Eric LaRoccaRezensionen

this was fine. i don't know what i thought this was gonna be, but it certainly wasn't THAT. the writing isn't the best, the plot moves too fast and overall underwhelming. i just wish the words behind the cover picture had the same skin-crawling creepiness, the same deftness of skill, the same unforgettable quality. i also wish i could say this will teach me to stop judging books by their covers, but it won't! i will never learn!

I had so much hope this would be good.

This book goes from "I'm glad to have someone to share my pain with" to "I want to keep you as my property" with too many steps skipped over. A little less zero to a hundred and more twenty-five to a hundred. It almost works if you squint.

Agnes tells her mother she's gay in a funny way while a fruit peeler is passed around.

I don't really care about the big part of the book dedicated to "what have you done today to deserve your eyes" where Agnes focuses on her eyes and not her other senses or maybe a working tongue, teeth that are healthy, hands, ears, a nose, any of that? Just her eyes. It's a really fucked up mentality but okay.

In so many words. 'My Mom found out I'm gay and this apple peeler is a family heirloom to remind me of her disowning me' is such a wild plot.

Now after that we find out the objective of girl who doesn't matter, Zoey, is to dominate someone else and treat them like a sex puppy. Ew. Then she says like a mother with a child. EW. Stop making it worse.

This devolves into Zoey controlling when she can bathe, eat, what she can do. It's a devolving mess of shock and horror because why not do that? It's a disappointing unraveling of a book.

It could be horror if things were better paced but here it's certainly not. It's a bit of shock content but not the right amount.

1.5 stars. You had me and you dropped me.½

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

I think LaRocca's strength lies in short stories, the narrative struggled in this. A lot of it felt gratuitous, suffering for the sake of suffering. Not my favorite of his but still, an interesting premise that could have been explored further.

Thank you for the ARC netgalley!

Not one of my favorites, though a few stories had better narrative structure than others, it was a little bit too meandering for my tastes. I hope to read it again and maybe glean more from the individual stories.

LaRocca does write well; that part of the blurbs is true--but calling this one of the 50 best horror books ever is insane. Of the three stories, the title story is the longest and concerns manipulation by email and instant messaging. I have no doubt there is some sick individual who would actually go along with this in a desperate search for love. But being somewhat original doesn't make it all that good. Memorable yes, but I think the best horror makes us feel that it could happen to us--the Exorcist for instance. When I read it I was not much older than Regan and for all I knew I might be possessed the next day. The second of LaRocca's stories is a bit of a muddle and goes on too long, pitting religious belief vs. non-belief, but not in any useful way. The third story starts out a bit like a Roald Dahl story, where you are expecting a surprise ending. Again, it is well-written, but it just asks too much suspension of disbelief by the reader. LaRocca is a writer to watch I guess, but he hasn't quite gotten there yet.

In general, i like my horror with a tinge of the supernatural; I am unenthused to bored when horror is about people being horrible (mostly). This is not my kind of horror, but I still loved several of the stories. I did find the collection somewhat uneven, with four of the stories being fabulous, and two not really working for me. I could see the skill in the writing, but those stories were boring -- not least because the characterisation in them was wooden and distracted from the story.

The quote on the front called this body horror; as a general rule I don't think that these are body horror. Cancer, dementia, old age should not be called 'body horror' - they are the lived experience of large portions of the population. There is deliberate mutilation (of self, of others) that I would count as body horror, but they aren't the majority of the stories.

Bodies are for burning is the best story of this collection. Person with intrusive thoughts who is struggling, but whose concerns are belittled. Absolutely creeping dread.

The other three stories I really liked are You Follow wherever they go which does have the weird hints of supernatural that I like; The Strange Thing We Become where the story comes through in forum posts, which emphasises the unreliability of the narrator; and Please leave or I'm going to hurt you which reflects on family relationships.

Everything the Darkness Eats was a really interesting and heartbreaking piece of cosmic horror.

I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator did a fantastic job, and it kept me wanting to read more.

