Overall I think this was an enjoyable anthology. This was a mix of true horror and social horror. I enjoy true horror more because it tends to be scarier, more don't-read-this-with-the-lights-off scary, but the social horror was very poignant. I think this was well curated and it introduced me to some new-to-me authors that I enjoyed.

I was very excited to receive this ARC, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley!
After watching movies and even interviews of Peele's, I felt confident that a horror collection curated by him would not disappoint. I was right! Some of the stories resonated more for me than others, but I really enjoyed reading them.

An innovative and page-turning collection of Black horror fiction with some absolutely standout short stories in here. It seems redundant to say that N.K. Jemisen's is hella good, and also the one that literally gave me nightmares. I also especially loved the stories by Violet Allen, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, and Nicole D. Sconiers. Definitely recommend giving this anthology a try.

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele is BRILLIANT! Just freaking brilliant! My plan was to read one story a day but quickly realized I needed to consume the entire book immediately. This book contained short stories from the following black writers Erin Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.

Out There Screaming is a master class in horror storytelling with intriguing perspectives on the unsettling. My heart leaped multiple times throughout my read. The book was both dynamic and engaging also the sequencing of the stories added to the ride. There were way too many favorite stories to count.

I wish I could read it again for the first time. I hope there is an audiobook on publication day because I'd love to purchase the audiobook and consume this book again. I plan to delve into all of the author's backlist! From the amazing cover to the horrific tales contained within, this may be my favorite anthology of the year.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

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 TOC is stacked and overflowing with phenomenal writers, some new to me and others who had me giddy with all the excitement as I came across their name and story 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 abrupt transitioning from one to the other, which is something 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... hope that makes sense.

But all in all, what a powerful group of stories that I can't wait for more people to experience!

Thank you to Netgalley and to Random House Publishing for a free eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

If I could pick a few Netgalley titles I was most excited to receive, this would be one of them. I absolutely love the horrific yet thought-provoking movies Jordan Peele has put out, so I knew that the stories he chose for this Black horror collection would not disappoint.

And although there were a couple stories that I didn’t understand or didn’t do anything for me (I DNFd “The Aesthete” and “A Grief of the Dead”), most of the 19 stories were hard-hitting. Some of them were a little disgusting (body horror) which was fun too. But the focus of all these stories was purely Black voices speaking their truths, which often did not need much embellishment to fit the horror genre. Unfortunately the Black experience easily fits into this genre and short stories are an ideal vehicle because of their punchiness and ease of imparting a message.

Some of the stories did not focus on the marginalization that Blacks experience, but on Black folklore and faith. (For example, “Dark House” and “Lasirèn”). These were just as valuable for their look at these topics that are extremely important to the roots of Black culture.

My favorite stories were Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin, The Norwood Oppression by Maurice Broaddus, and Origin Story by Tochi Onyebuchi (which had a stage-play format that was very successful).

4⭐️

Jordan Peele edited a Black Horror Anthology. What else would you need to know to know you need to read this?!?

As with any anthology, some stories kept my interest more than others but I think that's to be expected. My favorites were honestly the first three stories in the book:

Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin: a white police office is able to see 'eyes' on vehicles of people of color that prove they are criminals, leading to his high arrest rate. Never mind that sometimes he needs to manhandle them or plant evidence to prove the arrest is real. He knows they're criminals.

Eye & Tooth-Rebecca Roanhorse: supernatural hunter siblings Zelda and Atticus are hired by a woman in Texas who needs their help. They may have bit off more than they can chew.

Wandering Devil-Cadwell Turnbull: Freddy has been on the move almost his entire life. Until he falls for a woman who couldn't dream of leaving her home town. She may be the one, but Freddy feels stuck.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for providing this ARC to me!

I’m not the biggest anthology reader, but this got my attention.

I had to read it and I am so glad I did.

All the stories were good – most were great. I didn’t want to come up for air. So many of these should be full sized books and some need to be films.

My favorites:

• Reckless Eyeballing – This one challenged my own prejudices and expectations and gave me a villain to abhor.
• Wandering Devil – Ah, Freddy…I wanted to much for you to be happy.
• Lasirèn – The author makes a familiar monster both unique and heartrending.
• The Rider – As usual, Tananarive Due captured my attention with this tale that was historical, horrifying, and timely.
• Dark Home – I loved how the fight between her American Culture and Nigerian Culture played here – and I was thoroughly chilled by what eventually happens.
• Origin Story – Holy. Hells.

Even the stories that weren’t my absolute favorites were well written and stayed with me. Here’s hoping that Jordan Peele brings us more anthologies in the future!

• ARC via Net Galley

I will start by saying that I did not finish this collection.. Short stories are not my usual thing, but I do love horror so I decided to give this one a try. After reading 10 stories in this collection, I found myself getting bored! There were a few that I thought were excellent, one I just didn't get, and others that were just okay. Not a whole lot new here, and there were some that were solidly sci-fi which is fine, just not what I was expecting. A bit of a disappointment, but I am not going to continue with them.

