Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes

In the summer of 2000, Agnes and Zoe meet through an internet message board after Agnes lists an antique meat grinder for sale. What begins as a transactional exchange quickly devolves into a codependent, long-distance relationship fueled by submission and degradation. Through emails and instant messages, Zoe commands Agnes to commit increasingly repulsive acts of physical self-harm and domestic filth. The collection also includes stories of a man mourning his wife by harboring a parasite and a father taking a lethal gamble with his son’s safety.

This book serves readers of transgressive horror and splatterpunk who seek visceral discomfort. It attracts those interested in the psychological dynamics of isolation, the fragility of the human body, and the ways anonymity facilitates cruelty. The reader leaves with a stark look at how loneliness drives individuals to surrender their autonomy to total strangers. It provides a clinical, unflinching view of biological decay and the grotesque measures people take to feel connected in a digital landscape.