Horror is ultimately a reaction and what makes us wince; feel that sense of fear and anxiety will vary with each person. Horror can be loud and bloody; it can be shadowy and there are places in between. In Eric LaRocca’s unsettling short fiction collection The Trees Grew Because I Bled There we get haunting and vivid tales that feel like we are being whispered to someone’s darkest thoughts and days and we can’t switch off the images these words will conjure. A very powerful and disquieting set of visceral psychological horror tales await you to impress and also make you worry about the fate of the characters and those around them.

Amongst the stories in this collection I enjoyed were: -

The opening tale You Follow Wherever They Go is a strong and weirdly unrepresentative start to the collection as a father and child debate the kid joining a group outside. This almost normal scene though feels wrong with a strange atmosphere and then we realise the father is being treated for cancer. I was very impressed by what was unsaid and the ending has annuity as to what the true state of affairs really was.

A truly dark confessional is Bodies Are For Burning - our narrator shocks us with their visceral thoughts of burning their psychiatrist alive. This tale is about mental health and suicidal thoughts placing us into how someone suffering this will feel. LaRocca then adds a child to the tale and we bounce between fear for both parties; revulsion at their thoughts; horror at their intentions and subtly understanding at least why this maybe happening. Powerful storytelling.

Similarity we get a message board posting framework for the story The Strange Thing We Become. A woman talks about her girlfriend and then tells us she is differing from cancer. These small anecdotes make us alongside our narrator watch someone’s decline and the way you can start to resent someone you love. It’s visceral and in the final scenes incredibly full of despair which again leaves a memorable impression of loneliness and grief.

The horror of You’re Not Supposed to Be Here mixes the idea of a horror set up like saw and the dark secrets about ourselves we don’t need to share with anyone. Our narrator and his husband are approached by a couple in the park thinking they are someone else. The couple loves our narrators six month old baby. Then things get dark fast. It’s about what lengths you go to protect the ones we love but dialled to the max and filled with body torture and a horrible sense more people are to be trapped in this web of pain.

This is a collection that casts an eye on the thoughts most of us never get to hear it ever want to share. LaRocca gets to peel these barriers down often bloodily and make us feel and undertand the character’s point of view. We don’t always take their side but just possibly we can say ok I get why you’ve done that. It is often on dark subjects plus filled with body horror so I do warn readers to be prepared to go to very old dark places. But if that is something you enjoy in your horror then prepare for a ride into the dark. I am very interested in how this author develops over the coming years to come and a name to watch!

Eric LaRocca has the ability to make my skin crawl, keep me up at night, and leave me completely creeped out.

This is another great collection of stories that although they are horror also touch on so many different themes. There wasn't a single story in this book that I wasn't thoroughly invested in.

If you are a horror fan and you haven't read LaRocca yet then you are missing out. He is a brilliant new voice in horror.

Received an arc from NetGalley, thanks!

Collections of short stories are always a hard nut to crack; they're like a wildflowers on a field – so beautiful, but so different from one another. One may look outsanding in a color pallette, but poorly on its own.

Eric LaRocca's meadow is a peculiar one – ordinary, but full of secrets. Bloody, unethical, awful secrets. They're off-putting. Creepy. Their words make your skin crawl. LaRocca doesn't hesitate from going off road, taking a dark, unexpected turn that many will despise, that will make many disgusted. And yet I am intrigued, with this unusual ideas splitted between bad people. Certainly made me to check other their works.

3.5 / 5

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories is my first introduction to Eric LaRocca, and I don't think it'll be the last.

This is a collection of horror novellas (a motif for LaRocca, it seems) where each story has queer elements and feelings of familial malaise. There are other themes sprinkled throughout: cancer, body horror, grief, parenting/guardianship, toxic relationships, and mental illness. I felt thoroughly disturbed by each one, LaRocca certainly shows his skills in how he crafts haunting imagery and stomach turning scenes.

I rated all of the stories just on gut feeling, I 'enjoyed' some more than others. I then averaged those ratings and came out to about a 3.5. I'm not entirely sure if short form horror is for me yet, but I'm intrigued to pick more up in the near future. I have Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes on my TBR and look forward to getting to it sometime this year.

➤ Story Ratings:
➢ You Follow Wherever They Go ― 3 ★
➢ Bodies Are for Burning ― 4 ★
➢ The Strange Thing We Become ― 3 ★
➢ The Trees Grew Because I Bled There ― 2 ★
➢ You're Not Supposed to Be Here ― 5 ★
➢ Where Flames Burned Emerald as Grass ― 3 ★
➢ I'll Be Gone by Then ― 4 ★
➢ Please Leave or I'm Going to Hurt You ― 5 ★
➤ Average Rating ― 3.625 ★

I really enjoyed this one. Short story collections are always hit or miss for me and this one was definitely a hit. I felt engaged the whole time and flew through this in one night. The characters all made me feel something, the prose was lovely, and each storyline felt unique and interesting.
4.25-4.5 stars

What a wonderfully morbid collection of stories. They're simultaneously sad and entertaining. I find it so interesting how the loose through line/themes continue from tale to tale. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I will read ANYTHING Eric LaRocca puts out. Brilliant writing and excellent short stories.

