Modern horror writing is really living its best life right now! A great, disturbing collection of short stories, that really drew me in. An interesting mix of psychological and body horror, so something for everyone! Although, there does seem to be some discrepancy with dates in the first story?

In this captivating read, the author masterfully weaves a narrative that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Through a blend of richly developed characters and a meticulously crafted plot, the book offers a unique exploration of its central themes, inviting readers to immerse themselves in the story's depth and complexity. The narrative is paced perfectly, balancing moments of intense action with thoughtful reflection, ensuring that readers are hooked from the first page to the last. The author's ability to evoke emotion and create a vivid, immersive world is truly remarkable, making this book a must-read for anyone looking for an exceptional literary experience.

Beyond its compelling storyline, the book stands out for its insightful commentary on the human condition, weaving philosophical questions into the fabric of its narrative. The author's skillful use of language not only enriches the text but also elevates the reader's experience, offering new perspectives on familiar themes. Whether it's the intricate dynamics of relationships, the exploration of identity, or the confrontation with ethical dilemmas, this book tackles complex issues with sensitivity and intelligence. It's a testament to the power of storytelling to illuminate the nuances of life, making it a valuable addition to any book lover's collection. Regardless of genre, this is a work that resonates on multiple levels, affirming the enduring impact of well-crafted literature.

My first experience of Eric LaRocca and what. a .ride. Eric is an absolute talent and has such a clever way of creating truly terrifying short stories that leave you thinking about them for days afterwards.

This book, like all of Eric's, is not for the faint hearted as some parts are truly sickening but if you like horror then you HAVE to give this a read.

Eric La Rocco’s got a new collection of horror short stories coming for us and it is outstanding! Deadly family secrets, a gruesome competition between old pals and a dinner party gone vile. La Rocco’s stories always leave me feeling unnerved - and I love it.

In order of my favourites:

The title story ‘This Skin Was Once Mine’ is going on my all-time favourite short story list. A woman returns home to care for her ailing mother and learns the truth behind their estranged relationship. I just knew it was gonna get crazy, but wtaf?! MOVIE WORTHY!

‘Prickle’. Two old friends reunite and pick up a game they played as youngsters; to play, you must preform small cruelties on random strangers 😳

‘Seedling’. A son returns home after his mothers death to share in his estranged fathers grief. Bizarro and absolutely heart wrenching.

‘All The Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn’. A man impulsively purchases a new knife for his husbands dinner party. I don’t even know what was happening but it was straight up nightmare fuel.

My experience in reading Eric LaRocca’s short fiction has been a bit of a mixed bag. The title story of his first collection, Things Have Gotten Worse Since Last We Spoke, is a delightfully disturbing tale that includes obsession, body horror, and complex, toxic queer relationships. That story was a viral sensation, and rightly so, but I found the other stories a bit lackluster by comparison.

Similarly, You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood, was a book containing a couple of quite interesting stories that were hampered by a cumbersome framing structure, and none of those stories quite panned out.

So my experiences have mostly been characterized by a feeling of almost. These are stories that skirt around the edges of greatness, but tend to collapse under some unseen weight.

Reading This Skin Was Once Mine, I once again felt that the title story was carrying the book but it also left me with decidedly less positive feelings. There’s a lot less almost in this new collection, and a lot more chaff.

The title story is pretty well delightful, bearing the rough structure of an old EC comics morality tale, where people behave in horrible ways but eventually pay the price. There’s a kind of cosmic justice at play that’s enjoyable to watch, and it’s all filtered through a sensibility that’s so surreal, so sinister, that it’s genuinely fun, just like the old horror comics. I’d have delighted in a collection of such stories.

Unfortunately, the following stories have none of the first one’s assurance, fun, or clarity.

“Seedling” bears all the marks of a great idea, with a chillingly imagined objective correlative for the certainty of death that our protagonist feels growing inside of him, and while it doesn’t have much of a story structure, it operates more in the manner of a prose poem. The trouble is that it bears none of the specificity of language required for that task. In many of these stories, the prose seems to actually be getting in the way of the narrative, drawing the reader’s attention away, rather than clarifying. No one walks in these stories. Nor do they look. Instead, every verb feels as if it’s been mined up from thesaurus with little attention to its meaning and instead for its sound. Often, the diction is simply incorrect, leading to not only frustration but an inability to attend to the story at hand.