This collection was incredible. From psychological horror to monster hunting to alien abduction to folk/spiritual horror to just-barely-tweaked contemporary history, this collection has a varied and deep collection of genres and ideas. Honestly, I enjoyed every single story in this collection, which is not something I generally expect from an anthology, even a good anthology. Some of the stories were punches in the gut, perfectly paced and focused. Others felt like they could have benefitted from 50 more pages and being made into novellas, yet the taste here was still great. I don’t know that, as of now, just having finished reading, i have a favorite. But the anthology wisely starts with some heavy-hitters and well-known authors right up front, opening with N. K. Jemisin, Rebecca Roanhorse, and Cadwell Turnbull, all of whom have written books I love, and who open up this anthology with three very different stories that really set the bar high, and yet story after story matched my expectations and often cleared them. A later entry by Nicole D. Sconiers, sticks out in my mind, as does the closing story by Tochi Onyebuchi, neither of whom I have read before. Really, though, this collection has something for every horror fan, and I could literally call out every author for something in their story that excited me.

Some stories paint a bright image, some just get under your skin, some are bleak and dark and some shot through with hope, joy, and resiliency, but they all force you to ask yourself, what is it that horrifies you? What is more frightening to you, a supernatural entity being comprehension, or a white police officer in a small town? What about your place in history, or maybe your pending insignificance? Regardless of what you see when you stare at the horrific, there is something in this collection to excite and energize you, and something that will dig its way into your mind, blurring the appearances you thought you knew to be safe. These stories are grounded in many different aspects of the Black experience, although not always explicitly, and this adds an indelible through-line that connects all of these diverse, exciting stories. I had a great time with this collection and can’t recommend it enough.

In fact, my only disappointment with this collection is that, as I read a pre-publication review copy, Jordan Peele’s Introduction was not included. As he is the one of the most visible creators of contemporary Black horror I am interested in his thoughts of the idea of Black Horror as a genre, and it would be nice to know how he made his curatorial decisions. All the more reason to buy a copy when it is released!

I want to thank the authors, the publisher Random House, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

3.5 rounded up!
I was, as a dear friend of mine says, “wicked sad” that Jordan Peele’s editor’s introduction was missing from the advanced reading copy that I received from Netgalley. I’m a fan and was hoping to read his thoughts about putting this collection together.

You didn’t ask, but FYI my official ranking of Jordan Peele’s film and TV work is:
1. Everything that Key & Peele have EVER done
2. “Us”
3. “Get Out”
4. “Nope”
(I haven’t seen his “Twilight Zone” reboot.) :(

Anyway, re: this collection of stories, there were a few that didn’t resonate with me as strongly as the rest but for the most part they were all pretty good. My favorites were: “Eye & Tooth,” “Lasiren,” “Flicker,” “A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree,” and “Hide & Seek.”

There’s something here for just about every horror fan. Everything from body horror to mermaids to ghosts. Not every story contains a political theme, but several of them do, and most deal with tough but important topics. Besides the scares, a lot of the stories are also very depressing, so you should know that going in. This collection is a bummer.

As to be expected with any fiction collection, there were a couple of times where the stories started strong but lost me with the twist or just went on for a bit too long. The very last story, written in script format, was too hard to follow in general so I didn’t finish that one since it was at the very end anyway. Conversely, there were a couple of times that I found myself a bit disappointed by an abrupt ending. But that’s the beauty of an anthology: if one story doesn’t really work for you, the next one might be a new favorite. There’s a lot of talent on display here.

Trigger Warnings: Racism, sexual assault, hate speech, drug addiction, child death

I screamed when I was approved for this one. Normally I don’t like short stories but these were fantastic. Of course they left me wanting more but it definitely gave me a bunch of authors to look out for!

Jordan Peele is and always will be talented at everything. I cannot handle how amazing this collection of stories was! With collections of stories I normally like a story or two and find the rest just meh, but not with this collection. There’s definitely some trigger warnings for sure that may cause some distress. I’m excited to buy this physical book when it comes out in October. Thank you to all the writers, Jordan Peele, NetGalley and Random House for this amazing ebook.

Thank you so much for providing me with one of my favorite books of the year! I loved this title and thought that the stories really spanned both genre and content. Please note that the copy that I received was incomplete-- it only had the stories but did not include the introduction by Jordan Peele. However, the stories stood for themselves! As with many anthologies, some stories were better than others, but I didn't dislike any of them. In fact, this is probably my highest rated anthology ever. Some bigger names in speculative fiction are included, but then there are people who I had never heard of as well. My favorite stories included Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemison, Wandering Devil by Cadwell Turnbull, The Other One by Violet Allen, The Rider by Tananarive Due and The Norwood Trouble by Maurice Broaddus. I hope you like this anthology as much as I did!

Horror anthology edited by Jordan Peele and featuring short stories by Black authors. Like most anthologies, I liked some stories more than others but this was a great collection of horror, sci-fi, fantasy and folklore, all shown through the Black experience. There were 19 stories in all so quite a long read and I found I liked the stories in the first half of the book more than the last half. Many of these would make great television episodes in a Twilight Zone or Black Mirror type series.

