Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

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Domestic Abuse: Zoe initially sets herself up as a Dominatrix, promising to take care of Agnes as long as the latter remains her slave. However, as the story unfolds her actions appear closer to this trope. Not quite played straight, as by the end Agnes and Zoe never meet each other in real life.

Two stories feature here. Chapters of each intersperse the other and I anticipated them to conjoin at the book's close. They did not and this, initially, left me feeling a little perplexed. I don't usually gravitate or enjoy abstract pieces of fiction, preferring a hard and firm truth to be revealed in what I read, but here no closure or meaning was provided and it left me feeling initially bereft. The story that’s going to stay with me the longest is Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, especially the scene describing Agnes’ dinner. I definitely want to read more books by this author. YOU'LL FIND IT'S LIKE THAT ALL OVER is the weird tale of a man who finds a bone in his yard. The bone leads him down a strange path, involving the man's racist spouse and his foreign neighbor. It also involves a lot of betting. Sounds weird, right? This tale is so off beat, yet completely satisfying. Therein the problem lies with me and weird fiction. I like weird, but I also want a conclusion to the story. For me a lot of supposedly great weird fiction stories have fallen flat..sometimes it's like there's no story at all. It drives me crazy. That is not the case with Eric LaRocca.

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I thoroughly hated Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and yet, it only went downhill from there. This is a psychological horror story. Nothing presented is supernatural, the fear is from our minds and how people can be manipulated. This is a story of a manipulator and how things can go when manipulating someone with the wrong state of mind. Beyond that you'll have to read for yourself.

All of which said, this is an impressive, assured and genuinely discomforting trio of stories. I know I’ve sort of whined that I wanted slightly more characterisation and slightly slower pacing here, but I think it’s usually a good sign when you want more from a writer in general. This was probably my fave of the three, because it's straightforward and everything works towards the point. Once again it's extreme in its point-making, but at least here it makes a bit more sense.This new edition is revised and remastered and includes a brand new, never before seen novelette, There is Power in the Blood. With such a weight of contention, any attempt at a list of ‘best’ horror novels is doomed to disagreement. That’s fine. All lists are subjective. We have, however, tried to celebrate the breadth of horror—to highlight those books that establish something about the genre or push it forward into new realms. It’s worth noting that we have confined our choices to novels. Short horror fiction has a parallel ­­but distinct history that would require a survey all of its own. Thank you to the following for permitting me access to an advance reader's copy (ARC) of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes. This generosity did not impact my honesty when rating/reviewing.

The Enchantment - There is ZERO way dude can nail himself to a cruifex by himself. Zero👏🏻! Like the only way you can nail your feet down is if you nail your wrists up first because your feet nailed to the board would not hold you up enough to finish hands. As soon as it's mentioned that this kid is building a cruifex you know he's going to nail himself to it. Didn't understand how this super religious person is chill with suicide. Finally and most importantly was the issue of lesbian trauma being used as a horror trope. I don’t feel good about the fact that this wasn’t written by a sapphic person because it made me feel extremely uncomfortable and unhappy with the way it was handled.

Fifth, level of gruesomeness/horror/disturbingness. The author in their note at the end says they wrote this in A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires.