If David Kronenberg is the master of cinematic body horror, then Eric LaRocca is without a doubt his literary peer.

In "The Trees Grew Because I Bled There," LaRocca explores love and loss with visceral vulnerability. These stories are not for the faint of heart: to say that they are graphic and unsettling is surely an understatement.

But there’s also something very human about them. Darkly disturbing, yet somehow intimate.

You have my attention, LaRocca.

Overall 4.25 rating for these wonderfully written short stories. Like a total dummy I read these before bed, and while they are “horror” in the sense of keeping you up at night, they DEFINITELY make you squirm. Either way, I’ll be up for awhile!

It’s hard to pick a favorite - they all had such amazing layers and details in each one. I think my favorite overall was with Terry, Vince, Lyric, and Melody. Just absolutely chilling and I loved how Eric pulled everything together at the end.

I also LOVED the little links and Easter eggs to the prior stories - each story had at least one little thread that connected it to the previous entry, and I just love when authors find a way to weave that in to their work.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to review this one! Another awesome release!

Dark and disturbing, I was weirdly enjoying them all right up until the last one that just.. no. Dark and creepy short stories, some taboo and some just unthinkable. Capturing the readers attention to a story in such a few pages and yet inducing such an intense reaction.

4.5/5 stars
This is my first time reading anything from Eric LaRocca (I do have Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke on my TBR) and I am most definitely not disappointed. This book of short stories reaches into the bleakest parts of your mind and soul and dredges up those undesirable, dark feelings, thoughts and secrets that you try to keep buried. It was uncomfortable and emotional in a strangely appealing way. The characters are flawed and broken but perfectly so. My attention was held from the first word to the very last, it's not often I like something about every story in a collection, and each story is able to enrapture me so easily. I flew through this collection and can't wait to read the rest of Eric's works. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

***Trigger warnings include, but may not be limited to; parent loss, spouse loss (cancer), thoughts of violence against children/infants, mutilation, violence, abusive relationship, kidnapping, miscarriage, infidelity, thoughts of matricide, incest.***

Happy Pub Day! Eric LaRocca has done it again with this fantastic short story collection. After flying through his Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke a couple of years ago, I was so excited to get my hands on an arc copy of The Trees Grew Because I Bled There.

These short stories are not for the faint of heart and often made me feel uncomfortable and uneasy. I loved the twists in them and some of the body horror really revolted me, but in the best way. I do wish some were a bit longer but they really stuck with me and left me thinking about them hours laters.

My favorites were definitely Bodies Are For Burning, You're Not Supposed to Be Here, and I'll Be Gone By Then but I will admit that I truly enjoyed them all.

Dreamy, dark, and delightful. A recommended purchase for collections where horror and short stories are popular.

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There is an outstanding horror short story collection. These stories will have you cringing and send shivers up your spine. My favourites are You Follow and Please Leave or I'm Going to Hurt You. Highly recommended! Be sure to check out The Trees Grew Because I Bled There today.

This was dark and disturbing and I loved it! There are nine short stories each more horrifying than the last.

My favorites were:

-Please Leave or I’m Going to Hurt You
-You’re Not Supposed to Be Here
-The Strange Things We Become

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories is available March 7, 2023


Thank you netgalley and titanbooks for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I love Netgalley as I get introduced to get authors I've never read!

This is a grotesque collection of short horror stories featuring lots of blood and menace. Some stories are less traditional horror with themes of incestuous romance (though, somewhat on theme for the book, still manage to feature death) and the sinister side of burden of care. There are some stories which were phenomenal and I will think about for a long time - such as Bodies are for Burning which was my absolute favourite.

There is blood, violence and gore. You get inside the heads of a lot of characters and with their internal monologue you hear some of their darkest thoughts. Most of the protagonists are strongly unlikeable, they are all flawed, but beautifully written.

A wonderful yet terrible collection, and I can't wait to read more!