“All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn” gives us a more familiar narrative structure, as well as LaRocca’s trademark body horror that becomes indistinguishable from sexual fetish, but it feels a bit forced, with the question of why our protagonist would even begin his dark descent simply abandoned, so it feels more like an exercise in shock than any character-driven exploration. And once again, the language is so strange, so imprecise, so often simply “wrong,” that it sometimes had the ring of prose clumsily translated from another language.

I had high hopes for “Prickle,” the closing story, as it once again felt much more assured, and the language much clearer, with an almost nineteenth century stateliness about it, but the end of the story dashed my hopes, as any kind of development that had been made was simply tossed aside like the proverbial baby in the bloody bathwater.

I don’t know what to make of This Skin Was Once Mine, because it feels as if its many parts might have been written by as many different authors, or perhaps at as many different stages in one writer’s development, but I do know that it did not deliver either scares or deep discomfort, which is a shame, because I think there is a unique and interesting voice lurking back there somewhere, if only it could push through the language and assert itself.

THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE And Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca
Other Books I Enjoyed by This Author: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes, You’ve Lost A Lot of Blood, The Trees Grew Because I Bled There

Affiliate Link: https://bookshop.org/a/7576/9781803366647

Release Date: April 2, 2024

General Genre: Horror, LBGTQ-Gay, Single Author, Short Stories

Sub-Genre/Themes: Death, dying, grief, love, toxic relationships, secrets, lies, fathers, parents, self-harm, body horror, obsession, mutilation, cruelty, games, emotional abuse

Writing Style: Gruesome, Transgressive, Raw

What You Need to Know: A collection of four stories, similar to LaRocca’s first collection. One titular tale stands out as the clear favorite with a few other tales to anchor it as a “collection”

My Reading Experience:
THE SKIN WAS ONCE MINE- a woman tortured by her self-image as a ‘monster’ returns to her childhood home after the unexpected death of her father. Her emotionally unavailable mother is being cared for by a mysterious man who seems like more than just a caretaker. This story is insidiously dark and disturbing. So much going on in the sub-text–that readers are left wondering about what truly happened. Triggers for child abuse
SEEDLING- A young man’s father calls to tell his son that his mother has passed away and to come and pay respects. When he gets to his parent’s home, he realizes that his mother’s dead body is still in the house. This story, clearly, was symbolic of shared trauma and grief between father and son expressed through these strange wounds that opened up on their bodies. But then it takes a dark turn and I’m not entirely sure what to make of the ending–pretty gruesome!


ALL THE PARTS OF YOU THAT WON’T EASILY BURN-I don’t know exactly what it is about the writing style of this story but it reads almost like a long parable. It has this whole, “One day there was a man named Enoch and he goes to a shop to buy an expensive knife for his husband. The shopkeeper is a strange man who convinces Enoch to pay for the expensive knife with an experience instead of money. He wants to cut Enoch and put a tiny piece of glass in the wound.” Do you know what I mean? And this one triggered my trypophobia, BAD. So be aware of that…(holes!)

PRICKLE- I honestly didn’t finish this one.

Final Recommendation: Horror readers who enjoy sampling a variety of speculative, grotesque, gruesome, body horror/emotional trauma, short stories you can finish in one sitting will enjoy this book. The first story is worth the price of admission–not every story will stick the landing for every reader.

Comps: Nineteen Claws and A Blackbird by Augustina Bazterrica, Full Throttle by Joe Hill, Spin a Black Yarn by Josh Malerman

A special thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances, an exceptional collection of four short-stories from queer horror author Eric LaRocca. LaRocca has been on my TBR for quite some time and this collection was my first introduction to his writing.

I was completely blown away by the four tales presented here and am looking forward to reading more of his work. The overarching theme to this collection seems to be the pain we inflict on one another - whether that be physical, emotional, or mental. These were dark, traumatic yet beautifully written stories that come with a strong content warning to the reader.