The writing was pretty, like really, really pretty. It was chock-full of metaphors and similes, which I didn't mind at first. However, as the book progressed, I felt that it slowed the story down, and it made it very distracting to listen to at times. I did like how the story switched from different character POVs, although I do wish the characters were fleshed out a little more, but the narrator did a really good job of making them come to life.

Even though I didn't quite enjoy this book, I would recommend checking out the audiobook if you're a big fan of cosmic horror.

Everything the Darkness Eats comes out on June 6. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the gifted copy!

LaRocca definitely gives the reader a horror story, two stories, actually, but the ending was phoned-in and truly a let down. I absolutely recommend reading the book, but with the knowledge that you will most likely be left with a strong feeling of "meh" afterwards.

Such a dark, disturbing, quick read.

Wtf did I just read??? Though some of the stories are gorgeously written, you have to think that the others feel incomplete...even for short stories. The book is less than 100 pages long and I got the feeling that the author ran out of steam halfway through. High praise for the uniqueness...lower grades for the follow through.

1.5 Stars

I honestly don’t know what to think of this. It was so visceral and gross, but endearing and strange.

The relationship between the characters was the part I had the most trouble with, being submerged in 2020s where online relationships can mean certain death…the trust they gave very quickly was odd for me, so I had to suspend my disbelief about that.

What on earth did I just read?!?!

It made little sense, it was grotesque and it was awesome! There were definitely parts I liked better than others, but I enjoyed my experience and that’s all that matters. This will stick with me.

i dont even know what to say honestly

A disturbing piece of horror that makes you think…

I don't know where to start with You've Lost a Lot of Blood. It's a disturbing (not scary) little novella that makes you think about the authenticity of your own creative efforts in life. We are presented with a steampunk style modern story within a story, allegedly written by Martyr Black, whose own story is that of a serial killer. The story written by Martyr Black could easily be a commentary on the increasing effect of AI in our world. But it's not entirely that, and I don't want to go deeper because...spoilers.

I enjoyed the read. I think I most enjoyed the asides between Black and his partner Ambrose, as they discuss art and life and why they are compelled to do the things they do.

The writing is almost scriptlike, in general terms -- crisp action without a lot of inner thoughts intruding on the story, crisp dialogue between two characters to convey the relationship story between Black and Ambrose.

I'd like to see this done as a short horror script. I think it would be possible.

Either way, it's a bit of a think piece horror study, and I like those.

Review coming soon!

This collection features 20 poems of vivid imagery and raw emotion. Each one feels intensely personal, as though Eric is pouring his heart into the page (and I believe he may very well have been). There’s also lot of ambiguity and metaphor at play, and I loved trying to figure out the various interpretations/meanings behind each. These are certainly ripe for multiple reads!

Eric has a fantastic writing style; one that I’ve really enjoyed in his longer works and that shines just as bright with his poetry. Plenty of evocative descriptions (at one point an egg yolk is described as an “oily corpse”) and intriguing phrases, such as “candied viscera,” “velveteen sunlight,” “teeth of the moon,” “cannibal priests,” and of course the titular “fanged dandelion”.

The imagery is so visceral and powerful, and each poem is a gut punch of emotive memories and experiences. While there’s language like seed, breath, and tender the diction trends much heavier with rot, torture, blood, cut, maggot, coffin, etc. There are also lots of scenes with bad things happening at night and characters devouring one another (in various ways). It’s clear Eric is focusing on the darker and more painful sides of relationships, self-perception, identity, and the human condition.

I enjoyed all of the poems and I appreciate the brutality and honesty present, though one of my favorites is “A Mother is a Kind of God” which seems to be from the perspective of the earth and about a serial killer who delivers victims into her “body”. I’m likely way off

Wow, what a story! Beautifully written with disturbing imagery and a protagonist I really sympathized with. It has tropes of body horror, guilt, and trauma but they are presented in a very interesting and unique way. Like I can’t stop thinking about this girl whose sentient slivers of skin are constantly trying to escape off her body. It’s horrifying yet captivating at the same time.

