THE STRANGE THING WE BECOME AND OTHER DARK TALES by Eric LaRocca – Review

I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales by Eric LaRocca
Published by Off Limits Press on September 1 2021
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 115
Format: eARC
Source: Author
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The nitty-gritty: Unsettling and bizarre, Eric LaRocca’s stories cut to the heart of relationships and buried human emotions.

It seems Eric LaRocca is all over social media these days, or at least the social media accounts that I follow. So it was inevitable that I would eventually grab one of his books to read. I recently purchased a copy of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, but haven’t had time to read it yet. Enter LaRocca’s latest, a slim anthology of short horror stories that I quickly devoured, and now I need to catch up with Things Have Gotten Worse as soon as possible. These stories were unusual and sometimes shocking. Reading them is like having a psychic bore into your private soul and pull out your deepest, darkest secrets. LaRocca is clearly not afraid to voice those secrets that most people have but would never speak out loud.

Because there are only eight stories in the book, I’ll give you a short recap for each one, as well as my reactions:

You Follow Wherever They Go

This was an excellent collection opener, because it sums up my overall reaction to Eric’s stories. A slightly bizarre set-up—an odd group of costumed children stand outside a house playing musical instruments, while inside a father and his son have a conversation—soon turns into an unsettling, heart-wrenching story full of emotion.

Bodies are for Burning

This is one of the more disturbing stories of the bunch. A mentally unstable woman’s inner thoughts reveal her desire to set things and people on fire. Although her therapist convinces her that there’s a big difference between thinking a thought and actually carrying it out, she’s worried that she’ll harm her baby niece when her sister asks her to babysit. Anyone with children of their own will probably cringe while reading this story—I know I did—but LaRocca twists things around and gives his readers an unexpected ending.

The Strange Thing We Become

This story creeps up on you. It’s almost poetic in its imagery, and I found it extremely weird. The format is a series of blog or Discord entries by a woman whose wife is dying of cancer. Little by little, the woman’s thoughts sink further and further into anger and despair, until the shocking ending. It’s one of those stories that you need to go back and reread, because there is just as much unsaid as there is spoken aloud.

The Trees Grew Because I Bled There

This story was super fucked up. A couple in love agree to “give each other everything,” but when the woman discovers the man is cheating, the story takes an even darker turn as she reveals her diabolical plan for revenge.

You’re Not Supposed to Be Here

I have to admit I had to put this story aside at one point, it was so upsetting. A couple is having a picnic at the park with their infant son, when a couple of strangers approach them and draw them into a terrifying game. Besides the mind numbing terror, LaRocca explores themes like homophobia and the repercussions of revealing your deepest, darkest secrets.

Where Flames Burned Emerald as Grass

Oooh I really liked this one! A man and his daughter are vacationing in Costa Rica, when a stranger forces the man to make an impossible decision. One of the things I love about LaRocca’s stories is that he has such a twisted, unique imagination. In this one, he leads you to believe one thing, but then changes course and twists things around at the end. Like most of the stories in this collection, there isn’t a happy ending. Instead, the reader is left a bit shell shocked and vulnerable.

I’ll Be Gone By Then

LaRocca explores the hidden depths of familial relationships, and in this story he touches on the elderly parent/child relationship. A woman who has broken free of her abusive parents is forced to take in her elderly mother, as she’s the only person left in the family who can do so. This is an emotional story that will make you uncomfortable. Doesn’t everyone have that horrible thought buried deep inside, the dreaded thought that you might someday have to take on that role of caretaker? Or perhaps you just don’t want to admit it…

Please Leave or I’m Going to Hurt You

The final story is another one that will most certainly make you squirm. A grown son has an unhealthy love for his father (I’ll let you interpret that how you will), and when the story opens, they are hiking to a remote cemetery to see if it will work as the father’s final resting place. This story is swirling with all kinds of warring emotions: you have the “ick” factor of the son’s feelings for his father, the stark sadness of contemplating death, and the uneasy feeling of things left unsaid between two people.

If you love short horror fiction, the kind that gets under your skin like a splinter and lodges there, even after the story is over, you are going to want to read this collection immediately.

Big thanks to the author for providing a review copy.