I'd been meaning to check out Eric LaRocca for awhile now. Whew this had some graphic imagery. I legitimately had to do breathing exercises during the second story.

So I really liked The Skin Was Once Mine. It was a really twisted look at trauma. I'm probably never recovering from Seedling. I liked All The Parts Of You..., but it also started to feel like diminishing returns. It's one thing to have a theme across your short stories and another thing to just repeat yourself. Skin (child abuse wounds), Seedling (grief wounds), All The Parts (MLM wounds/erotic wounds? I dunno, this one was weird). I think my favorite one was Prickles. That one was really fun and messed up.

I've listened to Natalie Naudus and Michael Crouch narrations before and really like both of them. They were both great here. This is my first time hearing Andre Santana and Steven Crossley - both of whom I enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!

These stories weren’t for me. They seemed more odd than horror. Very strange.

This book however was a quick listen, and kept me engaged.

Each story had a different narrator, which was helpful. I listened at 2x and it was a great speed.

All in all, not for me, but I can see how some may enjoy these stories.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

The many narrators of this book for all the different short stories did a wonderful job! It made every story unique and individual from the others and really made each tale creepier than the last. This book is true horror with some gore involved so I’m sure there’s lots of trigger warnings for some people. I found it all rather enjoyable, as I take most literature with a grain of salt. I would definitely recommend to anyone that likes horror and scary stories!

This is my favourite LaRocca offering since 'Things have gotten worse since we last spoke.'
The audiobook was well produced and having a different voice for each story added another layer to this collection. All the narrators were excellent. I finished this in a day.

Eric LaRocca has a knack for writing short horror stories full of dread and shockingly dark themes, a skill that shines once again in this anthology. Each story delves into complex and twisted mental psyches of people who have gone through or are going through trauma, obsession and loss. The protagonists are queer with depth and flaws, and I just adore how Eric LaRocca strives to explore and break down internalised homophobia, one story at a time.

I listened to this and boy was it a delightful experience. Each story is narrated by a different narrator with distinct cadences and personalities, which is personally so valuable in anthologies. I tend to get a little lost when listening to anthologies narrated by a single person as the stories bleed into each other so I absolutely loved that each story in this book feels unique just by being narrated by distinct voices.

Thank you Dreamscape Media, the author and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. I leave this review voluntarily.

This is some of the best short story horror I have read in a while! I loved the twists of the stories and the sinister characters! The first story about when a woman's father dies is insane (in a very good way)!!! Horror is one of my favorite genres and this felt very much like Tales from the Crypt! The stories were twisted, and the main characters were fabulous! I will be reading a lot more of Eric LaRocca in the future!

I love horror and find it so difficult to find good horror books. The Skin Was Once Mine is a book with four horror short stories. Of the four I was hoping to like at least one but to my surprise and pleasure, I enjoyed 3 out of the 4.

The first story has the same title as the book, The Skin Was Once Mine which follows a woman grieving the loss of her father. When secrets get brought to life everything can change for Jillian. Of the three stories I liked, this one was at the bottom but it was still a good way to start. It’s weird to say this about a short story but I felt this one was a little too long and dragged at some parts.

The next story was my second favorite and possibly the most disturbing, called Seedling. In Seedling, a father and son mourn the loss of their wife and mother. They both notice a black wound on themselves and that’s all I’m going to say. From there it just got disturbing but in a way that will keep you interested but also grossed out.

My favorite story in this collection was All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn. This was also disturbing but after the last story and how that all played out nothing was going to top that. This is about a man who buys a knife for his husband and gets introduced to a cult with a very strange obsession. It involved putting pieces of glass under their skin. For something so strange and disturbing this had the best plot and the most character development and I recommend this book for this story alone.

The book's final story is called Prickle. Prickle followed two men trying to play an old game they used to play. This story never sucked me in and I felt it was over before it even began. I would have loved to have seen this book end with a bang but at least it was a fun ride.

This was...creepy

I normally am not a body modification person, and this series definitely relied heavily on body horror. I think the stories were well written, and several times during work I felt a little creeped out listening. I don't know how I feel about the endings. I think they were predictable, and the first stories ending was just weak and not super original. However, I think overall this is a pretty creepy short stories book and I enjoyed the prose and writing style. It gives A Dowry of Blood mixed with A God in the Shed told in short story styles, tbh.

4 tales, 4 chances for macabre musings and I was here for all of it. I immediately downloaded and started listening to this on Thursday when I managed to get my hands on the audiobook (ty @ericlarocca!). I finished it on my commute in one sitting and one story just made me so extremely tickled… I just don’t know what to do with myself.

THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE – I absolutely love getting into the title of the book and this first story starts STRONG. Jillian’s father has passed and she returns to the home her mother sent er away from decades ago only to find the darkest of secrets. It’s what she does with these secrets that bubble the skin.

