Do you see love (or obsession) as a kind of hunger, and is it hunger for someone who is the same, or for the Other?ĮR: I’ve always viewed love as exploitative.
THINGS HAVE GOTTEN WORSE SINCE WE LAST SPOKE. FULL
Subverting the nuclear family wasn’t a deliberate critique, so I think it simply naturally arose from my larger points about intimacy and what it means to be in a long-distance relationship.ĬL: “People like to eat other people.” (Emphasis mine.) That’s a chilling line even for a book full of chilling lines, and you repeatedly destabilize our impression of who might be devouring whom. I think more than anything I wanted to write about trauma and loneliness–two things that are fundamental to me as a writer. And in THGWSWLS you even have the working parent and the stay-at-home parent! (Until things, you know, get worse.) I liked that you subverted the vision of the nuclear family, was that a deliberate critique or did that arise from your larger points about intimacy?ĮR: Subverting the image of the nuclear family wasn’t something I necessarily strived to explore while writing this piece, but as I reflect on the story, I realize that the narrative does venture in that direction. Whether I succeeded is up for the readers to decide.ĬL: There’s the unspoken fear that queerness must be benign or relatable to be accepted, a Leave-It-to-Beaver respectability with two moms (or dads). I attempted to write a book about co-dependency and the isolation of technology.
I think those are interesting (somewhat contrived) scenarios and that doesn’t really fit with the book I was trying to write. Others have argued that the writing styles of both parties sound identical, so they were expecting the reveal to revolve around Agnes’ mental frailty. I think the novella raises a very dynamic and compelling question: How well can you possibly know the stranger you’re interacting with–the stranger on the other side of the screen? Some readers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the book because they thought I was going to reveal that Zoe was catfishing Agnes the entire time and that it was possibly a man writing those emails. It definitely feels like the intense relationship in this book is only possible because of the paradoxical distance that the internet provides, but do you think the tragedy arises from Zoe and Agnes knowing too much about each other, or too little?ĮR: That’s an interesting question. I’ve explored this fear in various other published short stories like “miss_vertebrae” or “The Strange Thing We Become,” but this novella seemed like an excellent opportunity to venture further down the rabbit hole and expose myself to some deeply upsetting material.ĬL: You’ve drawn some interesting connections between anonymity and intimacy. Although I’m skilled when it comes to navigating technology because I was exposed to it at such a young age, I’ve always been frightened of coming across sensitive information that I wasn’t supposed to access. I grew up in the early 2000s, so I’ve always had the internet and technology at my disposal. Get your copy from Weirdpunk Books or in the wild from your local indie retailer!ĬL: We’ll start with the usual: where, if anywhere identifiable, did this story come from? Was there a character or scene that started you off?Įric LaRocca: The story developed from my fascination with our culture heavily influenced by the internet and mythic lore surrounding certain infamous videos and posts circulating the interweb. For those who haven’t read it yet, this is a visceral, gripping novella of both body and psychological horror, a true feat of writing. Christina Ladd has Eric LaRocca in the hot seat today, chatting about LaRocca’s latest work, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.Ĭhristina Ladd: Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions for Dark Dispatch! I absolutely adored Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, although-or especially because-it’s not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach.
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