Our protagonist Teddy is dealing with a lot. Her father is dead, her mother is neurotic, and she has a guilty secret that is literally causing her body to unravel. Oh and she has a parasitic condition where she feeds off the emotions of others (also literally).

It’s such an engaging premise, but beyond that it’s also interesting story of identity, secrecy, and human connection with twists and turns I did not expect. My only real complaint is that I wanted more! More about these characters, more insight into Teddy’s condition, and more about what’s going on with her mother. But at 86 pages it’s a debut that is certainly worth your time, and I’m very excited to see what comes next from this author!

Thank you to author @ejlarocca for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

Eric LaRocca has a way with words that I find disturbing, enthralling, and endlessly enjoyable to read. He's easily an auto-buy author for me, and he's just getting started!

With this story Eric turns his talents to the epistolary form; a medium that is underutilized, likely because it's so hard to get right. I mean how well can one create complex characters, inspire awe and dread in the reader, and convey a full range of emotions only through written correspondences (in this case emails and chat messages)? In this case, the answer is VERY well. Very well indeed.

The basic premise is that one character is wanting to sell an antique apple peeler, and the other character is an interested buyer. What follows is a tale of loneliness, codependency, and sadism that starts out innocently enough and turns into something truly horrific by the end. Eric takes his time with the pacing, allowing us to really get to know these characters and be pulled into their web of communication. And the times he shows restraint from graphic details only serve to make the times he doesn't that much more disgusting and alarming. Seriously, there is one scene in particular where I almost put the book down.

I loved this story, loved the way it was written, loved these sad characters, and loved the disturbing twists along the way. Highly recommend!

Yeah…this one didn’t win me over like it did everyone else. Longer review when I can collect my thoughts.

Gruesome doesn't even begin to describe LaRocca's deliciously dark selection of short stories. My favorite was the titular tale, but these three stories prove there is another exciting voice in horror to pay attention to.

I really have no idea what to rate this. Not a 1 or a 5. Probably not a 2 (though I am sure many people would rate it low because of creep and disgust factors). So, 3 it shall be.

If you are wondering what to expect out of this book, I'll just summarize one, ah, representative event. Your sub comes to you stating she wants you (plural) to have a baby. You don't want that sort of commitment so you counter with: you want to feel a life inside you, to feed it, grow it, how about a tapeworm? Just eat a spoiled steak and that should do that the trick. Your sub eagerly accepts.

As almost every other reviewer has mentioned, I was very "WTF did I just read/listen to?" I had a brief conversation with my dog, who was lying on the floor blocking the exit from the kitchen (as is her wont) about this. It wasn't much of a conversation because she is very quiet and almost never vocalizes and I was mostly saying things like "What the hell did I just listen to?" and "That was fucked up!"

It was pretty good epistolary writing. If you go audio on this, be prepared to be annoyed by the pedantic reading of full email addresses before each letter. Surely this could have been shortened after the first couple? Also, the pronunciation of 'Re:' as "ray." Hello? It's short for 'reply,' "Ree." Who the hell says "ray-ply"?

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There is a collection of horror stories with each story exploring the darkness that lurks just beneath the surface of everyday life. The stories are all different, but they share a sense of unease and an exploration of the darker side of human nature. One of the things that I appreciated about these stories is that they are all well-written and thought-provoking. Each story is a fully-realized world with unique characters and situations. The horror is often subtle and psychological, and the author is adept at building tension and a sense of dread.

Definitely, 5 stars for the book. Thanks to Edelweiss and Titan Books for providing me with an opportunity to read and review the book.

This has to be the most twisted and fucked up book I've ever read....in a good way of course.

It is about two people that cross paths on the internet and the book is written through emails and instant messages that went back and forth between the two characters. It blows me away that even though this is fiction, I'm sure there have been the same bizarre events that have happened in real life and that is where lies the true horror!

I don’t even know how to review this. This is one of the weirdest books I’ve ever read but I like it a lot??