SEEDLING – A young man’s mother has died and he returns home to see her still in the house. A small black wound appears and his grief brings him and his father closer and weirder than imagined.

PRICKLE – Two old men revive a terrible game that should have remained finished years ago. When I say this story shook me…. I wasn’t expecting a certain part and it made me gasp out loud and then cackle like a lunatic.. much to the chagrin of my fellow train travelers. Oops. I freakin’ love this story so much… I kinda want a full novel that goes back to when they created the game and how it progressed. Ahem… Eric??? 😉

ALL THE PARTS OF YOU THAT WON’T EASILY BURN – Enoch steps out to find a knife for his husband and a knife he does find…. With bloody consequences and an obsession that won’t be controlled.

Like with most, if not all, collections, I tend to have favorites, which makes another not so favorite. But this doesn’t mean they’re not all still brilliant. This is the problems I have with anthologies and collections. Compare, compare, compare. Meh, what can I say… I’m mostly human 😉.

I always look forward to what Eric writes. Somehow they manage to crawl beneath my skin and keep me itching for the stories still to come. Cannot wait for more.

Thank you Dreamscape Media and Eric LaRocca for this read!

Ummm WTF did I just read!! These stories were disturbing and so clever! There were many moments I was cringing and thankful I wasn't eating at the same time. The author did such a great job at pulling so many emotions into one book that makes an impact.

My favourite story was the first one - the ending just got me!! However I loved the darkness and bleak nature of the whole book, and way that each story packed a punch in such a short amount of time.

As always LaRocca did a brilliant job! Messed up and extremely unsettling but done in a really clever way.

This book gave me goosebumps! I have recently begun getting into the horror genre, but I'm still relatively new. I think what I liked most about this is that it's in a short story collection, so each section really packs a punch. From unsettling to outright gruesome, Eric LaRocca touches on a kaleidoscope of fears and horrors. This book includes four stories:

THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE
SEEDLING
ALL THE PARTS OF YOU THAT WON’T EASILY BURN
PRICKLE

My favorite was All the Parts of You That Won't Easily Burn. Growing up in Portland, Oregon, we had a non-profit organization visit our school each year to talk to us about sex trafficking - where predators find you, how they pick their prey, ways they manipulate you. This story reminded me of those assemblies in the most hair-raising way. So many elements that can be gleamed into the mind of a truly dangerous person.

I think this book is a great addition to a horror-reader's library, and would recommend it to my followers!

Very captivating and disturbing, and I absolutely loved it! It's not very often that I come across a selection of short stories and like them all, but this was definitely an exception because I thought all the stories in this collection were fantastic. What I mainly want from a horror story is to be creeped out or scared. This definitely accomplished that goal. I found it very creepy and unsettling. I listened to this via audiobook and thought it was phenomenal. It had a great cast of narrators, including Natalie Naudus, who is one of my favorite female narrators. I loved how each person narrated a different story. I thought they all did an amazing job and really brought personality to the stories.

Holy shit these stories were amazing dark gory and gruesome 4.75. The characters were all dark and dangerous in different ways and I love how all the stories were so different

Eric LaRocca is back and does it again! His beautiful lyrical writing in these short stories makes your skin crawl but definitely in a good way. I think this is my new favorite collection of short stories by Eric. Their books just keep getting better and better.

This Skin Was Once Mine: I love when Natalie Naudus narrates books I pick up. She does an amazing job in this story and embodying Jillian. You think you know what’s happening but then it takes another crazy turn! “Sometimes to heal you have to hurt something.” 5⭐️

Seedling: I haven’t listened to anything narrated by André Santana by I will be looking out for him in the future. The body horror *chef kiss* Eric is one of the Kings of body horror. 4⭐️

All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn: Michael Crouch does a fantastic job of being alluring and creepy all at once, more of the books he has narrated are on my TBR. I can’t wait to listen to more. Would I be weird if I say this story was a bit sexy? This weird story about Enoch obsession with a shopkeeper and his weird mutilations. Definitely what comes around goes around. 4.5⭐️

Prickle: Steven Crossley could be teaching me something I’m not into and I would listen. He could be calling me to war and I’d be there. This man’s voice holds something that urges you to follow. This book gave me the heebie-gibbies, I don’t want some weird fuck-o doing weird shit to me in secret. 4⭐️

Definitely check out the content warning if you haven’t read any of Eric’s other stuff.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media and Eric LaRocca for an advanced listening copy for review. Pick up the physical copy now and the audio version May 28th 2024.