I read Eric LaRocca's Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and I really disliked it. I thought I would give him another shot but I also disliked this collection. I feel like he uses queerness and also cancer/illness as a trope. It doesn't feel natural the way he includes it in a story. As someone from the LGBT community I'm not offended but I don't think it's a good representation. It just feels like if he didn't include queerness or cancer/illness he would explode. I also think that the last story could have been done well but it was just gross. Incestuous relationships are not an unknown trope I'm horror stories but this felt almost like a romance story. . It almost seemed like he was trying to romanticize it or make it seem normal. I will not be reading anything more from this author. The stories were so lacking and I can't even call them horror.

Eric LaRocca is on a whole other level. All of his work is so different from mainstream horror, which I can appreciate, and I don’t think there’s a single cover of his that I haven’t swooned over.

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There is an anthology of out there stories, some cringy, some horrifying and all are unsettling. I believe it was originally published as The Strange Things We Become, but I think this one has one more short story to it? I’m not 100% sure, it might even be two new stories. Anyways…

While I enjoyed it for the most part, there were a few things that didn’t work for me, mainly that the story written from a parents’ point of view would most likely never happen in the real world (or at least a semi-decent parent wouldn’t let it happen) and another story had a baby sleeping in a car seat which is a big no-no. But it’s fiction after all and it’s probably safe to say that it was intended to contribute to the unsettling factor, so I can look past my minor grievances. If you’re a fan of LaRoca’s work, this one stays true to his unique style and I think it’s one that you would enjoy. The Trees Grew Because I Bled There will be released 3/7. Thanks to Eric LaRocca, Titan Books and NetGalley for my review copy.

In 2021, Eric LaRocca published two books. One was the novella Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and one was a short story collection called The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales. Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke became a viral hit, and the little novella from WeirdPunk Books made Eric LaRocca a hot new author, and a household name in horror fiction. Titan Books picked up the rights to both of these 2021 releases. Last year saw an expanded edition of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Spoke, and this year sees the rerelease of The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales as The Trees Grew Because I Bled There.

When I started to see the hype about Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, I decided to read it, and I was a little underwhelmed, like the hype was bigger than the story. I did find the novella well written and some of the scenes were very creepy, but the story did not do much for me. I knew at that time that Eric LaRocca is very talented and so I decided to try again with The Trees Grew Because I Bled There. This collection showcases the great talent in Eric LaRocca’s writing. All of the best elements of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke are here but with stories that I enjoyed more. There is so much style and so much daring storytelling that I could not wait to see what adventure the next story was going to put me through.

Almost every story could be my favorite story, depending on my mood “Bodies Are For Burning” is about a woman who is watching her niece and cannot stop thinking about burning things, including her niece. “You’re Not Supposed to Be Here” is about a deadly game of telling the truth. “The Trees Grew Because I Bled There” is about a love affair that is much more intense and terrifying than Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. This entire collection is like one of those albums that you can listen to over and over again without skipping any of the tracks. It is just that good.

I think that my favorite today is the original title story, “The Strange Thing We Become” about a person who is asking for advice on an online forum. This story reminded me of Dennis Cooper’s novel, The Sluts, and honestly reading through this collection, I can see Eric LaRocca’s writing being compared to Dennis Cooper. Both of them write deeply disturbing stories that really stick with you when you are finished, and both of them deserve all of the readership in the world. The Trees Grew Because I Bled There is the book that has made me a huge Eric LaRocca fan, and I will be following their career as they continues to grow into a horror superstar.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Titan Books and NetGalley for sending me an ARC.

Short story collections are always a struggle to review. LaRocca is no doubt a strong writer. I enjoyed the introduction by Chuck Wendig. I felt it accurately primed the reader of LaRocca’s illustrative skill. Throughout the collection, the descriptions were consistently vibrant particularly when describing the more brutal scenes (injuries, illness, death, etc.) I found the weakest stories to be the first and last. Thematically speaking, I understand why they were organised that way, considering how directly both deal with the question of mortality, intertwined with the grief of losing a loved family member. I respect the concept. However, it’s unfortunate that these two stories were the weakest of the bunch, like a delicious hamburger sandwiched between two stale, bland and squished pieces of bread. They have literary merit but I found their horror aspects lacking.

