Anthologies are so hard to rate, different authors with different styles all competing for the reader to pick theirs as one of the favorites. I love this project and there is a super strong lineup of absolutely fantastic authors contributing. Overall I’d say it was split 50/50 of ones that knocked it out of the park and ones I’d probably skip.

Shoutout out to Nalo Hopkinson, Justin C. Key, P. Djeli Clark, N.K. Jemison, and Nnedi Okorafor - they had my favorites for this collection.

This was my first time reading some of the authors, and it has made me very excited to pick up other things they’ve written.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will read or watch anything that Jordan Peele releases without needing to see a synopsis. So when I saw that he was releasing a HORROR ANTHOLOGY during spooky season, I peed a little.

Seriously, the author roster in this collection is just insane, and I enjoyed a majority of the stories. Some of my favorites were from Nnedi Okorafor, P. Djèlí Clark, and Cadwell Turnbull.

The stories in Out There Screaming range from creepy to downright terrifying, and features elements of horror, folklore, and the supernatural.

Check this collection out if you like any of the above, and especially check out that author list if you aren't convinced yet!!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the eARC of this collection!!**

Horror story collection featuring all Black authors and edited by Jordan Peele. Per usual with anthologies, not every story will be a hit (I personally don’t love cosmic horror) but there were some absolute standouts. The range here is great, definitely something to be had for all types of horror fans.

DNF at 37%. I was very excited to read this collection, as I have enjoyed many of the authors in this collection, and I love Jordan Peele’s movies. However, only the first few stories really worked for me, and I found myself not enjoying the rest. I think others will enjoy this one, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free e arc in exchange for an honest review.

As with any anthology, there are stories I really liked and stories I just couldn't get into at all. This collection seems to have a few more of the latter for my tastes, but my favorite stories were "Your Happy Place" and "Eye & Tooth." I've noted those authors as ones whose writing/style I really like, and I will certainly be reading more of their work at some point.

All in all, not a bad collection, and I would recommend to others who like this genre as well as want to test out various authors' writing in a shortened format.

3.5 stars

**I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily. Any thoughts and comments contained within are my own.**

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror is easily one of the best anthologies I've read in the past five years. The standout stories are 'The Rider' by Tananarive Due and "The Flicker' by L. D. Lewis. The entire anthology is great, but these two in particular stand out, and I loved the historical bent of Due's work. I will absolutely recommend this to folks. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

😱REVIEW😱

"When I try to wrap my lips around a story I'm not supposed to tell, it sours my tongue."

Out There Screaming, an anthology of Black horror edited by Jordan Peele, is a little uneven but has something for every horror fan.

I've never reviewed a short story collection so bear with me as I work through my thoughts. Like other short story collections, there are stories that stand out and are exciting to read. On the other hand, there were plenty that I had to push myself to get through.

In my opinion, the stories that were the most successful were clearly written and thoughtfully embraced the horror genre to its fullest. Some of the stories barely grazed the surface in terms of their connection to horror, which led to some disappointing sections for me (I realize this might just be personal preference). Maybe I'm desensitized from all the horror movies my husband and I watch, but some stories lack the punch that horror provides.

Stories that connected back to mythology, spiritual beliefs and the supernatural were amongst the strongest and more thrilling of the bunch. My favourites included Lasiren, The Rider, Dark Home, Flicker and The Norwood Trouble. I will definitely be checking out what other stories these writers have told.

That being said, there is something here for everybody who appreciates the horror genre. With stories weaving in sci-fi, speculative fiction, dystopian elements and more, you're bound to find something that you'll enjoy. And while I did appreciate how creative the authors were in how they incorporated horror into their stories, some of the stories could've benefited from a clearer and more direct connection to the genre.

Like any anthology, there were some stories that I loved and others that felt a little weaker. I mostly really enjoyed all the stories though, they were horrifying and uncomfortable and sad and creepy. I especially liked the stories by Tananarive Due and P Djeli Clark. Overall, I really liked this anthology, I discovered a lot of amazing new (to me) authors, and it's a perfect read for the spooky season.

