Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke – Book Review

Review of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes by author Eric LaRocca

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes is a collection of 3 long form short stories that loosely fit in the horror genre. After reading this collection I think I’m giving up on author Eric LaRocca.

I previously read his novel You’ve Lost a lot of Blood and found it original and disturbing. It isn’t the best book I’ve ever read but it was unique enough to earn creativity points. Having read these other three stories I can still say that he’s creative and original but his stories need a ton of polish.

I don’t know how else to put it except that this book put me in a bad mood. I think I’m more disappointed than angry. These stories have interesting premises but they’re wasted on writing that is nowhere near ready to be published. Somehow, this author is recognized in horror lit circles but spectacular indie horror authors like Connor DeBruler have shelves of novels gathering dust while waiting to be sold.

The stories in Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke get progressively worse. The title story starts with an intriguing opening but dissolves into a bizarre and borderline nonsensical commentary on a nontraditional romance. It ends abruptly with a non conclusion that says to me the author just didn’t know what to write next.

Then, in an infuriating faux pas the second story reuses imagery and nearly exact lines from the first. They strangely both contain deaths by crucifixion that are described in nearly identical fashion. Perhaps this was an attempt to link the stories but it feels more like laziness.

The afterward discusses the author’s atheism and struggle with not believing in god so the crucifix imagery is slightly explained but doubling up on it is not excused.

The third story commits one of the biggest sins a story can make, it’s boring. I just kept looking at how many pages I had left waiting for it to be over.

This whole book just left a bad taste in my mouth. I think the moral of the story for me is that I need to stop picking up books just because they have really cool covers.

2/5 crosses ✝✝

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Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

The title story can also be found as a standalone novella. It’s a very odd horror story that opens with an author’s note saying that he compiled the story from correspondence between the characters Agnes Petrella and Zoe Cross before Agnes’ death. He also states that some details have been omitted by the police department involved in Zoe’s trial.

So, going in we know that Agnes is going to die and we can assume that Zoe is somehow at fault.

Throughout emails and instant messaging transcripts we see how their unusual relationship developed. They meet on an LGBTQ message board where Agnes is trying to sell an antique apple peeler, Zoe is interested in buying.

Rather quickly their relationship advances to somewhat romantic and then into an extreme display of a subset of BDSM. Zoe wants to own Agnes and every aspect of her life. Agnes agrees and a contract is drawn.

At this point I figured this story was just a fetish piece but I was intrigued enough to really want to see how it panned out. The fact that these girls never meet in person had me questioning who they really are and what their motivations could be.

I thought I knew where the story was going but I turned out to be very wrong. It got interesting, then very disgusting, and then just kind of ended. Just as I was really getting into how effing weird these two characters were the story was over.

I don’t think it was so much a fetish piece as making fun of that genre. Their incredibly fast move into a master/slave dynamic made me think of the outlandishness of 50 Shades of Grey and how highly inappropriate depictions of these relationships are when people who don’t understand them decide to write about them.

However, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is ultimately unsatisfying so it fails as a fetish piece or a satire of one, however you decide to read it. Although the ending was highly disappointing I can still say the story was unique and anything but boring so I don’t feel like I totally wasted my time.

3/5 💃💃💃 red dresses

The Enchantment

The next story starts with Milo’s 17th birthday party. His parents seem to be at odds but want to make sure he has a nice birthday. As the mother pulls him inside she notices that he’s drawn a circle on his hand in permanent marker. Concerned, she says she “thought he stopped doing this.”

Well now, what could that mean? The mystery deepens as a flash of the news says they’ve confirmed there is no afterlife and Milo’s birthday present is a hammer with a golden handle.

As quickly as this set up occurs it’s over. It seems common for author LaRocca to make whiplash turns in his stories that jerk from one theme to another with no warning. The story isn’t about the son, it’s about the parents rekindling their marriage.

But it’s also a story about faith and religion, ghosts, life and death, angels and demons, and too much more. While Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke didn’t have enough and ended too soon, The Enchantment has too much and drags on too long.

The story could have been far more impactful had it leaned into the grounded aspects instead of relying fully on supernatural elements.

I get what LaRocca was going for but these stories feel unedited. It seems he comes up with an idea but doesn’t know how to turn it into a solid story. Additionally, this second story reuses themes and imagery from the first. Perhaps that is an attempt to connect the two tales but it comes off more as lazy and steals away from the uniqueness of either.

It’s unfortunate that these creative seeds aren’t nurtured into full plants. Although there are strong roots for this story it looks like the sprout shriveled before blooming.

2/5 angels 😇😇

You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over

The final story in Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke opens with Gerald Fowler finding a bone in his yard, buried in snow after a blizzard. On the bone are the carved initials of one of his neighbors. Curious, he confronts the neighbor about it.

What follows is an unusual sequence of events that reads like an old time fable meant to teach a thinly veiled lesson. The neighbor challenges Fowler to a series of bets and Fowler agrees to the ever increasing stakes because he doesn’t want to be impolite. The moral of the story is apparently to not put yourself into dangerous situations just to be polite. Sure, okay.

That’s an okay lesson I suppose… But the story is tedious to read. I just kept asking myself when it would get to the point. Then the point was… pointless. I do not believe that most people would put their lives at risk just to not piss off a neighbor. Heck, most people won’t even do the courtesy of not parking their neighbors in let alone risk their lives to ensure they don’t get a dirty look from across the street.

I’ve watched my neighbors let their dogs poop in front of my house, notice that I see them, and then walk away like they didn’t just disrespect me. So don’t throw this bullshit at me that people care more about pleasing their neighbors than they do about keeping their heads.

On top of all that we never even get to learn where that bone came from. Why did it need to be a bone anyway? Also, there are bones in yards all the time. Believe me, my dog finds them every day.

This final story was the most boring and unsatisfying of an overall underwhelming collection. Pass.

1/5 bones 🦴