I loved “The Strange Thing We Become,” “The Trees Grew Because I Bled There,” and “I’ll Be Gone By Then.” I appreciated the different approaches LaRocca took for each story. I found the decision to structure “The Strange Thing We Become” as a series of forum posts to be enlightened. I wish more authors experimented with their prose in this way – depending on the content of the narrative, a change in structure can actually enhance the intended effect on the reader, as LaRocca succeeded in doing here. The vignette-like “posts” create a palpably creepy atmosphere. The horror comes in what is being described, yes, but ALSO in the way it is being told. Just like the difference between telling a horror story in broad daylight VS at night – with a flickering campfire as the only light source. The sense of unease is built up over the entire story with a climactic ending that feels like releasing a long-held breath. Totally destroyed me.

In terms of gore, the titular story takes the cake. “NASTY!” according to my notes – affectionately meant of course. I loved the visceral feelings of disgust the story elicited in me. Body horror is ultimately about drawing attention to the fragile mortality of our human bodies and here LaRocca exceeds the standard. Surgical horror can sometimes be too much for me, but this was just enough to make me squirm in my seat but not too much that I was turned off from it. I greatly value LaRocca’s dedication to taking concepts to their extremes. The idea of loving someone so much you willingly give up parts of yourself (literally) is delightfully terrifying. Reminds me of the kind of toxic queer relationships I adored seeing on screen (e.g. Hannibal and Will from the NBC show). I must say I appreciate the steadfast exploration of queer themes as well as relationships between queer people and their families. As a queer person who also struggles with my family (as well as strangers, etc.) in regards to my identity, “I’ll Be Gone By Then” was especially potent.

This collection is worth purchasing, not just because of its quality but also because it is easy to revisit. While reading through the collection and preparing my thoughts for this review I have already gone and reread several stories. Although these stories are impactful in their own right at first read, they have a rich texture that invites readers to go back for more of the same. I will be recommending to customers.

Reading ‘The Trees Grew Because I Bled There’ felt like those milliseconds of panic when you awaken from an active dream, the body stuck between paralysis and violent motion.

These stories, diverse in length and subject matter, offer little explanation and speak unashamedly for themselves — they offer a grotesque tear in reality that leaks out raw horror and shame, an infected wound that will not heal and only festers. Yet there is tenderness, too, like bruise that fades slowly, in how grief and fear can drive us to do irrational and unspeakable things because we are simply human.

From a cruel, high stakes game that reveals horrific secrets between lovers; an aunt with a horrible fixation on flame; a boy who desires to play outside while his father grows sicker — LaRocca takes the most mundane experiences and twists them into unrecognizable versions of themselves.

‘The Trees Grow Because I Bled There’ comes out March 7! Not for the faint of heart, these stories will absolutely haunt you in the most discomforting way. I can’t wait to read more of Eric LaRocca’s work.

Thanks to netgalley and titanbooks for providing me with this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There by Eric LaRocca is a collection of eight dark fantasy short stories. Each of the stories is sad, dark, creepy and twisted.

I picked up this book solely because of the cover. But after reading it, I can say I loved the stories as much as the cover. It's one of those books that made me stare at the wall thinking about what I just read. The exquisite poetic writing, flawed characters, the exploration of the darker side of humans, and the supernatural elements glued me to my screen till I finished reading. It was scary not because of any supernatural elements but how it deals with real-life issues: the shadowy side of love, disturbing thoughts and wild impulses that lead most horrific consequences, actions humans are capable of.

It was an interesting and addictive read! Definitely going it read more by the author.

I recommend it if you love horror and weird stories.

Thank you NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC!

I loved Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke so wanted to read more of the author’s work. I really enjoyed the stories in The Trees Grew Because I Bled There. The stories don’t quite have the brilliance of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke but they are all enjoyable and the tone and feel of the stories are all similar. The best stories in the collection are You Follow Wherever They Go, The Strange Thing We Become and the title story.

This book was brutal. Each story was so sad, dealing with grief and loss in some way. It's taken a few days for me to be able to sit down and write this. I needed time to sit with it.

The first story made me think of the loss of my mother, and how she held on to life until I was 13, hoping to help prepare me for life without her. I know that really isn't the same as this story, but still it made me think of her and cry.

