For people who know me, you’ll know that Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was one of my top books of last year. My love for it is to the point that I’ve reread it 5+ times and have got the physical, audio and ebook of it because I’ve decided that I somehow need to carry it around with me everywhere. (The whole ‘When in Rome’ phrase fits my need for this book.)

I was absolutely over the moon when I saw that I was approved for the netgalley of this one, because although I know THGWSWLS like the back of my hand, I’ve been itching for the two new stories LaRocca decided to bless us with.

I wrote a very long, rambled review of THGWSWLS last year, which you can find, but this review will mostly be a more personal thought process of LaRocca’s talent and how much they’re able to tap into the squelchy crevices of my brain.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes has three different stories. Each story has a specific theme, which I won’t get into as I don’t want to spoil this collection for anyone who’s not had a chance to experience it yet. The main thing I will say is that each time I’ve picked up one of Eric’s new works, I come away feeling enlightened but also raw with emotion.

Eric’s talent with keeping you invested is something I wish all books had. The writing grips you from the beginning and doesn’t dwindle as you continue reading. From the start, it’s just this constant pace of internal questions, conspiracies and reflections, my brain is relentlessly churning, trying to solve the meaning before I’m barely a few pages in. You know in English class, the teacher will go “why is the curtains red” because they want you to delve deeper into the meaning of the red curtains? That’s me with LaRocca’s work. Every sentence I read, my brain is chugging and every single time, I’m whiplashed.

The hard thing with writing, I think, is making sure you’re keeping your readers invested and intrigued, and this collection has the perfect balance of giving you enough information, but not giving away anything. Each story lets you wander into the dark caves of your mind & if you’re a reader who emotionally connects a lot with what you’re reading, you’ll come away with so many exposed emotions. (I’ve spent countless hours basking in how raw and deep LaRocca’s books have made me feel.)

This collection will show you how talented and diverse Eric LaRocca is as an author. He can completely and utterly disgust you with one story and then leave you tender and despondent with the next. If you had the opportunity to experience THGWSWLS before it was republished, I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this version, as the other two stories are amazingly well written and will not disappoint.

Thank you to Titan books, Eric LaRocca and Netgalley for giving me an E-ARC of "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes" in exchange for an honest review*

So I was really hoping to read this just because the phrase "What Have You Done To Deserve Eyes" certainly is a powerful phrase that makes you do a double take. . Fortunately, the title story "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke", proved to be as spooky as that phrase implied. Unfortunately, it was, in my opinion, the strongest of the stories in this collection, as I didn't feel anything about the other stories, except mild confusion.

The title story is one that I've been hearing a lot about. It's pretty descriptive and gruesome but it's such an interesting story of a toxic relationship. There were a couple parts where I had to put the book down because things were getting so crazy and the author did a good job of describing the horror and gruesomeness that was going on. The other stories in the book were also pretty interesting. Eric LaRocca is an author I will definitely keep my eye out for in the future.

I really liked this collection. My favorite one was actually “Enchantment”. I love stories with heavy religious themes in them and this story was spine tingling. Things have gotten worse since we last spoke has received a lot of hype on the internet and I believe it’s well deserved. Though I wish it was a bit longer, I did enjoy it. I liked that it wasn’t in your typical format and it was emails and IM chat pages; that was super neat. I really really wanted more. Same with the last story in the collection; I wanted more! It felt too short!

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publishers/author for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for my honest opinion!

First, I love the cover. All of Eric’s stories have such beautiful and violent covers and my eyes are always drawn to them and I want to read them so badly. This book is a set of three short stories. The first story has already been published and gone out of print, and I was super excited to get to finally read it.

What can I say about the first story? It was disgusting, haunting, and just plain weird. I kinda loved it a little. It literally went from 0 to 100 so fast. One minute it’s just two girls talking and having a pleasant conversation and then BAM the weirdest and wildest stuff in the world happens. I was trying not to gag and be repulsed while reading while also desperate for figure out what happens next. It seemed very rushed in some parts since the story was so short and I would have loved for it to be longer and see how far the two girls would go. I’m not too sure what to think about it. Do not read it if you are easily upset by animal cruelty or bugs.

