that will threaten to undo everything she has ever known about her father.

SEEDLING
A young man's father calls him early in the morning to say that his mother has passed away. He arrives home to find his mother's body still in the house. Struggling to process what has happened he notices a small black wound appear on his wrist. Then he discovers his father is cursed with the same affliction.

ALL THE PARTS OF YOU THAT WON'T EASILY BURN
Enoch Leadbetter goes to buy a knife for his husband to use at a forthcoming dinner party. He encounters a strange shopkeeper who draws him into an intoxicating new obsession and sets him on a path towards mutilation and destruction...

PRICKLE
Two old men revive a cruel game with devastating consequences...

Reviews: (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

These four dreamy and gut-churning stories from LaRocca (Everything the Darkness Eats) offer glimpses of the horrors people visit upon those they love. In the title story, a woman returns home following the death of her beloved father to take care of her estranged mother--and she discovers something terrifying in the attic that's spent years waiting to make itself known. "Seedling," a meditation on grief, follows two men in mourning who both sprout little black voids all over their bodies. In "All the Parts of You That Won't Easily Burn," a man searching for the perfect knife to give his husband strikes a deal with an unorthodox shop owner: rather than pay for the knife, the man must endure a small cut--with bizarre and horrific outcomes. "Prickle" features two old friends who meet at the park to play the eponymous game, which centers around an escalating series of shocking offenses to strangers and culminates in a truly unforgivable act. Though these stories sometimes struggle to pay off on their harrowing buildups, LaRocca's refusal to go for the expected resolution lends the collection a wonderful feeling of unpredictability. Readers searching for visceral horrors need look no further. (Apr.)

Library Journal Review

LaRocca's latest collection of stories comes with a warning to readers to check with themselves before, during, and after reading. Rightfully so, as intimate relationships, and the pain, trauma, and violence that often come with them, feature prominently in this volume. Readers will encounter self-harm, child abuse, and shocking scenes of brutality, as claustrophobic settings reveal horrific secrets, weird wounds, macabre obsessions, and a cruel game. On the other hand, readers will also be mesmerized by these stories and their engaging narration, experiencing the full gamut of emotions, from disgust to wonder, held rapt as the illicit lure of the shadowy side of humanity is tantalizingly revealed. Both characters and readers will be pushed to what may appear to be their limit, but in reality, it is only the beginning, the place where the most universal of truths, often obscured by the mundanity of life, can best be observed. VERDICT LaRocca (Everything the Darkness Eats) is a viral sensation for all the right reasons, showcasing why extreme horror is so resonant, thought-provoking, and necessary. Suggest to fans of Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica and We Are Here To Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe.