![]() While this terminology may seem both apposite and urgent, the narratives and details never quite fit: Angela rants and raves about her husband’s sexual inadequacy only to reveal that a sex session that had long served as the gold standard of the couple’s sexual compatibility was a complete fiction. The opening section of Waif is littered with buzzwords and diagnoses both psychological and moral. Waif is a complex work that is mired by internal tensions but if I were pushed to reduce it down to a single legible theme I would argue that it is a book that explores the disconnect between how we behave and how we use identity as a means of making sense of that behaviour. While I would not go so far as to say that Waif is not a novel about queerness and mental health, I would argue that the book’s relationship to these themes is both considerably less straightforward than what some reviewers seem to believe and considerably more complex than LaRocca’s deconstructive satire. Some reviewers have taken this book to be a story of feminist revenge and queer becoming as Angela’s opening tirade against her husband is littered with buzz words adopted from discourse-forms both old and new: The ears of 2020s TikTok users will prick up at choice pieces of therapy-speak, Twitter users from the 2010s will respond to the language of class politics, while those who were on Tumblr back in the 2000s will recognise words and concepts borrowed from intersectional feminism. The beginning of Waif is highly reminiscent of the opening to Erik LaRocca’s Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke as both feature characters that drape themselves in the moralistic language of social justice discourse only for said morality to wear progressively more thin as the story unfolds. ![]() The novella opens with a laundry list of complaints ranging from rubbish sex and hairy thighs all the way to actual physical abuse. The story revolves around the figure of Angela, a disturbed and disturbing young woman who is married to a very wealthy man who makes her miserable. They are represented by Ryan Lewis/Spin a Black Yarn for Film and Television.Moans mistaken for sobs, mistaken for moans, mistaken for sobs.įirst published in 2021 by Grindhouse Press, Waif is Kolesnik’s second novella. ![]() About the Author:Įric LaRocca (he/they) is the author of several works of dark fiction and poetry including Fanged Dandelion (Demain Publishing), Starving Ghosts in Every Thread (independently published), and Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke (Weirdpunk Books). I refuse to feel bad.) cover! It was done by artist Kim Jakobsson, whose work you can obsess over here. Something, something, the call of the void, maybe?Īlso, I just have to cry over that GORE-geous (I know what I did. Now that I’ve typed this out, maybe my response isn’t so much to they style of writing as it is to the connection both stories make between S&M and horror. The amount of squealy, delighted trepidation (that’s definitely a thing) that I felt upon finishing this book is something I’ve not experienced since I first read The Hellbound Heart sometime around when Things Have Gotten Worse is supposed to have taken place. I am being completely honest when I say I haven’t read writing this gloriously terrifying outside of Clive Barker. He is able to imbue each word with so much power, weight, tension, and visceral horror that it absolutely boggles the mind. But it appears that Eric LaRocca is no ordinary writer. And for many a writer, it probably would have failed spectacularly. Those things by themselves would be risky – but the combination is incredibly bold. And it kind of lays out for you where it’s going (more or less) in the first page and a half. Things Have Gotten Worse is a short book. But still, I promise that the escalation happens in such a way that you will be left absolutely reeling. For anyone who remembers the birth of instant messaging, this may be less surprising than it probably should be. It begins innocently enough, with one trying to purchase an antique apple peeler from the other. The story is told as a series of email and Instant Message exchanges between two women – Agnes and Zoe. This book is brand new, so no awards/nominations yet, but I will be 0% surprised if it receives…all of them. Well, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is a doozy. A post shared by Angie – Stranger Sights My Thoughts:
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