Burnt Sparrow
We Are Always Tender with Our Dead
Michael McDowell's Blackwater meets Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show in the disturbing first installment of a new trilogy of transgressive literary horror from the Bram Stoker Award (R) finalist and Splatterpunk Award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.
The lives of those residing in the isolated town of Burnt Sparrow, New Hampshire, are forever altered after three faceless entities arrive on Christmas morning to perform a brutal act of violence – a senseless tragedy that can never be undone. While the townspeople grieve their losses and grapple with the aftermath of the attack, a young teenage boy named Rupert Cromwell is forced to confront the painful realities of his family situation. Once relationships become intertwined and more carnage ensues as a result of the massacre, the town residents quickly learn that true retribution is futile, cruelty is earned, and certain thresholds must never be crossed no matter what.
Engrossing, atmospheric, and unsettling, this is a devastating story of a small New England community rocked by an unforgivable act of violence. Writing with visceral intensity and profound eloquence, LaRocca journeys deep into the dark heart of Burnt Sparrow, leaving you chilled to the bone and wanting more.
Eric LaRocca (he/they) is a 2x Bram Stoker Award® finalist and Splatterpunk Award winner. Named by Esquire as one of the 'Writers Shaping Horror’s Next Golden Age' and praised by Locus as 'one of strongest and most unique voices in contemporary horror fiction', LaRocca’s notable works include Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Everything the Darkness Eats, The Trees Grew Because I Bled There: Collected Stories, and This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances. At Dark, I Become Loathsome has already been optioned for film by The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus. He currently resides in Boston, MA with his partner. For more information, please visit ericlarocca.com.