It was an absolute privilege to devour LaRocca's latest work prior to its release in April of this year!

This is my first time reading short horror stories from Eric LaRocca, but I read "Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke" and that was quite enough to understand his style. I "enjoyed" that one, for lack of a better word. IYKYK.

This short story collection doesn't disappoint, it delivers exactly what you expect from this author. As often happens with short story collections, I liked some more than others, namely "This Skin Was Once Mine" and "All the Parts of You That Won't Easily Burn", but they were all good overall.

Expect gore, twists, disturbing subjects, and imagery that may stay with you after you're done reading!

I enjoyed Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke so was excited to get this as an ARC.
Unfortunately I feel like the shock value I felt with Things wasn't present for this anthology. I liked the intensity of the short stories as they were punchy but found the first and last stories were lacking and didn't grab my attention well. Seedling kept me reading the other stories as I loved how uncomfortable this one was, but unfortunately the others didn't feel memorable.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was a return to form for LaRocca! I think short form stories is where this author really thrives. The stories were short, intense and well written, and the characters were engaging. A good mix of shock and horror, as well as pacing.

I sat down and read this all in one sitting... I couldn't put it down and loved every story. I think this author always does a really good job drawing readers into the stories and is able to create really creepy vibes. I think my favorite story was Seedling it was original and super twisted! Eric LaRocca is an autobuy for me always!

I found that I was taking so long to read this collection of stories and wondering why. I usually enjoy a slow burn horror.

I then realised that I was bored by it and just couldn't keep myself in the story, there was little ramping of tension for me.

This just wasn't for me and I know Eric LaRocca has a huge fan base but I'm not a fan of his writing style.

I was thankful for the trigger warnings though.

I was uncomfortable, freaked out, given the ick, my skin was crawling. This was absolutely horrible and disturbing, and I ate every second of it up! Eric LaRocca has now become an auto-buy author for me after his publication last year, The Tree's Grew Because I Bled There, which was my favorite horror novel of 2023. This was even better! I do not often pick up short stories but I will 100% reach for these every single time without fail. I can wait to revisit some of his older work this year and see what is published in the future! 5 very disturbing stars.

I was thrilled to get an ARC of this book, as I am very much a LaRocca completionist and love everything they write. I’m a big horror nerd, but I’m extremely picky when it comes to horror/splatterpunk books. I think the reason why I love Eric LaRocca’s stories so much is because it truly feels like they are making literary art- beneath the surface of the blood and gore, there are very real, human feelings that are written in gorgeous prose. I also really love seeing more queer representation in the horror space, both in the author and in the characters.

This collection in particular really stood out to me, specifically the last two stories, and I think it’s their best work since Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. The stories paint a beautiful portrait about the ugliness of human relationships, whether that’s family, friends, or loved ones. These stories work as literary horror, because they have the power to both physically revolt you while also strangely being emotionally moving.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances is a collection of four stories from horror writer Eric LaRocca, all delving into the weird and dark sides of people's nature. The opening letter to the reader warns of claustrophobic stories and asks the reader if they want to read such upsetting stories, a framing that plays with expectations as much as it warns people. As I've found with other LaRocca story collections, some of them felt unsettling and dark, with clever endings, and others didn't work as well for me.

My favourite was probably the titular story, 'This Skin Was Once Mine', which is also the longest in the book. It combines what happens when you learn the truth about an idolised family member after their death with a load of snakes and a weird caretaker-type figure, and the length of the story meant that it was vividly drawn with a decent amount of depth to the main character. The ending is predictably fitting and overall the story looks at the ways in which families perpetuate violence.

I also enjoyed 'All the Parts of You That Won't Easily Burn' because it starts as one kind of story and ends as another, a weird journey into self-mutilation that just gets more horrifying. That story probably justifies the warning at the start, as I'm sure it'll make a lot of people flinch (and it reminds me of the vibe of something like Alison Rumfitt's Brainwyrms).