I suppose the greatest compliment that I can say about This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca is that I had to turn off the audiobook while I was eating because I was thoroughly disgusted. I was drawn to the first two stories and left baffled and confused by the last two. Trypophobia Is a new fear that I have now thanks to Eric LaRocca. I’m feeling nauseous just typing this. Each story is presented by a different narrator including Natalie Naudus, André Santana, Michael Crouch and Steven Crossley. Personally I love when the book title is referenced and Natalie Naudus does so in the first story. Read if you like queer horror and want to discover a new fear or two. ALC was provided by Dreamscape Media via NetGalley. I received an advance listening copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Thank yo Netgalley, Eric LaRocca and Dreamscape Media for the audio Arc of This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances
Narrated by Natalie Naudus; André Santana; Michael Crouch; Steven Crossley.

This is my first book of Eric LaRocca as I have heard his name mentioned in circles for his macabre and weird storylines, and his wonderful covers on his books. ( I know don't judge a book by their cover! ) I can honestly say, I really enjoyed this section of his short stories. All of them have a creepy sense of unease. A slow decent into feeling your skin starting to crawl across your arms and neck. Not often do I get creeped out by written prose but creeped out I got!

This version was narrated by a section of narrators, which all suited the stories they narrated. I have heard Natalie's voice before and found she is great at narration and a pleasant voice to listen to. I haven't heard Andre Santana, Micheal Crouch and Steve Crossley before and also really enjoyed listening to their voices. Again, with these sort of horror, all of them added to that creepy sense of unease that makes your hair stand on end!

Will look forward to reading more of Eric's work and also will be keeping my eyes out for the new narrators that have been mentioned in this audiobook

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve been wanting to read Eric LaRocca for awhile, and so I was excited to try this short story collection. The collection opens with one of my favorite quotes ever (Their Eyes Were Watching God I will always love you), and I loved how evocative and visceral his prose was. While I felt all the short stories were well-crafted, the first story (which is also the titular story) is the one that left the biggest impact on me. Still, each story is thought provoking as well as genuinely horrific and skin crawling, and I thought the length of each story was perfect. Each story has its own narrator, and each of them did a really good job at bringing their stories to life.

Eric LaRocca is my go to author for all things different and wonderfully weird and This Skin Was Once Mine was no exception. This Skin Was Once Mine is a well-written and cleverly drafted book of stories about the macabre with fully fleshed out characters for a short story collections as well as intriguing plot points and unsettling subject matter. I loved it! Great audio quality and narration as well.

I will read anything Eric LaRocca writes. Short stories, novels, even plays, are all brilliantly crafted by Eric. I go into each story, no matter the format, knowing it’s going to gut me emotionally and read like prose. Eric is an artist.
While i enjoyed all the stories in This Skin Was Once Mine, but the title story is my favorite. The first few paragraphs shook me, and started off the book with high emotion. This story deals heavy with abuse victims, and the cycle that never ends. There is a huge discovery, that changes what you thought the path of the story would take. It’s shocking, but incredibly important to the message LaRocca is trying to send. If it doesn’t rip out your heart, you don’t deserve this book.
Each story is vividly written, and thought provoking. As an audiobook, the imagery is taken to the next level. There is a different narrator for each story, and they all fit their story. I loved the narrator for the final story, Prickle. The narrator has that aged voice needed for this story, and really embodied the characters. I think it made a less frightening story, that much more terrifying. I really feel LaRocca’s stories are meant to be read aloud, for full effect.

Eric LaRocca writes some truly disturbing, nightmarish stories. This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances is no exception with each tale peeling back another layer of human depravity. I listened to the audiobook for this and hearing the descriptions of the horrific scenarios in this book made my skin crawl, in the best way possible. Having a different narrator for each of the four stories in this collection was an excellent choice that created distinct voices for each of the characters we follow.

This Skin Was Once Mine narrated by Natalie Naudus – A lurid examination of a woman’s possessive obsession and how cyclical abuse can be perpetuated when people never learn what healthy love looks like. Natalie Naudus did an incredible job of embodying Jillian and bringing life into the various characters she interacts with.

Seedling narrated by André Santana – This one hit the hardest for me because of the unflinching look at grief following the death of a loved one to cancer. The small reflections the main character has as he tries to process his mother’s death are painfully realistic. A desperation to connect with his father leads down an unsettling path as the emptiness felt inside by the two manifests in mysterious physical wounds with nothing inside. André Santana’s narration expertly conveyed the emotional state of the character throughout the piece.

All the Parts of You That Won’t Easily Burn narrated by Michael Crouch – The third story delivers on body horror as Enoch meets a group that shares his masochistic tendencies and is tasked to recruit a new member that will embrace their ways. Michael Crouch’s narration shines with sinister tones bleeding into the normalcy of Enoch’s life as he falls further into his obsession.

Prickle narrated by Steven Crossley – In the final tale, a slow burn story unfolds as two old men engage in more dangerous acts in their game of cruelty. Steven Crossley demonstrates excellent distinction between the characters, with each having their own unique personality. The story ramps up to a shocking conclusion that drives home how far cruelty can go.

Thank you Dreamscape Media for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.