The second story was ok, not as good as the first but pretty decent. A little predictable and slow but good writing and characters. This was a big disappointment, mostly because I had seen how many people loved the first and titular story of the three published in this collection. It's certainly the best story here, but sadly that isn't saying much. 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.

Like Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, we are trust into a story without knowing anything about the characters. After making it more than halfway through The Enchantment, I'm going to put this aside and declare I'm not the target reader for this collection. 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.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. Our protagonist has a predilection for starting fires, for burning things, for reducing things to carbon, so what happens when they are entrusted to look after a small child… this is LaRocca so all bets are off, but you can be guaranteed you will be out through the ringer with this one! There are some quite fabulously squeamish moments early on, which I absolutely loved - these are descriptions by LaRocca of injury detail and they are just gorgeously put across! Anyway, this story is crazy good… I’ll leave it there before I give away too much! ‘Sometimes you have to do something horrible to prevent something even worse from happening.’ http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/ThingsHaveGottenWorseSinceWeLastSpoke Follow ing Literature /

A startling affair... I’ll be cleaning up particles of darkness in my office for weeks." - Josh Malerman, author of Bird Box andMalorie Second story The Enchantment follows James and Olive in the aftermath of the death of their son, and is essentially a slow descent into madness. It's solid horror and I really liked the ending, but found the pacing slightly off. Final story You'll Find Its Like That All Over is much shorter than the other two, and feels slightly out of place; I think this collection should have been shorter or longer to justify its inclusion. I was honestly somewhat underwhelmed by parts two and three, and think the first story - which is definitely a four on its own - could be edited more tightly. The right amount of grotesque imagery and a gut-wrenching message make this an emotional rollercoaster. But the story isn’t just parroting genre conventions. The form is familiar, but its narrative is ground-breaking in its exploration of the darker side of online queer ‘safe’ spaces. It is a skillful interplay between the intense psychological trauma of its characters, the sexual simulacrum of online dating, and the unfeeling bureaucracy of legal paperwork – a juxtaposition similarly explored by Nat Ogle’s 2021 novel In the Seeing Hands of Others.I liked the Prince Lindworm element a lot but I feel uncomfortable with how desperate these lesbians were to have a baby and the angst of not being able to give it to one another. Bleak, clever, edgy, and vicious. Eric LaRocca draws his readers in for something they will never expect and never forget.” -Sadie Hartmann, ‘Mother Horror’ 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. I returned to work and that’s when I noticed that when you change, the people around you start to change as well. The arched eyebrows. The voices thinning to mere whispers. The spines straightening, faces blanching, as if I were brandishing a small weapon when I passed them. I suppose I was – the redness sprawling from every inch of my body as if I were blanketed with a rare tropical flower, a carnivorous plant with a decidedly avid appetite.

Upon reading the sections again I realize Olive and her husband have been dead all along. There was gas in the house that killed them the first night. But beyond that—and those are all things I can say about any of the authors I've worked with and titles I've published—I just think it hit that wind that every author and publisher hopes to hit.” So why—and how—did this independently published epistolary novel gain so much recognition? Their next best-selling title has sold around 500 or 600 copies. It’s a question Weirdpunk gets from other indie writers and publishing houses all the time. And Richard… well, he doesn’t really know. I hated that it's made out the bdsm is just being selfish and personally pushing someone to do something they clearly don't want to do for the fun of it. 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.

Then you have “The Enchantment “the story of a couple name Olive and James. They are trying to recover from the loss of their child , repair their marriage and find faith .

there are three stories collected in this book and all three of them are shit from a butt. just a goddamn waste of my time. This book was very disappointing, not because it was terrible but because I had heard so many good things and I was expecting so much more. A remarkable story that further cements the brilliant mind of one of my favourite indie writers. LaRocca blows away the competition with this story. I particularly enjoyed the introduction of Lyric, because to me he reminded me in his mannerisms and creepiness of the old guy from Poltergeist (he’s not that old) it was just the way he talked, the way he moved, the way he acted and the way he had something he was hiding - it was creepy and I bloody loved it. A set of three short works, all falling into that bleak, almost nihilistic type of horror. This style is hit or miss for me, sometimes it all just works like gangbusters and sometimes I feel like it's piling on for piling on's sake. These all are in the middle for me, a few recurring themes that are nice since the three stories are very very different otherwise. Oh. A word of warning. Careful with the gas stovetop. The dial’s broken. Sometimes you think it’s off when it’s really not.”The Enchantment: I liked the elements of religious horror, but again felt it was too short/not enough character development. Eric LaRocca's unflinching Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke will crawl inside you, move stuff around, and make you see the world differently, like all great stories do." - Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Pallbearers Club. Bodies Are For Burning - An aunt, with a penchant for burning things, fears what she will do when she is left to care for her toddler niece.