Eric LaRocca “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke” Review: 3/5 This Review Isn’t as Weird as You Think!

Before we start the review, this has to be said. It’s a terrible day when you pick up a book, like Eric LaRocca’s “Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke”, published by Titan Books, in a Barnes and Noble, only to see a recommendation slip underneath that says, “LaRocca is the LGBTQ version of body horror” which to me makes me remember one simple thing. Half of the writers, including William Burroughs, and Howl’s Allen Ginsberg, were gay long before Eric LaRocca was born. It’s hard for me to say that Eric LaRocca is the end all to be all of fictional LGBTQ horror, since that sounds dumb anyway. It led me not to buy the work, because the manager or Barnes and Noble employee thought that pushing the author’s sexuality mattered more than the writing itself. Personally, William Burroughs is an amazing writer who happens to be gay, not a gay writer who is writing about the gay experience. It’s why Bret Easton Ellis always feared coming out as a gay person, because in the 80’s, investors and publishers would put his books in the gay section of the book store, limiting his selling power. But before we start, an author’s sexuality doesn’t automatically make someone talented. A person has to cultivate their talent through many drafts, only to find out what the story needs, and not the writer’s own mirror reflection.

            For Eric LaRocca, a Bram Stoker and SplatterPunk winner, the characters don’t seem Woke but the best part of Eric LaRocca is that he does care about the craft of writing and the art of subtlety. The story of Agnes and Zoe in “Things have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke” takes place in the early 2000’s, when Agnes is selling an Apple Peeler, and Zoe wants to buy it. Only admitting that she’s going to lose her apartment, Zoe decides to give Agnes a thousand dollars, as she would never want to take away the Apple Peeler. But then they decide to enter into a master slave contract, Drudge and Master, and the story gets weird, quick. Forcing Zoe to get fired from her job, by leaving panties in the bathroom, but Zoe is going further along with the nightmare. Zoe even cajoles Agnes into murdering someone. Then by eating a pound of raw meat, hopefully so that she could have a child, and ending up with a parasite.

Written through emails and chat room text, it’s stunning to see how millennials, like myself, devoted a life to someone they don’t really know. Disturbingly to the point that made me blink and say, “Damn, that’s not too bad.” Spoiler: she forces Zoe to eat raw meat and get a parasite inside her, and she lets her go, as she cradles the child, with the apple peeler in her hand.

            The emails and text message format is fascinating because all I could think about is “this is where relationships are” today as the world now operates through text and email. And all I could think was, “I would have just walked away,” because when someone asks for your bank account number, it’s always a bad sign. Zoe and Agnes represent a world locked together by words, not by a real physical connection. And the bug, parasite, isn’t given any real description, either, so you could take the ending literally or metaphorically.  

            The next story, “The Enchantment” returns the story to James and Olive, who are a couple going through a rough patch, after losing a child, and they decide to take in a young boy, and let them live with them. Only Olive becomes obsessed, portraying him as a savior, but now convinced, that he’s a demon. But we don’t really see any declarative scenes that help the reader paint that picture, as we don’t see any or all of the boy’s perspective. As the couple are entrenched together, the boy kills James, and Olive is told, by the young boy, that he was sent to bring them and his son together. An insect like creature, which is the only description LaRocca gives any physical characteristics to the creature.

            But Olive ends up committing suicide, and the story ends there. “Enchantment” seems more inspired by David Cronenberg’s “The Brood” or the film adaptation of Jose Saramago’s “The Double”, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal, later retitled as “Enemy.” Eric LaRocca seems to be toying with the subtlety underpinning a couple on the brink of a lost marriage, but an interloper promising something more deadly. While James is skeptic, it does put Olive into a helpless female role. Horror always uses the “struggling family” trope so much, that while it doesn’t feel like copied homework, the condensed nature creates a tightly woven narrative that plays out as inspiration regurgitated. And yeah, I get the whole “stories are repeated” horseshit, and sometimes that’s a good thru-way to an even better idea, the tension of James and Olive is on full display, and not necessarily the creepier moments a movie would highlight. But Mr. LaRocca’s “Enchantment” is not Henry James, but more like a fine polished David Cronenberg writing experiment.