Some of my favorite stories were: Reckless Eyeballing-a vicious police officer finds himself the subject of terrorizing.
The Other One: A woman receives messages from a boyfriend who broke up with her and strange and creepy things result.
Dark Home: A woman who is mourning the death of her father finds out his family traditions are more than just stories
Your Happy Place: A sci-fi story about prisoners being put to work in a very scary experiment; this one is very Black Mirror like.
Hide and Seek: A fantastic story about the real life facing people living with addiction and the people who have to live with "monsters".

Many of the stories are very bleak and reading them all at once did get to be kind of depressing. I'm still very happy to have received this collection and look forward to seeking out other pieces by many of these authors. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

First off, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. I am so glad that I got to read this as soon as I did. This is one of my favorite story collections I've ever read. This had such a great mix of authors I already knew and loved and authors I hadn't heard of before. I'm excited to check out everyones work based off of what I saw here. I really enjoyed most of the stories in this collection but I want to spotlight a few of my favorites.
"Reckless Eyeballing" by N.K Jemisen was a great way to start off the collection. It follows Carl, a Black police officer who starts seeing eyes on cars, indicating who he should pull over. It sounds weird but it works. The story turns into an anxious, paranoid mess as Carl's sanity deteriorates.
"The Rider" by Tananarive Due is about two sisters who are part of the Freedom Riders movement trying to make their way to Montgomery, Alabama. It's a great historical horror that will keep you on edge until you finish it.
"Pressure" by Ezra Claytan Daniels crafts an unsettling, dreamlike atmosphere that was so effectively uncomfortable to experience. It follows a woman, the only person of color in her family, returning to her hometown. Its set in a slightly alternate universe (or maybe the near future) where things just aren't right and apocalyptic tensions are building.
"Dark Home" by Nnedi Okorafor might have been my favorite story in this collection? In it, a Nigerian-American woman returns to Nigeria for her father's funeral. Something follows her home, looking to take back something she brought home with her. This is just how I like my horror, folklore inspired and steeped in grief. It was nice and scary and I got to learn about Nigerian culture.
"Origin Story" by Tochi Onyebuchi was a unique screenplay that kept me hooked the whole time and made some poignant statements on whiteness, victimhood, and privilege.
There are some great stories that I didn't mention here, but these are just the ones that have stuck with me the most. Whether you're a seasoned horror reader or a beginner looking for a varied but cohesive story collection, this has something for everyone. I can't recommend it enough.

Full disclosure: Jordan Peele is my favorite filmmaker. I will watch anything he makes. And over the past year horror has become one of my favorite genres to read. So when I heard that Jordan Peele edited an anthology of Black horror the anticipation was instantly too much.

This book felt like it should be savored but demanded to be devoured as each successive story created a unique horrorscape that’s impossible to look away from and piqued my interest in what’s to come. This book was the perfect introduction to several new-to-me authors in a genre I’ve recently started to delve into more deeply. It’s also an outstanding example of the diversity of storytelling that exists within it. This collection is thoughtfully curated to provide something for everyone: sci-fi, fantasy, historical, literary, genre-bending, social, and straight-up WTF did I just read horror. There were a few standout stories and authors I’m especially excited to read more from, but the anthology as a whole held my rapt attention. It’s one I’ll never stop recommending and will revisit in the future.

Huge thank you to Random House for the arc!

For anyone with an arc or who plans to buy this book, please don’t forget to support the authors who contributed to this anthology – shout them out and share their content, follow them on social media, buy and promote their books… I love that Jordan Peele is using his immense platform and influence to elevate the work of Black horror writers and stories, let’s not let that be the end of it.

Reading this anthology was such a delightful horror experience! Sure, delightful and horror may be an oxymoron but delightful in the sense that Out There Screaming has so many of my favorite horror genres in once place.

The diversity of horror stories had me flying through this book but also immensely disappointed that some stories were not complete novels on their own. All too often I felt like the story left me wanting more. More character development, more spook, and less cliff hangers. I. Need. To. Know.

If you’re new to horror, Jordan Peele’s collection of short stories is the perfect place to start. Dip your toe into science fiction horror, psychological horror, folklore and much more.

I can’t thank NetGalley enough for the ARC.

I originally requested this book on NetGalley because I thought Jordan Peele wrote it but it’s actually an anthology of short horror stories written by Black authors. The stories ranged from science fiction and the super natural to folklore and historical fiction. Many stories had strong social commentary about racial injustice both past and present. All of the stories were so different but almost all of them had my hooked. All of the authors are highly awarded and it shows in their storytelling.

First I just want to thank Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book! I really wanted to like this book but unfortunately I could not finish it. I got about halfway through. It just isn't for me. It's very tounge in cheek and I feel like maybe younger generations might enjoy it more? For reference, I'm in my 30s. I found it boring if I'm being honest. Really wanted to like it but just couldn't get through it.