The other two stories, 'Seedling' and 'Prickle', were short and felt a bit too similar to other LaRocca stories to me ('Seedling' comes immediately after 'This Skin Was Once Mine' and is also about someone returning to their family home after the death of a parent). 'Seedling' wasn't for me, as I didn't feel like it went anywhere, and whilst I liked the premise of 'Prickle' (two old men playing a cruel game in a park), again it didn't particularly go anywhere interesting or resolve a few of the details in it.

The two meatiest stories in this collection were exactly what I was looking for from it, with well-fleshed out protagonists in weird, dark situations. The other two were perhaps less distinctive short stories, but I suppose it's probably a good idea to not have four very intense stories in the book for some readers...

So so excited when I got the notification from Netgalley! I've been waiting for Larocca's new book and I'll only say one thing—totally freaking worth it!

Four tales from a master of modern horror.

THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE:

The first story was the perfect way to start a chapter. A peek of what a reader like me should expect from an Anthology book. Creepy and terrfying. The characters were unpredictable and the setting was eerily uncomfortable. I couldn't stop thinking about the music box or the snakes. Ugh.

SEEDLING:

Ugh! That was gross. I could never look at an innocent black hole the same way ever again.

ALL THE PARTS OF YOU THAT WON'T EASILY BURN:

Imagine buying a knife from a mystery seller and suddenly become obsessed with mutilation and broken glasses. Like, how could something so mundane escalate to something destructive? Well, ask LaRocca.

PRICKLE:

And that's how you end a book. Nicely done.

I loved it. Thank you Netgalley and Titan Books!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

𝘼 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙-𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚, 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨.

This was my first read by Eric LaRoca and I’ve heard such great things about his books. I was so excited to get my hands on this collection of stories early. This one includes four different tales, some enjoyed others I felt meh about.

I thought the writing was interesting, but it may not be for me. Also, the tales were definitely disturbing and not meant for the delicate. These are short stories so I won’t go into detail with the actual story.

The first story is This Skin Was Once Mine, I thought it was interesting and compelling. It was my favorite out of the four and I thought it was super twisted.

Seedling was a depressing story and fascinating, but I didn’t care too much for it. It wasn’t bad by any means, but I just didn’t click with it.

All The Parts Of You That Wouldn’t Easily Burn was super graphic and brilliantly written. It had such an intriguing take to it.

Finally, we had Prickle, probably my least favorite of the four. It didn’t feel like the right story to end the collection with. I felt lost and confused throughout it.

Overall, these were some fun and quick stories to read. While they all weren’t for me, there’s no doubt this author has an audience out there.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Titan Books for the review copy in exchange for my honest review!

Engaging, entertaining, and perfectly sinister. A recommended purchase for collections where horror is popular.

LaRocca delivers an unflinching set of four dark novellas/stories exploring pain and human trauma in this excellent collection.
Written over a span of two years the collection comes with its own author disclaimer warning that stories within include graphic depictions of child abuse and self-harm, which could be triggering for some readers.
As such, this is a powerful collection but not always an easy read. These are stories to draw cause to consider, pause and digest using the horror genre to take you places you don't expect to go.
All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn is perhaps my favourite of the bunch about a man who is introduced to a new fetish club in which its members stick tiny pieces of glass under their skin. It's also probably the most accessible horror tale of the bunch.
Opener The Skin Was Once Mine is the most confronting of the quartet and is a powerful story about abuse and family secrets. Again, it's an excellent story but one that requires time for reflection afterwards.
Seedling and Prickle are also included and are also excellent stories in their own right.
I'm new to LaRocca's work but this is one hell of an introduction.

I'm definitely in the minority on this one but I was a little bored? I expected to rush through this as I loved 'Things Have Gotten Worse' but I struggled to motivate myself to carry on with this.

'This Skin was Once Mine' was very compelling and definitely the best of the bunch. As with all of LaRocca's stories, it was depraved and twisted while also being elegantly written and compelling.
'Seedling' was depressing but didn't grab me.
'All the Parts of You That Won't Easily Burn' was brilliant. It made me cringe and squirm the whole time and was very graphic.
'Prickle' was the worst of the bunch and if I hadn't already been on the last story I would have DNF'd.

LaRocca warns readers before they start that this is going to be graphic so they can check trigger warnings and I urge anyone reading this to do the same. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!