Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

By: Eric LaRocca

Narrated by: Laurie Catherine Winkel

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?

©2021 Eric LaRocca (P)2021 Fireside Horror

What Have You Done Today to Deserve Your Eyes?

Rating: 8.5/10

This is going to be a pretty short and succinct review being that this is a 102 page novella, mostly revolving around text chat and emails – an epistolary novella in better terms.

What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

I’d seen tons of people in the horror community either purchasing copies of this book or talking about how much they loved it, so I figured I would give it a shot. LaRocca, outside of being a mutual on socials, is relatively unknown author to me (hence my hesitancy to believe the hype) but friends whom I trust with book recommendations RARELY leave me disappointed.

What starts out as a seemingly normal email thread for the purchase of an antique apple peeler becomes a shared obsession that borders on possession. It is a tale of loneliness and the feeling of being wanted and loved, to the point where you are willing to risk everything for it. Throughout the back and forth between the two characters, LaRocca gives the reader glimpses behind the screen as to who these women are – though again, we ASSUME based on the synopsis that these are women, but it is the internet (and if it is on the internet, it must be true right?).

Sometimes, you never know if you are in the right audience for a read and this was one of those times. Sadomasochism ain’t really my thing, neither is body horror (thanks a ton, The Troop by Nick Cutter), but there was something about this one that I literally could not set it down. In saying that, if you do chance upon this little story, it is a 1-sitting type read. No way you can set it aside and come back to it. It is one where the pace and intensity continues to ramp up until the very end.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is a dark, heavy-hitting novella that is a borderline masterwork in epistolary horror.

it sticks with you

I'm not sure how to explain it, but this story really had a profound effect on me after reading it. It's been a day since I've read it and yet I still can't stop thinking about so many aspects of it.

[WARNING FOR SPOILERS]

Some of the lines in particular are what capture me the most. The constant mention of "what have you done to deserve your eyes?" and then the final line being ""I close my eyes and for a moment I wonder if I deserve them today" absolutely made me gasp when you realize what Agnes has done.

As disturbing as the events are in the book, I wasn't too put off by them, yet I felt sad for what happened to Agnes. She was lonely and easily taken advantage of and as the story progressed the anxiety I felt as Zoey pushed her further and further was oddly discomforting, yet made sense during the situation. The red flags were all there!

It is the strangest, most profound, yet "fine" story that I have ever read. I would rate it a 3.5 if I could, but I'd rather rate it a 4 instead of a 3 in that case.

Not for the squeamish. But it wasn’t THAT bad.

The end was SO abrupt. I guess that makes sense because this story is written as a series of emails and messages, but for a moment I actually thought my phone just glitched out. But no, that was the actual end of the story.

This book also gets hyped up a lot within the horror community, so I guess my expectations were really high. I just didn’t find it THAT disturbing. It’s pretty bad, but definitely not the worst thing I’ve ever heard. Overall I still really enjoyed listening. Good for fans of the horror genre, definitely not for those who get grossed out easily. TW for abuse, body horror, emetophobia, insects, and animal cruelty.

Story too quickly paced to build any tension

I read this based off of reviews on TikTok, who said it was deeply unsettling and horrific. The author told the story very quickly, with the relationship moving unnaturally fast. The two women spoke nearly the same, so they didn't read like two individual characters, just a stream of consciousness. There was little character development. It's not what I anticipated and I'm very let down.

Wow

I’m sort of speechless after having just finished listening to this book. It’s a fantastic premise that’s executed really well. Amazing performance by Laurie Winkel. Super fucked up and tantalizing = great queer horror. Only thing about it that was annoying was the email headers that are read in full with each correspondence—I would have chosen to just shorten it to the names or screennames. That works aesthetically for print but not so much for audio. 9/10 recommend.