The next one is probably my favorite. I loved the nods to Saint Maud, and the overall struggle the main character goes through. What can you do when your desires will harm people you love, but you can't control them? I wanted to reach out and shake her, and make her ask for help.

All of the stories were dark and tragic in their own way, leaving me feeling hopeless at the end. Eric LaRocca is a master of the bleak and heart wrenching.

I just wasn't vibing with this one. I'm all for creepy, disrutbing things but for some reason I just don't think this one was done very well. I didn't care or connect with anyone within the stories so i just didn't care what happened to them which made me feel like i was just wasting my time. I think there needed to be more substance.

Firstly, I’d like to note my love for this cover art. While it’s a tad more subtle than LaRocca’s previous covers (they are all so freaking amazing) this one really appeals to me; the simple, soothing water-colour is eerie and haunting. I think it’s gorgeous and perfectly sets the tone of this horror short story collection.

Next, I have to point out the incredible Forward, provided by Chuck Wendig! I always get excited about cool Forwards and this one is seriously so freakin’ great!

All eight stories here deserve to be broken down, fully dissected and then reflected upon and at times I wished to be buddyreading it with someone just to hash out all the dark, sad and disturbing bits, but ultimately I was glad to be alone with my thoughts on it. I found a few quite gruesome and terrifying and the read as a whole to be unique and completely consuming. The Trees Grew Because I Bled There is easily a 5⭐️ for me and I recommend to all that appreciate a sorrowful horror read.

My four favourite stories are: (even the titles are 🔥)
You Follow
Bodies are for Burning
You’re Not Supposed to be Here
Please Leave or I’m Going to Hurt you

Thank you to @netgalley and @titanbooks for providing this fantastic ARC for an early and honest review,

Where to start with this collection of stories? My only experience with Eric La Rocca was their previous book, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, and I found that to an incredibly interesting read. Of the three stories presented in that collection I found that one didn't really do a huge amount for me, one was a very interesting slow burn story that felt very ghostly, and the other was incredibly disturbing, disgusting, and unsettling. It felt like a very broad mixture of styles, and I wasn't sure which of those I'd be getting in this book; which of LaRocca's styles would be the dominant one that would come through more often.

Whilst there are some spooky stories thrown into the mix here, with the first story the book presents you with being a prime example of this, for me most of these stories ended up falling into the latter category; the one that's designed to shock and disgust the reader. LaRocca's stories seem designed to make the reader gasp, to push you to the point where you're not sure if you want to keep reading, and to make your stomach turn.

The first story in the book that does this is the second one, 'Bodies Are For Burning', and I felt that this story makes it pretty clear that there's not going to be much in this collection that's off the table, or too taboo for LaRocca to bring into the mix. The story follows an aunt who's looking after her very young niece. The woman is recently widowed, and is finding it hard to deal with the fallout of that; especially because their thoughts about burning people keeps coming to the fore. She's had these thoughts all her life, but never acted on them. But now she's afraid that she's going to hurt the baby she's left in charge of. Through her internal monologue we get descriptions of the things she wants to do to the kid, like putting her in the oven and watching her scream as she cooks, or holding her hands over the burners on her cooker. The imagery is visceral, disturbing, and incredibly upsetting; and I feel that this is the area in which LaRocca excels.

'The Strange Things We Become' will feel very familiar to those that read 'Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke'. As with that story, this is told in the form of digital media logs, though message board posts this time round. It also deals with similar themes of love,of physical and emotional change, and of what people are willing to do when they're in love. There are parts of this story that have very little explanation, where the reader is left to try and figure it all out themselves, and the not knowing completely is the worst part. We only get brief glimpses of this story because of the way the narrator gives it to us, and that lack of understanding helps it to feel all the more unsettling.

Family also plays a huge role in the stories presented in this collection, and this comes to the forefront towards the latter half of the book where familial connections gets the spotlight. These stories can be the most disturbing because they take a look at how fine the line between love and hate can sometimes be, how your family can drive you to do awful things, and it really gets under your skin.