            The third “You’ll Find it’s like that Everywhere” is almost akin to boredom. A young man thinks he can get involved with a couple, thinks he’s better off with him, but finds out that the world isn’t to his own standards. Through a brief puzzle moment, where a character helps the young man realize, that racism is universal, and “you’ll find it’s like that everywhere” stumbles across his lips. It’s almost uninspired, because the first two stories really do hold the crux of the horror/sci-fi together, but to me, “You’ll Find it’s Like that Everywhere” only serves as the “racism is bad” story, as it doesn’t give much depth, as if he was trying to replicate Lovecraft, and to replicate another writer should be akin to war crimes. Is he explicitly doing this, probably not, but, as I calm down, I think it’s just another reminder that not all the stories in a collection are going to be good. While Eric LaRocca is talented, it does beg the question, why didn’t he just take about ten to thirty more pages to give the “racist husband” more depth, but somehow, doesn’t prepare you for any finale. Lifeless, and rather undefined, in both character development and execution. It seems like a gay character coming to a conclusion that not everyone is an ally, and you have to accept people for who they are. Not for who you want them to be. For a gay person this is shocking, but to everyday people, this isn’t. And I don’t buy that everyone is racist, sexist, homophobic, and pointing out “You’ll Find It’s Like that Everywhere” for its lack of revelation or execution, doesn’t make me or any reader homophobic. It means that the story sucked.  

            Now, to bring it all back from the first paragraph, there are some writers who happen to be gay but somehow manage to thrill me and create questions that resonate with readers and writers alike around the world. Eric LaRocca is not betting his entire career on his pronouns, but someone at Barnes and Nobles is. I do think the first two stories, “Things have gotten worse since we last spoke” and “Enchantment” have more punch than the third “You will find it’s like that everywhere”, but I would rather see Eric LaRocca write a novel next. Build up characters and find the positive through the dark world he inhabits. Just don’t forget the darkness, entirely. While the stories are well crafted, shocking, and interesting, and talented, a media hype train, doesn’t make you a great writer. Nor does adding pronouns in your bio, either.

            Final Analysis: 3/5

-Louis Bruno is the author of more than 20 books, including, The Michael Project, The Michael Project: Book 2: The Lost Children of Eve, Thy Kingdom Come, The Disintegrating Bloodline Part 2: Chaos, The Data Chase, The Disintegrating Bloodline part 3: Solvè, The Disintegrating Bloodline (and the original text re-released in 2019), Apocalypse Soldier, The Data Chase, Selection: The First Book of the Life and Death Saga, and Blinking Eyes: The Second Book of the Life and Death Saga, Hierarchy of Dwindling Sheep, The City of Sand, The God of Curiosity, To the Moon and Back, The Villain Lives and The Villain Lives: The Divided Pinpoint, Come Home, Young One, City of Sand: Book 1: The Holy Terror, and The Voices Are Alive, and The City of Sand: Book 2: Jerusalem Ignited. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Phoenix. His books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Lulu. He can be found on Gab, https://gab.com/thereallouistbruno, Minds https://www.minds.com/lbruno8063/. Instagram @lbrruno8063 and @louisbrunoofficialbook. Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouisBr88881650. He has written for the Intellectual Conservative and Ephemere. His two newest books, The City of Sand: Book 2: Jerusalem Ignited, and The Savior, the Flood, and the Beast: Three Plays are out now: https://www.amazon.com/City-Sand-Book-Jerusalem-Ignited/dp/1365979660/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1G8HAWZP73ZFO&keywords=Louis+Bruno+City+of+Sand+book+2&qid=1675772880&sprefix=louis+bruno+city+of+sand+book+2%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1. https://www.amazon.com/Savior-Flood-Beast-Three-Plays/dp/1088120997/ref=pd_ybh_a_sccl_4/140-0249150-4265358?pd_rd_w=W5fsa&content-id=amzn1.sym.67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_p=67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_r=2E73RTDRBVPZEY5D77V2&pd_rd_wg=69KGI&pd_rd_r=59d8721c-bf89-4fa7-bd88-7a072004a89f&pd_rd_i=1088120997&psc=1.