This is an epistolary novella with AI horror and psychological horror, but there are also elements of Gothic horror, weird horror, and steampunk. LaRocca refuses to be pigeon-holed into one subgenre. Action scenes ramp up toward the end of the novella within the novella. Transcript sessions become more disturbing over the course of the book, likewise with the poetry. The dry-ish prologue written by the “editor” in a distant point-of-view ends just before it gets tedious. Each name has a meaning related to the story. He also chooses purposeful character names: Iris, Martyr, Abbas, Tamsen, Presley, Ambrose. LaRocca is the guru of story titles, and You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood is no exception, sparking readers’ imaginations. Martyr and Ambrose talk murder while Tamsen and Presley become guests at a brilliant game designer’s eerie mansion. There are also poems, footnotes, transcripts, one news article, editor’s notes, and Easter eggs. You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca is a mosaic masterpiece, a fractured novella within a novella.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |