Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes

Product Information

Also, there are a few scenes toward the end that got me… My god. I had to get up and leave my laptop on the couch to walk a lap around the house! Just the thought of what was being asked of Agnes literally had me squirming in disgust, and it only got worse from there! ( Well done, Eric!) *Updated note- I had the exact same reaction the second time around after reading this scene!! I just think the author needs to learn how to pose words in a different way. I feel like every story at the base was the same story told over and over again & again. Characters are gay, trying to have a baby, and so much cancer! It's all just cancer in this book. Every story This was just fine. Again, it had an interesting concept but the execution left something to be desired. Once again, the characters were bland and unbelievable and the story simultaneously felt drawn out and underdeveloped. The first plot point was way too predictable and also logistically impossible, how does someone crucify themselves? I also found the story, though having quite a good atmosphere and being potentially interesting, didn’t really make sense. I guess this was due to them being dead all along but even that wasn’t made clear at the end and the reason for everything that happened wasn’t either. I found it forgettable and undeveloped. What is actually happening (although Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke cannot be labelled as “Torture Porn”) are new techniques in audience immersion. Constant franchises and ridiculous kill counts have cheapened a genre that relies on audience participation in a way that most other genres do not. LaRocca, through their construction of their novella, shows a deep insight into this ongoing debate and is instinctually correct to bring it into the written word. My Response to the Novella 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.

The second story, The Enchantment, is really quite bad. Characters' motivations make little sense, and change at the drop of a hat, without even leading to the story becoming more interesting. It feels like LaRocca has a bad grip on his characters, and a worse grip on what he is trying to say. (Also, how exactly is crucifying yourself to a cross supposed to work..?) 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. I'll Be Gone By Then - This story is the perfect example of that old saying, you don't know what you've got until it's gone. Don't take the ones you love for granted. That hasn’t stopped it from going viral. It may have even helped. Things Have Gotten Worse has sold more than 20,000 copies, making it by far the most successful release to date for Weirdpunk Books, the Minneapolis-based DIY horror imprint that published it. Despite being horrifying and sinister, I can understand this tale of self-interest, power, lust, and fixation. So flawlessly put together, with the ideal conclusion. The term perfect cannot be emphasized enough. A perfect 5 star and the finest by far.

Read More:

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. The Enchantment: I liked the elements of religious horror, but again felt it was too short/not enough character development. The stories here are all very character-driven and focus on the human condition (you’ll find no otherworldly monsters or bloodthirsty creatures in this book), with a pervading theme of love and desire that remains a consistent presence throughout. Stories such as “The Trees Grew Because I Bled There” present a seemingly innocuous and mundane setting (a conversation between a couple) that gleams its horror from how casual the pair are discussing a subject that horrifies the reader, and how we are slowly fed details on their dysfunctional relationship through dialogue that feels blaise and routine to the characters delivering it. “I’ll Be Gone By Then” takes a similar approach, telling a story of a woman taking care of her elderly mother. This is one of the books most disturbing tales simply due to how casually and easily the lead character thinks, and then acts upon, impulsive, selfish and ultimately despicable notions. Larocca doesn’t judge his characters (he leaves that to his reader) and this detachment is what makes these stories work so well as they leave the reader to feel the emotions that the characters should. Absolutely one of my top-tier favorites in a collection of favorite stories. There isn't much I can say about this installment without giving the whole thing away, but it's graphic, viscerally painful in both a physical and emotional sense, and wraps up with the most perfectly satisfying ending I could imagine. Anyway, how the hell do you talk about horror: “I was deeply discomforted by these stories but in a way that reflected well on the skill and intentions of the author”? I admired the tonal and stylistic range between all three stories, although the first is probably the most impressively “voicey” of the three. In fact, it was probably a little bit unbalancing because, for me, it was the most striking and also incidentally the longest, taking up about the first 50% of the book, while the middle story is takes you to about 85%, and the final story fills up the last 15%. It’s probably an unfair quirk of perception, but the fact there’s only three stories, and they decrease so noticeably in length … it kind of makes the book as a whole feel like it’s deflating as it goes? Like an old party balloon. Or, um, a post-ejaculatory penis. The last story is the closest to optimistic that they get (which is, y’know, a highly qualified statement) so in that respect it’s a softer landing for the reader. But it also, perhaps inevitably, felt like a weaker one.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke ages like fine wine, the new materials are just fine, not as immediately impactful or fully fleshed out; considering this short stories collection as '1 feature presentation + 2 bonus materials' then you won't be disappointed. Foregone Conclusion: The author's notes at the beginning let the reader know that Agnes does not survive the events of the book. None of these words were supposed to be read by anyone else; yet they were written for publication. This dichotomy plays at the centre of the reader’s response to this novella.

This book spoke to me as soon as I’ve seen the cover. It’s grotesque but beautiful at the same time. That may sound weird but it contains something that is very appealing to the eyes.