Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes

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If I had to guess why this is the first Weirdpunk release to gain so much attention, I’d guess those attributes are part of the formula for success, along with its striking cover and that ominous title. The well-circulated promise to feel changed after reading it—grossed out, unable to sleep—probably pulled in some curious readers. There are always bonus points if tears and/or fear are involved. (It’s physiological: The rush of being scared raises your adrenaline and leaves you with a sense of calm and relief.) There is eight terrific stories in this anthology but there was three that definitely gave me such visceral feelings. A beautifully crafted, devastating short fiction collection from the Bram-Stoker finalist and author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes.

Nobody could comfortably follow an act in indie horror fiction like, THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE SINCE WE LAST SPOKE, except Eric LaRocca with another release. This was a big disappointment, mostly because I had seen how many people loved the first and titular story of the three published in this collection. It's certainly the best story here, but sadly that isn't saying much. 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..?) I liked the Oedipus element, the implication that Agnes will stab her eyes out after her girlfriend leaves her like her mother did. However, it was both underutilised and over-explained. Richard is taking an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to his newfound success. Despite having more eyes on Weirdpunk, he plans to continue conducting business as usual, though he might up the number of subscriptions for 2022 novellas from 30 by a bit.Eric LaRocca's superb collection Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is cutting edge horror with pristine writing sharp enough to slice open your skin. Strongly recommend." -Ray Garton, author of Live Girls and Crucifax Autumn

Twelve six-year-olds and their three adult chaperones head into the woods on a camping trip. None of them make it out alive. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca is a novella about obsession and how far someone will go to get what they want. 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.Okay, so, this story may cause some controversy, but it’s my favourite story out of the whole book. My chest ached for the narrator and the grief of…What could have been. It was unpredictable and mournful and so utterly beautiful. But beyond that—and those are all things I can say about any of the authors I've worked with and titles I've published—I just think it hit that wind that every author and publisher hopes to hit.” 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.