A great collection of horror from many different subgenres and talented voices in modern black horror. I would definitely recommend this for fans of horror short stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy in exchange for an honest opinion. Review has been posted on Amazon.

"Out There Screaming," edited by Jordan Peele, is a chilling anthology that seamlessly integrates into the canon of Black Horror. The stories curated within the collection offer a poignant reminder that real horror often lurks in our own backyards. Peele's editorial choices ensure a diverse array of narratives that resonate with a shared cultural experience. Each tale contributes to the broader conversation of Black Horror, exploring themes that go beyond the supernatural and tap into the unsettling realities of everyday life. "Out There Screaming" stands as a powerful testament to the richness of Black storytelling in the horror genre, creating a space where the uncanny and the unsettling merge to deliver thought-provoking and spine-tingling tales.

I have had this anthology in my Netgalley queue for a while but I've got to be in the right headspace for short stories. Otherwise my feedback is, these were too short. But when my ADHD is in a good place, short stories hit just right. This book had a great list of authors that I knew I'd be in good hands with: N. K. Jemisin, Tananarive Due, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi talk about five star expectations!

I liked the mix of creepy crawlies and more psychological horror. My favorites of this collection were:

👀 Reckless Eyeballing
👁️🦷 Eye and Tooth
👹 Wandering Devil
🫀 The Other One
🏍️💥 A Bird Sings by the Etching
🥶 An American Fable

Thanks to Random House for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

This might be an issue that is only relevant for me, but I don't think anthologies are for me. I found most of the stories in this collection disappointing. They felt very lack luster and missing something.

This is such a great short story horror collection. Like all collections, some stories were stronger than others. Some more memorable. I want to listen to the audio version now!

I love Peele's movies, so I thought this collection would be right up my alley and it was! I liked it enough to buy a hard copy. A great collection of short stories that explore race and being Black in the United States from a variety of great authors. Made me want to check out their other work for sure!

I haven't read a ton of anthologies, and I wasn't sure what to expect from this but Jordan Peele sold me on it! I'd only ever read from one of the authors, so I was excited to dive in and get a taste. These stories are all very different, which I loved. I wasn't expecting so much sci-fi/speculative fiction, but was pleasantly surprised by how many there were and how much I enjoyed them.

My favorite stories were:
Eye and Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Aesthete by Justin C. Key
Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor
Your Happy Place by Terence Taylor
Hide & Seek by P. Djèli Clark

I will say I found very few of these to actually be scary enough to creep me out. Some of these are more eerie, though provoking, others just skirt around gore or horror tropes. Still, definitely worth the read if you're interested! I really enjoyed the audiobook as well.

This was a good mix of stories that I enjoyed

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book

This anthology has everything from the supernatural to alien impregnation. I admit I’m not a huge fan of Sci-Fi horror and AI type stuff which was pretty heavily dispersed within these pages. I can honestly say this collection wasn’t for me but if I had to pick a few favorites , it would be The Rider by Tananarive Due and The Other One by Violet Allen

Took me a while to get through all 19 stories but they’re definitely very interesting. Excited to see where these authors go from here

this book is a solid introduction to contemporary Black authors in horror. i’m finishing with four new authors on my radar, so i think it’s safe to say the anthology achieved its goal.

my stand outs:
* Wandering Devil - Cadwell Turnbull
* Lasirèn - Erin E. Adams
* The Rider - Tananarive Due
* Your Happy Place - Terence Taylor

thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

4⭐️

Out There Screaming was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023, yet ended up taking me 4 months to finish.

This isn't to say that the stories aren't good (they're actually great), but I think the organization was a bit lackluster. The anthology started out with some of the longer and slower paced stories which made it HARD to jump into them quickly. I also think Peele should have been slightly more selective with which stories were included in the collection. At 19 stories, I just think there were too many.

Here are some highlights though of my favorite stories!!

LASIREN by Erin E Adams
I will always love a siren story, and this one was no exception. Erin E. Adams is Haitian and this story is about haitian sirens..and Ms. Adams put her whole back into this!!

DARK HOME by Nnedi Okorafor
This is about a Nigerian woman whose dad dies. She goes back to Nigeria for the funeral, and brings back an Igbo entity with her. SO GOOD.

THE NORWOOD TROUBLE by Marice Broaddus
Historical horror, set in a small Indiana town, protected by the land. I haven't read anything else by this author but after this story I definitely want to.

"Witchcraft is what our oppressors call it to demonize us. We carry our old ways to this new land."

A GRIEF OF THE DEAD by Rion Amilcar Scott
A twin brother and his older sister are trying to survive years after their brother was killed in a mass shooting. This was one of the longer stories, but I loved every second of it. The brother/sister relationship, how they each dealt with their grief, the spooky scenes, the desire for both life and death... this was just a really solid and well rounded story.

AN AMERICAN FABLE by Chesya Burke
This may have been my favorite of the collection. It is about a Black soldier on a train full of White people who attack him. A mysterious little girl is able to stop time in order to save him, but he has to trust in her and follow her in order to survive. This was CREATIVE and SUSPENSEFUL and gripping! I literally have annotations saying "wow that's cool" because I just didn't really see where it was going at the beginning.

Overall I think there are some real GEMS in this collection, but I understand if readers struggle to get through all of them. I did DNF one story (The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World) because I simply couldn't get into it, and I'm glad I didn't try to force myself to get through it. It allowed me to skip around and read stories I was actually interested in at the time, and I think that's the best way to approach this.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

It's such an amazing anthology of horror. Horror is not my usual genre, but I appreciated the variety of stories; I sat with a light on after this collection!

Absolutely excellent collection of horror! This features many different types of horrors from the psychological to the paranormal to the tangible. My favorite stories were by Rebecca Roanhorse, Justin C. Key, L.D. Lewis, Maurice Broaddus, P. Djélí Clark & Tochi Onyebuchi.

The stories in this collection are so diverse in perspective. In the horror. In the presentation. Sometimes that can be jarring or overwhelming in a short story collection, but it’s done to perfection here. Some of the horrors are of the variety you’d expect monsters and things that gonbumo in the night. Sometimes the horrors are the horrors of living in a black body in a world constantly trying to claim it.

I really enjoyed this collection of horror stories. While there were a couple that were favorites, I thought each story was interesting enough to keep me reading. My favorite part about most of these stories is that they reminded me of watching The Twilight Zone or Are You Afraid of the Dark? (granted these stories were much more adult) as a kid with my father. I especially loved seeing so many cosmic horror stories being included.

Favorites: Eye & Tooth, Invasion of the Baby Snatcher, The Other One, Lasiren, The Aesthete, Flicker, The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World, The Norwood Trouble, A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree, Your Happy Place and Hide & Seek

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this!

Incredible dive into horror stories and anthologies. For any fan of the genre because each story had its own vibe. Cosmic, psychological thriller, paranormal, etc. Definitely an exciting read, a few of the stories I wasn’t a big fan of but overall a must-read for any Jordan peele and horror fan.

With the pedigree that Jordan Peele brings to any game, I had high expectations and they were certainly met. With the exception of one entry which was simply much too long for a short story anthology, I ate up every selection like they were candy for my eyes. So often and easily, the genre of horror can drift into a trite and predictable place but each of these stories remain elevated. Peele doesn't suffer fools and he delivers intelligent, deftly-crafted narratives to an appreciate audience that doesn't need to be coddled.

This was the big, buzzy horror anthology coming out this year, and unfortunately I found it all to be rather middle-of-the-road, with a couple of standouts. I’d still recommend it, however.