The second story wasn’t as disturbing as the first. It dealt with love, grief, and religion. After the tragic death of their son, a couple who were the verge of divorce decide to take a job at an abandoned hotel as housekeepers and find a strange boy washed up on the beach. I wasn’t as shocked by this story as I was the first. I could say the same for the third story as well.

The last story is about a man who finds a bone in his yard carved with the initials of his neighbor who his husband is racists towards. This story deals more with xenophobia and how people feel about immigrants and their stereotypes as well as what people would be willing to do for money. They both didn’t really have the same impact as that initial story did. They were also shorter.

I’m super excited to read more of Eric’s new novels. They have a voice in the LGBTQ horror community and I love that people are getting more involved in writing good queer horror. Keep it up!

It was a mistake to read this in that post-dinner/pre-early bedtime limbo - my dreams last night were tinted with terror and my stomach is still churning a day later.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is a collection of three queer horror novellas / short stories that will surely draw a visceral reaction from every reader, but whether the reaction is positive or negative will largely depend on how well they can stomach this brutal level of horror.

I've been going back and forth over how I should rate this collection. I purposely went into it blind. I had heard of the titular novella when it was published in June 2021 and went viral for its visceral body horror and general nausea-inducing reading experience, but I never looked into it. And it turns out, the mixed reviews I read about just this story were right: it's fucking disturbing, dude. But I don't even think "disturbing" is an adequate adjective because this - the unexpectedly sadomasochistic relationship between the only two characters, the extremely grotesque shock horror, and the abrupt, twisted ending - was fucking vile. Thankfully, the horror severity drops off significantly in the two subsequent novellas, but still. I love a good fucked up story, ala anything Chuck Palahniuk, but this was too much for me.

Now this is where my conflicted feelings come into play. Yes, the collection is disturbing (save for the last novella, which I'm still questioning why it was included in this because it doesn't quite fit in with the other two) but the storytelling is fairly well done. There's surprising substance in each story (again, except the last story, kinda) that will make you think about human connection, religion and mortality, love and loss. There's a great unexpected bait-and-switch element that adds to the suspense and unease. The writing leans a bit egotistical and obnoxious and none of the characters are likeable, but if LaRocca's objective was to craft stories you'll never forget no matter how hard you try, then he succeeded without a doubt.

This is a very quick read, or maybe I was just racing to finish this so I could get it over with. If you can handle some truly fucked up stories without dry heaving, then give this a shot. Otherwise, I don't see any good reason to read this for fun.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 / 5

THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE SINCE WE LAST SPOKE is a powerhouse of a novella, an example of queer horror at its finest. LaRocca grabs you by the heart and twists until you're uncomfortable enough to flinch but too captivated to look away.

I have a confession to make: I almost didn't read this at all. I opened and realized it is told as a series of emails and instant messages sent back and forth between two characters. That format of storytelling has always been a turn off for me, an instant addition to my "did not finish" pile. I prefer a traditional narrative when reading a story. I spend all day reading emails at work, why would I want to read more of them when trying to read a story recreationally? So I put the book aside and decided to move on to something else.

But then the book began to garner praise online. I kept hearing good things about it, saw reviews from reviewers I trust who said it was excellent. Not only that, but Eric LaRocca is such a gracious and talented person that I felt obligated to at least give it a chance despite the storytelling style. With all that in mind, I picked it back up and gave it a shot, and I was immediately hooked.

Two characters start a conversation based on kindness and generosity, but ultimately new themes of codependency, cruelty and depravity emerge in their relationship. Despite the back-and-forth email approach to the storytelling, I found myself wanting to know what was coming next, what strange new direction was the plot taking with each page. As the story progresses it starts to get strange and goes to some dark places. VERY dark. But oh so very, very fun to read.

I am so glad I gave this book a second chance, because it's good. REALLY good.