Well, this is just more icing on the cake that is Eric LaRocca! Short but powerful, packed a punch right to my gut!

I always have blast with Eric LaRocca books! I enjoyed these dark and sometimes disturbing short stories! My favorite story was The Strange Thing We Become! The found footage structure was really effective and my mind filled in the worst possible situation at the end lol.I recommend this collection for fans of LaRocca or if your just getting in!

Thank you, netgalley!

Oh this gave me exactly what I've been searching for: it's disturbing, it's heartbreaking and extremely immersive.

It's convinced me to pick up his other work asap

4.5 ⭐️
This has got to be my favorite work I’ve read from Eric Larocca so far. This collection of eerie short stories shows that with time, Larocca’s range keeps broadening while perfecting the style of body horror centric writing that they have become popular for. Themes of grief, loss and desperation are consistent creating a very human and relatable aspect to some of the most disturbing and unhinged plot lines. Very interested to see what they put out next!
Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the e-ARC!

I won’t review a title that has been sent to me in a weird format. I only accept review copies in e-pub or PDF format.
I won’t review a title that has been sent to me in a weird format. I only accept review copies in e-pub or PDF format.
I won’t review a title that has been sent to me in a weird format. I only accept review copies in e-pub or PDF format.

Thank you to Titan Books, NetGalley and the author for a copy of this in exchange for a review.

My rating: 1⭐️ for so many reasons that aren’t my usual 1star reasons… but it just wasn’t good.

So I am not going to do a recap - this is a collection of short stories (8 I think) and they are promoted as being dark, beautifully crafted and devastating… in the beginning the writing was quite beautiful…the prose was crafted very well… It is possible it was that way for the entire book but the book was doing other things that completely derailed me.

For starters - I found some of these stories unintentionally funny… I think it was the way things were described that it made them seem like some kind of satirical comedy but my understanding is that these were supposed to be dead ass serious… so I guess this makes them miss the mark for me… I am absolutely not telling you which bits I found funny either 🤣 it was not supposed to make you laugh and I guess that either says the writing was not what it was cracked up to be or I am a monster… lets leave it at that!

The stories themselves were quite dark and depressing especially in the first half of the book but … then there were some that were incredibly boring and some that were outright disgusting and stupid (like the last story). If that one was the first one I would have DNF’d this book… I was so over it by that stage I literally just stuck around because I had like 6% to go and thought what the hell.

I am not going to drone on and on… clearly I am in the minority and others found this and will find this beautiful and the way it was intended, unfortunately I did not. The best part of it was the absolutely gorgeous cover, well done on that.

AS CAWPILE:
Characters: 10 | Atmosphere: 10 | Writing: 10 | Plot: 8 | Intrigue: 8 | Logic: 7 | Enjoyment: 9
Total: 8.86

Eric LaRocca has done it again and encompassed all the things that make you uncomfortable and curious in one fell swoop. These short stories have varying degrees of horror to them, but each one had my attention closely. Short story collections are always tricky to review, as I find myself always wanting more from them. However, as Eric has flourished in the short story style, this collection had both the perfect amounts of backstory or lack-thereof balanced with the perfect amount of plot intrigue. It's safe to say that I'll be buying this one to add to my Eric collection, as they have quickly become my favorite horror author.

I loved this collection so much. Can I pick a favourite out of the 8 short stories? If I'm forced I will pick "Bodies Are For Burning" but they're all top notch. Short enough not to loose the BAM! But long enough to add the gory or grotesque or just what I would call inappropriate weirdness that I think I'm now calling this kind of subject matter. So we have 8 titles:
1. You follow wherever they go. A sad tale of grief with a father and daughter.
2. Bodies are for burning. A pyromaniac in therapy but has to perform her aunty duties.
3. The strange thing we become. A partner of a cancer patient posts on a forum the weeks and months following diagnosis of her wife.
4. The trees grew because I bled there. An adulterous couple give themselves to each other completely .
5. You're not supposed to be here. A very close second favourite. A couple intrude on a family picnic to play a game of frisbee.
6. Where the grass burned emerald as glass. A clairvoyant has a dilemma for a father whose daughter has just stepped on a spike.
7. I'll be gone by then. This is a story of not knowing what you've got until it's gone.
And 8. Pleaseleave me or I'm going to hurt you. This to me was the most inappropriate subject matter. If this one doesn't make you go Ewww! then why?
Loved it, loved them all!

