Thank you to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review
I've read some of the author's past work and always enjoyed the things he writes. He has a way with words that come across so spectacularly in his writing and every detail he shows. This collection showed his prowess with storytelling in ways like never before.

Every story sucks you in and shows you a horrifically great world he's built for you. You're Not Suppose To Be Here was probably my favorite of them all and it blew me away with how much it made me squirm in my seat. I can't wait to read more by him!

LaRocca writes short story horror with the same delicious detail, which in horror is excruciating. He has a way of writing that makes you forget you are reading a tale (minus the obvious fantasy quality of some of the stories) and instead they often feel like intimate memoirs.

I haven’t read any other pieces by LaRocca yet but he is dangerously close to becoming my favorite horror writer. And this book makes it in my shelf with my other favorite short story anthologies: NK Jemisin’s “How Long ‘til Black Future Month?” and Guadalupe Nettel’s “Natural Histories”.

I enjoyed every story in this collection. An exploration of the dark side of love, and uh yeaah it's dark. But it's not especially gross, it didn't feel like I was reading something for shock value, like "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke". Which I DID have fun reading, but it was extremely gratuitous, and the fun was in a how-much-can-I-take way. This isn't like that. I'd actually feel comfortable recommending this one to people. There's a genuine tenderness in each story, and again, I enjoyed every one.

I think my favorite story was the longest one, "You're Not Supposed to Be Here", that was a vivid and suspenseful one. Super strange.

Incredible. These stories prick like a needle and then swim around in your blood. Fatalist and dark, but grown out of hidden shames, pains and desires that are familiar to anyone, each piece feels like a secret LaRocca is telling you about himself, or yourself, or both.

Idk a polite way to say that I like a lot of the concepts but I just wish he were better at writing.... so I am just gonna say that

I think this is one of the best short story collections I've read. I really enjoyed all of these. Creepy and unsettling and unique.

THE STRANGE THINGS WE BECOME and OTHER DARK TALES by Eric LaRocca
Off Limits Press (September 1st, 2021)
128 pages
Review originally published at Cemetery Dance:
https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/review-the-strange-things-we-become-and-other-dark-tales-eric-larocca/


Nobody could comfortably follow an act in indie horror fiction like, THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE SINCE WE LAST SPOKE, except Eric LaRocca with another release.
THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE… broke every record for sales and reviews I have ever seen for an indie release. That book was released in June and just three months later, here we are with THE STRANGE THINGS WE BECOME.

This is a collection of short, dark fiction plumbing the depths of human emotions. The fascinating thing about LaRocca’s storytelling is his ability to draw on specificity. You won’t find a garden variety love story. Expect the unexpected but not just something unusual for the sake of being strange--expect the unexpected to probe, pierce, or puncture any barriers or protective layers in place. It’s startling to read characters behaving in some obscene way that feels relatable at the same time.

In the story, BODIES ARE FOR BURNING, the main character struggles with intrusive thoughts. LaRocca exposes the reality of a very real mental health crisis and it’s hard to be in that intimate shared space with someone who is imagining horrific scenarios while in the company of their infant niece. This one lingers.

THE TREES GREW BECAUSE I BLED THERE is an unsettling imbalance of reciprocity in a relationship. Givers and takers. I loved the escalating tension of the story and the way it pairs with the tone of the narrator. Exquisite.

YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE was my first real encounter with LaRocca’s work when I first read this story in an unreleased book, A BRIGHT ENCHANTED SUFFERING.
“This review is spoiler-free, but don’t read the back of the book or other reviews. Trust, Mother. A married couple is enjoying a day outdoors at a park with their small child. Their day is interrupted by an odd stranger. Done. That’s all you need to know. Please go! Read! Be shocked and amazing and enjoy.”
This is the story that cemented me as a die-hard LaRocca fan. Love at first read.

The next story, WHERE FLAMES BURNED EMERALD AS GRASS has a similar setup, so again...no peeking! Enter at your own risk and fully uninformed. A widower and his daughter are vacationing in paradise when they encounter an eccentric individual with a proposal.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about PLEASE LEAVE OR I’M GOING TO HURT YOU. This is one of those stories that will live rent free in your brain for the rest of your life because of the nature of this love story. In just a few pages, LaRocca brilliantly and effortlessly develops a complex, multifaceted incestual relationship. It’s as heartbreaking as it is disturbing and readers will be helpless against LaRocca’s magnetic pull no matter how much you don’t want to know the story. Mesmerizing. I read it twice.

Sadie Hartmann



You Follow Wherever They Go.
Bodies Are for Burning.
The Strange Thing We Become.
The Trees Grew Because I Bled There.
You’re Not Supposed to Be Here.
Where Flames Burned Emerald as Grass.
I’ll Be Gone by Then.
Please Leave or I’m Going to Hurt You.

Dark dark dark! I really enjoyed all the short stories in this book. The book isn't for the faint of heart though the stories are very dark and some people might even find them disturbing. The truth is though we all have a darkness in us that so many people refuse to admit exist and the short stories in this book call to that darkness.