We Had It Coming: and other fictions

by Luke O'Neil

“I’ve been asking myself just how it is that a person can go about their day to day life at a time like this and I keep coming back to another question which is how did we ever convince ourselves we had the right to do so before?”​​

That question runs through We Had It Coming, a collection of stories that pulse with both the familiar and the uncanny. O’Neil’s characters struggle to survive in a reality rife with violence, addiction, fascism, and the crushing weight of modern life. From the threat of mass shootings to the absurdity of predatory healthcare, his sharp observations of societal decay leave a lasting impact.

Yet even amid the chaos, O’Neil’s trademark wit cuts through, offering moments of unexpected levity. Jumping from CVS to the emergency room to a seaside Massachusetts town ravaged by the opioid crisis, and blending short stories, poetry, and micro-fiction, O’Neil’s stream-of-consciousness style and inventive syntax pull the reader into a mesmerizing rhythm.

Fans of his previous work will find a continuation of his unique voice, and new readers will be captivated by his unflinching portrayal of survival in a world gone awry.

Genres: Fiction

330 pages, Paperback

Published November 4, 2025

Reviews

[Chris Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always feel like I'm in good hands when I read Luke O'Neil's stories. We Had It Coming is populated with vignettes that hurt and heal, usually at the same time. I enjoyed all of the pieces collected here, even the ones I really didn't want to read, which is about the highest praise I can pay it. Very well done.

[Matthew Peck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even as an already-devoted fan of O'Neil's "Welcome to Hell World" newsletter, this book exceeded my expectations. These short stories, prose poems, and quasi-essays are written in such a singular voice - at once casual and oracular - that it will transform the sound of your thoughts for a few days. The closest thing to Denis Johnson, with that same effortless ability to give you full-body chills with every other sentence. A lot of very up-to-the-minute subject matter throughout, which risks becoming dated. But I don't think it will!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm an avid fan of his newsletter Welcome to Hell World, the title of which ought to give you a sense of the perspective, tone, and general outlook. I don't exactly know how I got into it but I've spent quite a lot of time reading him, it's become a part of my semi-weekly routine for a few years now. I even pay for it, cuz I'm all about supporting independent media-- now more than ever, kids!-- even it's a certain kind of left wing depressing which sometimes moves me and sometimes outrages me and sometimes just makes me sad in a "dust in the wind" kind of way.

More than a few of these were included in WTHW already so it was an unexpected pleasure to have that little click of realization that I've read them before. I like the lack of punctuation. The writing can be a little on the precious side, a little mannered and sort of self-consciously emo in a certain way, but it works. It sounds like a person talking, though I don't think I've heard his actual voice I still feel like I have.

The shit connects, man, I don't quite know how to explain it. There's a real vulnerability here which can easily be on the maudlin side not to say the nihilistic side-- I mean, nothing matters anyway and we're always one hour closer to death and the news is just carnage and atrocity 24/7 and we're all complicit in it in some way or another and there's no fucking hope because the bad guys always tend to be the ones in control and so on.

But he'd be insufferable if that was all there was. He's got a lovely way of implying the emotions, the conclusions, the insights. A New England terseness, rigorous self- checking, dry wit, and he isn't afraid to bust out lyrically when need be, even if it's in a lilting cry of pain at a world gone wrong which is drifting by as we watch it, like cigarette smoke on rickety old porch on a crisp autumn night carried off into nothingness from a tiny spark.

[John Mihelic · Rating 5 out of 5]

When this came, my wife was like "is that sad too?" because she knows the Hellworld posts.

And like yes, Luke has a common theme. It is sad. But it's also hopeful and ecstatic at the same time.

I was sitting here thinking about it, and I realized this book reminded me of Joyce, like Araby in the marketplace or Lily in the Dead - Snow was general all over Boston.

So yes, it is sad but also amazing. Luke O'Neil is James Joyce if James Joyce also posted his melancholy on Bluesky.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I show my wife excerpts of Luke’s writing so she’ll understand me better, but then I regret it because it’s usually a part I’m less impressed by or a part I imagine people feeling bad that people feel in the first place.

[lukeoneil47 · Rating 5 out of 5]

We had it coming

We had it coming
– Luke O’Neil

We had it coming.

Excerpted from We Had It Coming by Luke O’Neil (2025)

[Stuart Gordon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't have much respect for the short short short story form, and these often barely literate works did not elevate my estimation of the form.

Not worth the effort.

[Patti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who gave this book a 4.4 at Goodreads. I am loosing my believe in your reviews.

[Rachael McGovern · Rating 5 out of 5]

not as good as A Creature Wanting Form but i still dogeared 60 pages with insane quotes that i will force everyone to read whenever i can find an ebook copy of this at a library