4 stars

Publication date: 3/7/23
**ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
#TheTreesGrewBecauseIBledThere #NetGalley

Basics
Author: he/they, USA
Genre: short stories, horror, LGBT
Themes: death, sick thoughts, illness (cancer/chemotherapy, dementia), hurting and protecting children
Mood: dark, haunting, anxious

Pros
+ LGBT rep: f/f, m/m
+ The Trees Grew Because I Bled There (4.5): give and take of an extremely fucked up relationship
+ Bodies Are For Burning (4.5) : pyromaniac daydreams at the worst possible time
+ You Follow Wherever They Go (4): a child is urged to go play with children outside in a downpour
+ You're Not Supposed to be Here (4): a couple having a picnic with their baby gets pulled into a game
+ Please Leave Or I'm Going to Hurt You (4): a son shares his feelings when viewing a cemetery plot with his father
+ Where Flames Burned Emerald As Grass (4): vacationing father is offered an impossible deal concerning his daughter
+ The Strange Thing We Become (3.5): woman journals about her wife dying of cancer
+ I'll Be Gone By Then (3.5): a mother returns to a daughter who doesn't want her

Cons
- Really wish I'd known that the first three stories were going to involve cancer and potential child harm in some way. I love dark stuff but not really in those two areas.
- The collection feels like 2-3 segments, with some stories linking and some not. It makes it feel oddly disjointed.

Comp Recs
+ Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - Eric LaRocca (specifically for The Strange Thing We Become)
+ The Dangers of Smoking In Bed - Mariana Enriquez
+ The Chain - Adrian McKinty (specifically for You're Not Supposed to be Here)

TW: chemotherapy (mention), pyro fantasies, baldness from chemotherapy, intrusive thoughts, harming and/or killing a baby (fantasy), suicide, child endangerment, mutilation, autocannibalism, murder, poison, abortion (past), kidnapped baby, incestuous thoughts

What Eric LaRocca does very well in my opinion is create characters who are unlikeable but then makes the reader feel for them. His writing makes me feel a weird combination of disgust and pity towards his characters - which I felt quite strongly in this collection for example in the story about the pyromaniac, the parents in the park, the father and daughter on holiday, the woman and her mother. All of these stories stood out to me for that reason.

However, several other stories in this collection seemed to rely purely on shock factor, eliciting disgust, or unoroginal plot twists. The story about disfigurement felt too similar to Things Have Gotten Worse but much less developed - body horror is something that LaRocca does well, but after reading more of his work it just starts being a bit too similar. I wasn’t a fan of the incest one as it felt like it was 99% shock factor, and the opening story of the collection & the story about the morse code machine both relied on twists that were predictable.

Overall, a mixed bag.

Eric LaRocca is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. The stories in this collection are dark and strange and full of love and pain. My favorite was You're Not Supposed to Be Here. A lot of stuff about families and parents and the pain we can cause each other.

This is a pretty good place to start if you've never read Eric's work

LaRocca is unspeakably perfect in this collection. These stories are "I have to put this down and walk way for an hour or two" kind of perfect. He is one of the few authors I have encountered that truly knows how to make you squirm and fill you with a real, physical sense of dread. LaRocca is, with no doubt in my mind, one of the most effective horror authors being published today. This book is a testament to all the praise he has and I am beyond excited to see where his journey takes him next.

The book is a collection of 8 short stories.

Even the first story is puzzling in an interesting way. A dialogue between father and son.

Bodies is for Burning is super exciting.
One experiences the dark thoughts of a woman with a penchant for pyromania.
This becomes especially critical when she is supposed to take care of her sister's baby and the desire for fire overwhelms her.

The woman in the next story also thinks she is a monster.

Gender is an important theme in the book. Some of the characters are queer.
For example in You re not supposed to be here. A gay couple is drawn into a devilish plot when their baby is kidnapped.

The cover story is particularly disturbing. 2 people share a fatal obsession.

The horror genre works well when the writer manages to build a dense atmosphere, and Eric LaRocca is a master at that. His stories are pure atmosphere.

You Follow Wherever They Go - 2 stars
Bodies Are For Burning - 5 stars
The Strange Thing We Become - 4 stars
The Trees Grew Because I Bled There - 5 stars
You're Not Supposed To Be Here - 5 stars
Where Flames Burned Emerald As Grass - 2 stars
I'll Be Gone By Then - 3 stars
Please Leave Or I'm Going To Hurt You - 3 stars

Overall Rating: 4 stars

I love this author's writing style and the weird grotesque things that their brain thinks of! Such an interesting collection!