Well, what can I say about this book? It's weird. Very quick to read in the epistolory style of emails and messages between 2 women Zoe and Agnes that starts innocently enough about the sale of an antique apple peeler and very quickly goes off the rails. One might say it escalated very quickly with one of them tapping out when it becomes obvious that things are being taken too far

First of all, I would like to thank Netgalley and the editors for the opportunity to read This Have Gotten… by Eric LaRocca.
It is not easy at all to write a review when the general sensation has been one of disappointment, but I will try to explain myself so other readers can see if they do agree or not.
The first story, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, is described as a tale of obsession between two girls via chat room and some forum messages. I did like the style, both the forum messages and the chat messages, it made the reading quick.
I must admit I had absolutely no idea this was a known story, viral if I am not mistaken, but it felt completely flat for me. I imagine after so many years of reading horror, I am simply not affected, nor motivated, by scenes that aim to disturb the reader, which is something I am afraid this story completely relies on. The ending, as others have already pinpoint, is abrupt and does not let space for the reader to decompress. I did like the phrase that one of the girls repeats almost like a mantra, though: What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

The second story, The Enchantment, might be the best of all three in this collection. The characters are definitely more fleshed, the obsession and guilt are very well described, it plays the reader a couple of times, and even if the main theme kind of gets lost among all the imagery, the story feels sufficiently interesting as to get the reader to continue and try to understand what is going on. The tone is also very unique. And the ending will be subjected to interpretation, that is for sure.

And finally, we have the final story, You Will Find Its Like That All Over, that saldy did not mean absolutely anything to me. Harsh, I know, so let me explain: when in short story territory, some authors tend to make the story beautiful but kind of empty, while others tell something straight and most of the time cut before its time. I am not sure what the author was trying to achieve here, but it did not reach me, nor aesthetically, nor plot wise. It does start beautifully and it could have taken many different directions, but the one it took was again played for disturbing images, for the illussion of danger, and, again, did not resonate with me.

Three unsettling tales that stick with you. Brutal in parts, tinged in eroticism, and delicate in others, certainly a page turner.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes contains a novella and two short stories. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is one of my top horror novellas of the year. I just love the things that develop in the novella. I really can’t say much because I don’t want to spoil it but the novella is written well and its told from emails, messages and online posts. This is a five star novella for me. I have never read this type of story before and it was fantastic. The second novella in this collection is called The Enchantment and it follows Olive, her husband James and son Milo. This was a 3.5 star novella for me. It was good but I had seen the themes before. There was a focus on Christianity too which didn’t interest me. The final novella You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over was a three star for me. The writing was fine but the story was so short that I didn’t have a chance to care for the characters. I read the Author’s note at the end and understand that they wanted to show connection between people and they definitely did that. Overall, I would recommend this if you are looking for good horror novellas. I will definitely be reading LaRocca’s next release.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes
Written by - Eric LaRocca

- [ ] Releasing in late September 2022
- [ ] Includes 3 stories
- [ ] Author’s Note already grabs your attention
- [ ] Check TW ⚠️
- [ ] This is definitely not for everyone. I would put this as extreme psychological horror
- [ ] Quarter of the way in and I was hooked
- [ ] First Story - Written as email and text exchanges through 2 women in 2000 who have never met. The correspondence goes from uh huh to HOLY CRAP quickly. Contract comes into play peaking the reader’s full interest. Things got… worse. Couple of odd moments and moments that made me gag all a little. Very different, but somehow kept me from putting it down
- [ ] Second story and Third story were unlike and nowhere as “disgusting” as the first and I could not stop until I finished. The other stories were SO GOOD and quick paced in my opinion. Loved every moment!
- [ ] Second Story - Separated family with a son who has a fixation on religion it seems. Unanswered questions and circumstances happen immediately. Something happens to set up the remainder of the story, but while it can’t be reviewed it’s unexpected. There’s a move where move unexpected events begin to unfold.
- [ ] Third Story - A husband finds something and tries return to neighbor, but begins to take on bets, challenges, games, and puzzles.
- [ ] Read the acknowledgements!!!!