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Author Interviews

Eric LaRocca Talks Crafting Visceral Terror with Poetic Tenderness in ‘We Are Always Tender With Our Dead’

Eric LaRocca has a unique gift for conjuring visceral nightmares with the elegance of a poet. A Bram Stoker Award® finalist, Shirley Jackson Award nominee, and Splatterpunk Award winner, they have carved a distinct place for themselves in the world of horror, building a body of work that moves effortlessly between the grotesque and the deeply human.

With We Are Always Tender With Our Dead, the first installment in the Burnt Sparrow trilogy, set to release tomorrow, September 7, LaRocca’s masterful blend of literary grace and unrelenting horror reaches new extremes—in every sense of the word. Ushering readers into a world thick with trauma, vengeance, and the hidden tensions of small-town life, the novel unfolds in the isolated New England town of Burnt Sparrow, still reeling from the aftermath of a brutal Christmas massacre. Amidst the wreckage of bloodshed and grief, LaRocca navigates the fractured relationships and buried secrets that threaten to completely unravel an already scarred community.

In anticipation of the book’s release, CinemaChords sat down with LaRocca, who shared the genesis behind the story and the peculiar town of Burnt Sparrow, as well as how the trilogy’s ambitious three-part structure will allow the narrative to truly breathe—giving it the space it needs to unfold in the most compelling way. They also spoke about how the trilogy was crafted with the same timeless, literary sensibility that runs through all of LaRocca’s work—ensuring it not only endures, but also allows them to dance on the edge of terror and tenderness, drawing readers into the bleakest depths with unexpected grace.


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