I received an e-Galley ARC of The Strange Thing We Become and Other Dark Tales, authored by Eric LaRocca, from Off Limit Press for review consideration. Cover art: Leopardmoth, interior design: Squidbar Designs. What follows below is my honest review, freely given.

I rated this debut collection 5 stars.

YOU FOLLOW WHEREVER THEY GO
For me, this opening short is bittersweet in it’s ability to convince me that any moment now I will be able to properly identify what is so precisely catching for me, pulling at my thoughts. Because I cannot figure out what it means to me, but it stays with me. A gentle shadow over my shoulder. Brilliantly done. A favorite.

BODIES ARE FOR BURNING
Tense, just fraught with tension! Love can help break through fear of doing harm, but speaking from experience, it can have moments of slippage even when you swore you would never do something.

THE STRANGE THING WE BECOME
Something that LaRocca’s writing does and I very much look forward too: digging to find out if the people/tales mentioned within their stories have life outside the delicate shells of them. When he says, just google them, I do, because the person on the page is so fully there I must know their total history or if there even is one. And now so must you.

THE TREES GREW BECAUSE I BLEED THERE
The opening montage for Feed (2005) came to mind while reading. Those more unique arrangements were displayed from an exploitative position in the film. Here one was simply (okay, maybe not ‘that’ simply) presented as another unhealthy relationship between two people failing before the reader’s gaze. A favorite.

YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE
The Outer Limits (1995-2002) often had episodes that toed the line of could it actually happen; this short would have made an excellent addition to the show. I feel quite the couch crusader in thinking that my partner and I would have been able to sail through that situation by not getting into that situation in the first place, but don’t we all from the comfort of safety?

WHERE FLAMES BURNED EMERALD AS GRASS
I can’t decide if this was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. But I also cannot come up with another reason for it to have unfolded the way that it did, it’s driving me crazy!

I’LL BE GONE BY THEN
People come to realizations at their own pace, sometimes not at all. Now read the story title again. A favorite.

PLEASE LEAVE OR I’M GOING TO HURT YOU
Can you have a collection focusing on the darker sides of love and not touch on the taboo? Whether or not you want to admit that it exists it does. Not everything brought into the light is evil, even if it monstrous and cannot be allowed to thrive. A favorite. ( )