A big thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

I wish I could rate this a five star, but unfortunately it's gonna sit at a three for me. I enjoyed this collection for the most part but it left some things to be desired (when it comes to my taste).


Let me start off by saying none of these short stories were bad, and I even came across some authors whose full works I would LOVE to read. Of course there were some that I loved more than others, which is to be expected when it comes to an anthology.

I honestly felt that this anthology was bit too long. 400 is basically a full book and I found myself getting burnt out after a while. A 400 page book with one cohesive story I can manage, but apparently too many short stories does my brain in.

Another thing that didn't work for me was that I simply did not find any of the books to truly be SCARY. When I saw the author line up and that this was edited by Jordan Peele I was ready to be spooked out of my mind. Unfortunately that never happened. Yes, the stories were interesting and they did have creepy elements to them, but it was nothing that really terrified me like I was hoping.

I have another issue that I think I would rather tackle in a video review because I'm not so good at writing out my thoughts in a cohesive way sometimes.

With all that being said, I do think this is an anthology you should check out if you are interested, and there were some truly unique stories in here written by some talented authors.

My highlights are:

A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree
Hide & Seek
Your Happy Place

I was quite excited to get my hands on an advance copy of Out There Screaming once I heard the premise and that Jordan Peele was part of the project. I'm not usually a huge anthology person because the stories can be hit or miss depending on who compiles them. This makes them equally difficult to rate because there can be many, really good stories, while having some that just miss the mark.

The first story was a rough start for me because I couldn't find a single redeeming thing about our main character. I know many people can read horror like that and enjoy it, but I don't seem to be that kind of person. Despite the rough start, I found this anthology to be overall a great read. Some of the stories that stuck with me the most are:

Invasion of the Baby Snatchers
Lasiren
Dark Home
Flicker
Your Happy Place

It's difficult to choose a stand out story with so many great authors. With that said, I found Dark Home to be especially jarring. It had a nice balance between reality and horror that made it that much more unnerving.

Timed to be published at the beginning of the spooky season, Out There Screaming includes 19 Black authors presenting tales of the fantastical, subtle, supernatural, or spiritual horror. The theme that unifies the stories are, as editor Jordan Peele phrases it, "place[s] where you were stripped of all agency and left alone with your struggle... Sunken Places, their oubliettes." (pg 7).

And what a line up for this volume! It includes contributions by N. K. Jemisin, Rebecca Roanhorse, Tananarive Due, Nnedi Okorafor and P. Djèlí Clark and many others. As all of the works are short stories, we meet the narrator, learn the stories central issue and see it resolve (?) in some way. All of them felt like stand alone entries, and didn't seem to draw from the worlds established in other works. Some make use of humor, but overall the goal here is to discomfort or scare.

Stories I'm still thinking about:

Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin - A police officer sees some car headlights as eyes that match their owners, he works to investigate why this happens.

Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah - Aliens are trying to invade Earth via impregnated women, our narrator is part of the force that captures or destroys any known case.

Origin Story by Tochi Onyebuchi - Written as a play script, four white boys grapple with the legacy of white supremacy and try to determine their place and role.

Like any work of anthology, we visit many different worlds and perspectives with some of the stories impacting or lasting longer in memory than others. Any fan of Jordan Peele's film work will find resonance with these works of fiction by some of the best contemporary Black writers of fiction.

This short story collection was great. So many of the stories have fun twists and I was fascinated. Many are unsettling and some are down right scary which is what you would come to expect from something edited by Jordan Peele. I loved discovering new-to-me authors that I want to read more work by.

Jordan Peele’s short story anthology collection “Out There Screaming” brought together heavy hitters in the Black speculative fiction community to scare of pants off this spooky season. Jordan Peele has truly curated a magical experience. Every story I’ve read has been enjoyable and some even surprised me.

I am adding a hard copy of this collection to my library immediately!

I was provided an advanced reader copy from Random House Publishing for an honest review.

While, I haven’t completed the full collection, here’s a synopsis based on what I’ve read so far:

“Hide-and-Seek” by P. Djeli Clark - 5/5
P. Djeli Clark is one of my favorite writers, so I was super excited for this. In the story, two young brothers are engaging in a game of hide-and-seek in their old creeky house. Their mother is the seeker, and everything seems normal until she starts yelling at them when they can’t find good hiding spots, or try to run outside. Apparently outside is off limits and they’ll get eaten by monsters. Mama comes from a line of root workers. Their dad’s skin was turned inside out from some weird magic. And there’s so much.