'I'll Be Gone By Then' follows a woman whose mother is moving to live with her since becoming sick. Having travelled to the US from Italy, and having given up most of her Italian identity, the woman already hates the idea of having her ailing mother coming into her life. Throughout the story we see moments of how this young woman has grown to convince herself that she has to hate her mother, how her carefully constructed present is more important that her past, and we get to see sinister thoughts begin to form in her mind as she tries to find a way of getting rid of her mother for good. The most disturbing part of the story isn't the attempts she makes to do away with her mother, like leaving her locked in a car on a hot day (though these moments are incredibly disturbing), but its the moment when she realises how monstrous she's become, how awful her actions are and tries to take it back that is the most heartbreaking and upsetting.We all have a capacity to do awful things to those we love, it's the realisation of that after the fact and the guilt of having to live with those actions that hurts the most.

'Please Leave Or I'm Going To Hurt You' is the final story in the collection, and whilst not involving things like imagined burning of babies, matricide, or bodily mutilation it might be one of the most disturbing in the bunch in its simplicity. The story follows a man and his elderly father who are hiking out to a remote cemetery, where the father is picking out the plot where he wants to be buried. Along the way we learn that the man has certain romantic desires towards his father, and things kind of only get worse from there. There's nothing truly awful about this story (you're not going to have to read about actual incestuous acts), but the way the topic itself is brought up here, they way the central character goes through things, it all leads you towards a very uncomfortable destination. And that's how the book ends, leaving you feeling....I don't even know how to describe it; but it's not good.

LaRocca seems to know exactly how to get under their readers skin, how to make people feel uncomfortable. There are so many types of horror, and whilst none of these stories frightened me, none of them fell into easily quantifiable horror sub-genres, they each one of them made me feel very uneasy. Reading them left me feeling bad, left me feeling almost dirty because it felt like I'd been taken to some truly disturbing and dark places and was made to take part in some terrible stuff because I saw it through the eyes of some awful people. This might not be a ghostly horror, or a slasher story, nor does it feature monsters, but it's most certainly horrific in its own unique ways.

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There features a number of stories that focus on queer identities, with almost every single one incorporating the queer community in some way. LaRocca is a queer writer, and it's clear that these themes mean a lot to them. LGBTQ+ stories tend to fall into a few neatly defined categories, things like coming out stories, love stories, and tragedies. We're either the victims or oppression and violence, the hopeful young queer out to make a better world, or a sidekick to a cool cis het hero who must be cool because they're down with the gays. But LaRocca's stories show us in a different light. We get to be people. Messy, muddled, complex, and even terrible people. Nothing would change in these stories if the people's sexual orientations were changed, their identities aren't intrinsic to the plots. Instead of being tokens or the inspirational queers they're just people. I love that LaRocca isn't scared of showing this different side of the queer community, and how we're often no different from the straight cisgender ones.

The book has another theme that seems to run through almost every single story in the collection; and those where it wasn't overtly included did seem to at least hint towards it. Cancer plays a big part here. People dying of cancer, people who have already died of it, it doesn't matter how its portrayed, it always seems to be a looming spectre. I don't know if this was a conscious thing LaRocca was doing, if they've had personal experience with the disease and was writing these stories as a way of dealing with it. Chances are though that people reading it will have had experiences with cancer, will have been through it themselves, or lost people to it. I watched both my in-laws die from it and saw what that did to my partner. I lost a friend to it, an amazing young woman who didn't even get to see twenty because of it. My best friend and most beloved companion died in my arms last year because of it. Cancer is cruel. It takes without care and we're all going to come up against it in some way. It's a looming spectre to be feared, and the feelings this book gives you, the horror, the disgust, the awe at cruelty, it all mirrors those feelings that cancer brings out in you. So please, if cancer is something that you're struggling with emotionally, if it's left its scars on you, or if you're dealing with it now, please be aware of it in this book before picking it up.

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There is not an easy read. I wouldn't even say its enjoyable. But its affecting. It's shocking and twisted and it hurts at times. It's not going to be for everyone, and I can understand not even getting all the way through it because it's not fun; but it is a hell of an experience.