Name: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes
ISBN: 9781803361505

Eric LaRocca

Dark, disturbing, cutting-edge horror from an astonishing new voice. The viral sensation that everyone is talking about. Sadomasochism. Obsession. Death. 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. What have you done today to deserve your eyes? Devastating, deeply disturbing and beautifully written horror from one of the genre’s most cutting-edge voices.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes

Clara Gauthier

After all, what exactly is a family, if not a brotherhood and sisterhood afflicted with the same terminal disease?

fatru tamzil

This is strange.....in a good way. I read the first story as a novella long ago and still remember it vividly (what have you done today to deserve your eyes?) and it is still one of the stangest, scariest stories i have ever read. There is a lot of power imbalance when it came to a story like this; the desire to please someone, the desire to control someone. What is horror if not a deep dibe to our deepest, darkest self? 

The second story feels a lot different. Set againist a bleak landscape of an island, a married couple tried to salvage their marriage after their child's suicide. This one is full of imagery, and I feel like this one try to talk to us about losing and gaining hope in the middle of adversity. After all, what is horror if not losing and finding your own salvation? 

The third story reads more like social commentary on things. What if you get on a bet that could save your life, in exchange of well, your life? How much do we want to humour others and be polite,even if the cost is our own life? 

Imaginative, provocative, strange....but also make sense.

"Amongst the Top 50 Horror Books of All Time" - Cosmopolitan Three dark and disturbing horror stories from an astonishing new voice, including the viral-sensation tale of obsession, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. For fans of Kathe Koja, Clive Barker and Stephen Graham Jones. Winner of the Splatterpunk Award for Best Novella. 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. A couple isolate themselves on a remote island in an attempt to recover from their teenage son’s death, when a mysterious young man knocks on their door during a storm… And a man confronts his neighbour when he discovers a strange object in his back yard, only to be drawn into an ever-more dangerous game. Three devastating, beautifully written horror stories from one of the genre’s most cutting-edge voices. What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

jess larry

hate stories exclusively built on STUPID characters, things have...spoke is still a masterpiece tho <3

Jule

Devoured it.

5 ⭐️ – Things have gotten worse since we last spoke 
3 ⭐️ – The Enchantment
4 ⭐️ – You‘ll find it‘s like that all over

a collection of 3 short stories: the first (things have gotten worse since we last spoke) had a pretty solid build up, but the ending slightly disappointed me. this is the same for the last short story in this collection (you’ll find it’s like that all over), but my favorite of the stories was the second (the enchantment). i thought that the ending was able to at least be a strong enough ending with the build up, even if it did not make a ton of sense. i love theological and religiously influenced horror, so it really appealed to me. 

While I know it's controversial, I feel this book was 5⭐️ based on the first story alone. After a long time searching, I had finally finally found a story that left me unable to stop thinking about it for days. I love how the whole story was written in emails, however I agree with the argument that the two girls did write to each other more like authors and less like how two young adults would usually communicate, with long narrative anecdotes ect. However, this book lost a star because I feel the other two just didn't provide the same level of horror and disturbance the first did so well. After 

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

 I expected the others to have equally shaken me to my core. The second was ok but mostly made no sense and the third was just boring. I still loved the first story so much and if I could recommend it over the second and third, I would. 

ariah 

While I know it's controversial, I feel this book was 5⭐️ based on the first story alone. After a long time searching, I had finally finally found a story that left me unable to stop thinking about it for days. I love how the whole story was written in emails, however I agree with the argument that the two girls did write to each other more like authors and less like how two young adults would usually communicate, with long narrative anecdotes ect. However, this book lost a star because I feel the other two just didn't provide the same level of horror and disturbance the first did so well. After Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke I expected the others to have equally shaken me to my core. The second was ok but mostly made no sense and the third was just boring. I still loved the first story so much and if I could recommend it over the second and third, I would. 

Brittany Levely-Connolly

This collection of short horror stories was amazing, disgusting, disturbing and most importantly kept me on my toes until the last page. Just when you think you know the direction the story is going to take LaRocca pulls the rug out from under you. Each story is entirely unique and mind-blowing in very different ways but all deal with themes of humans desperate desires to connect with other humans. These tales will get under your skin and horrify you psychologically.

Louise 

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

 have seen Things Have Gotten Worse Since we Last Spoke gaining some popularity among the horror lovers on BookTok and I was intrigued so when it was available on Netgalley along with 2 other short stories I immediately requested.

Its a short story so I was able to read it in one sitting, which I recommend to do. This is a story about an interaction online between two women intitally about the sale of an apple peeler which then turns into an obsession between these two women and things go very weird very quickly.

If you want a book to test the limits of what you think you can handle, this is it. This story is vile & disgusting, I wanted to scrub my skin afterwards and just the fact that this invoked such an emotional response means I have to give credit to the author.

So I really liked Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke which I am so glad for. The other two were also good but that was definitely my favorite. They all went in directions I didn’t expect but like… in very strong ways. Very interesting thematically even though in the second one sometimes what was actually occurring was beyond me. 