“Reckless Eyeballing” by N. K. Jemisin - 5/5
This story features a Black cop who is so caught up that he bleeds blue. The cop is know for harassing people and has gotten a reputation for himself. One day, while he’s patrolling the highway, he notices that some of the headlights of passing cars have turned into eyeballs that blink and move and seem to literally have their eyes on him. He investigates and things get ugly.

“Wandering Devil” by Cadwell Turnball
Our main character is always ghosting. Not just women bit literally every. He’ll pull up to a town and live their for months, get integrated into the community and one day get an itch to leave. He’ll break his lease, quit his job and run for the hills. That’s until he receives a prophecy from an old man that he will live happily ever after with the love of his life in an old mill town, if he just stays. He met the love. He’s in the old mill town. But will he listen?

I requested an eARC of this anthology from NetGalley. No one is more surprised than me when I got a copy.

This anthology runs the gamut. New authors, seasoned authors, past, present, future, folklore, magic, technology, climate horror. It is such a variety of themes and crossovers but all of it centers on different aspects of the black experience. I was disappointed to discover one author I liked is so early in her career, she doesn’t have much out yet.

As with all anthologies, some stories spoke to me more than others. I think if I averaged my rating per story, it would be a 4 or 4.5 but even the ones that weren’t my jam were excellent. The quality of the stories and the variety of horror represented makes this a 5 star read for me. All horror fans need to preorder it (preferably from an indie bookstore).

I have no idea why but halfway through, I stopped being able to highlight anything on the Kindle app. I did not have this issue with other ebooks in my app. I had to switch to exclusively using my ereader which slowed me down. Otherwise, no formatting issues with the eARC.

This is as good as the Peele's movies. Short stories usually have stronger and weaker ones, but every single one of these was a home run. I should maybe call this more of an anthology than anything else, but a riveting one at that and one that I highly recommend!

Give me all the horror stories picked by Jordan Peele, please! If I have learned anything over the few years he's been making movies, it is to trust him with my horror-loving heart. The table of contents is overflowing with phenomenal writers, some new to me and others who had me giddy with all the excitement as I came across their names and stories in this journey. There is definitely a story in here for everyone, as the themes and subjects quite literally span across every facet of horror I can think of. My biggest (only?) qualm with the anthology is the tone and pacing between stories. It could be an abrupt transition from one to the other, which I come across in many anthologies. I want to just read and read, and not necessarily have to stop and fully recuperate and gather myself before I can get in the right headspace for something so different, thematically and stylistically. I... I hope that makes sense. But all in all, what a powerful group of stories that I can't wait for more people to experience!

Personally, I think it is hard to write a review on a book that is comprised of multiple short stories (especially when they are all written by different authors). I was invited to read this book and was looking forward to it as an opportunity to learn more about black culture, especially because it is focused on a genre that I typically enjoy.

That said, overall, I did enjoy reading this. There were definitely some stories that I liked more than others. Some were a bit odd or extreme, but others were downright creepy and disturbing (which was a good thing and also the authors intention, I think). Some were so well written that they truly left me sitting and thinking about a world where the subject matter would be a reality.

Well this was FANTASTIC! Anthologies are always so tricky for me to review because most are a mix of good and bad stories, some I really love and some I really hate. I honestly didn’t hate ANY of these stories. Yes, they were a mix of horror, sci-fi, some felt a little more like a drama to me but they were all so good and made me feel so many different things. THIS is what an anthology should be.

This is an excellent, genre-bending collection that any horror fan will appreciate. I loved the diversity between the stories - it kept me engaged and interested throughout.

I love every story in this book and found the creativity behind these stories chilling and some unnerving. Some of the stories remind me of when I imagine of specific scenarios that happened in my life and i think if I could go back to that moment and what if this out of this world bizarre event took place and changed the outcome. Theres something for everyone in this book and im looking forward to reading it again.