Deeply unsettling and thought-provoking, this short story collection took me a long time to get through because I often had to step away from the book to process what I just read. While I wouldn't call the stories "scary" in the traditional sense of the word, the running themes throughout the book are nuanced and force you to consider historical context, social issues, and injustice while reading.

I definitely recommend Out There Screaming and won't stop thinking about it for a long time.

5/5

I enjoyed this book so much I actually purchased my own physical copy. I am a lover of horror but not usually of short stories, I find them too often to be lacking in wanted and necessary detail or direction or leaving me with too many questions. Especially when they end abruptly.

However, with this cast of authors and Jordan Peele at the helm I had none of my usual reservations with anthologies.
The first story alone (Eye and Tooth) I would read a full book based on the premise. I'd watch a film even. The premise was so intriguing and quite unsettling for multiple reasons simultaneously. The main character is a cop that sees eyes in place of headlights on cars, he believes these eyes tell him who to pull over for committing crimes. The way the eyes are described gives a sort of silent and eerie atmosphere and paints quite a vivid picture that I still think about months later.

The entire book is well tied together with the theme of social justice and black experiences, whilst hosting a cadre of wildly different characters, worlds and hitting on different sub genres of horror, fantasy and science fiction. There isn't a weak link at all in this selection of stories. No story is lacking in detail or substance and in fact I found myself wanting expansions on several of the stories in the collection. If you are a horror lover you 100% need to check this out, you'll definitely find something in these pages that will get under your skin.

Even though I really should have finished this months ago, humongous, enormous thanks to Netgalley and Random House for my eARC! All opinions are my own.
CW for this guy is obviously huge: police brutality, sexual violence, racism, racial slurs, body horror, self harm, pregnancy, mental illness, psychosis, mass shootings, gun violence, suicidal ideation, car accidents, addiction, drug abuse, slavery

At first glance, this anthology is a hard hitter. I haven't seen an author list this insane since the Norton Anthology of English Lit in college (/j 😂) The authors list basically reads like a preview to my 2024 February Black History month TBR. And it was introduced by <i>Jordan Peele</i>, the creator of my favorite horror film of all time?! (If you're wondering, it's <i>Nope</i>.) So, of course, as with all things I am shiveringly excited for, it took me literal MONTHS to get to.
Here, finally, is my review.

Reckless Eyeballing - 4 stars
A Black cop is seeing eyes on cars where the driver has committed a crime (though, in many cases a "crime"). He also deals with his insecurities in the unhealthiest way possible.
The ending made me literally gasp, "Holy shit," out loud. Also, I've now finally, finally read an N.K. Jemison! Very excited to read more by her.

Eye & Tooth - 4.5 stars
Atticus and Zelda, the Eye and the Tooth. Two powerful siblings who make their living solving problems of the inhuman.
a;sdflkj;asdlfjasldkfj!!!!! OMG!!! I want them as a full novel. Please, please, please Rebecca Roanhorse, I am begging for a series. 🙏

Wandering Devil - 3 stars
Wandering's in Freddy's blood. First, he left to look for his mother. Then he stayed gone to wander. Could he really be considering settling down?
This one made me a little sad at first, and I'm not totally sold with the ending. I'm not necessarily <i>surprised</i> with how it ended, but I don't know if all the ends were woven in before we got there.

Invasion of the Baby Snatchers - 5 stars
Alien. Babies.
X-FILES WHOMST? BREAKING DAWN, IS THAT YOU? My literal worst fucking nightmare. I want to throw up. This is the optimal short story because it's the perfect bite. I don't want more, I don't want less.

The Other One - 4 stars
Angela's just been broken up with by Ogelthorpe. (What a truly terrible name.)
The weirdest shit you can imagine ensues.

Lasirèn - 2.75 stars
What do you do when your sister returns, but she's not your sister?
I found the writing and the language used in this story to be beautiful, but they were more compelling than the actual plot.

The Rider - 3.5 stars
Two sisters try to join the Freedom Riders in the fight against Jim Crow.
Loved the premise and some of the choices were really intriguing in this one, but I found the ending quite abrupt.

The Asthete - 2.5 stars
Androids, called Art, live in a world where they are nothing more than entertainment, without the rights of many humans.
I don't know about this one. Absolutely fascinating concepts, and I really applaud the author for the creation. But it contained a lot of language and concepts that really just get thrown at you. It's a bit unexpected and not as easy to digest in such a short amount of pages.

Pressure - uhhh 2 stars?
You are the only Black person in your family. You are having a family reunion.
I LOVE second person narration. I think it's under-utilized and I want to see more of it. But I have no fucking clue what happened at the end of that story.

Dark Home - 3 stars
Nwokolo's father has died. When she returns to the United States from Nigeria, spirits may have followed with her.
I wish I loved Nnedi Okorafor's writing like so many other people seem to. Conceptually, her stories always hit the mark. But there's just something about the writing that never grabs me. This one was pretty good though!

Flicker - 3.5 stars
The world is going black, a few seconds at a time...
I love a good optometry horror story. Oh, is that niche? TOO BAD because I wrote and published one too! <spoiler>This is the kind of apocalypse story I like, where the whole concept of the apocalypse is so insane that it circles around to cool again. Like Bird Box vibes, but this time everything just disappears for a bit at a time.</spoiler>

The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World - 4.5 stars
Yenderil has been training to kill the Devil that lives in the blue hole. But she hasn't been training for this.
WOAH this one is so weird and good!!! What a wild story. I love the way it's written, there's something so engaging about the stylistic format.

The Norwood Trouble - 3.75 stars
Segregation is strong in Norwood.
But damn the Black families that live there can kickass.

A Grief of the Dead - 5 stars
Mahad's identical twin, Jamal, is dead. So why is he knocking at their sister's door?
This story fucked me UP in a good way. Wow. Also really, really, really heavy. Major CW on this one for gun violence, mass shootings, description of injuries, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts

A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree - 4 stars
Nothing good can come of a stretch of road called Dead Man's Curve.
👻👻👻👻

An American Fable - 3.5 stars
Noble Washington returns home from WWI, traveling by train to Chicago.
I love, love the mythology and magic behind this one.

Your Happy Place - 4 stars
The Process teaches those in the prison system new skills via AI learning and computer interfaces.
as;dflkjasd;fl Wowza. Very important story. Definitely one to read paired with Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis. The opening quote from the Constitution is spot on.

Hide & Seek - 5 stars
a;fkldj I can't even summarize this story for you without spoilers. But I love P. Djèlí Clark so muchhhhhh. Body horror unmatched.

Origin Story - 4 stars
A play, set during the Unified Theory of Whiteness seminar course.
I don't think I'm capable of giving me feelings on this in two to three sentences. This one is a thinker.

Final thoughts: I'm not usually a short story reader, because I find when there's just a really good premise, I tend to get too attached to the idea. I want <i>more</i> than just the snippet we see of any give concept (see: Eye & Tooth). On the other hand, Invasion of the Baby Snatchers is basically my perfect short story because if I had been given <i>any</i> more I would have had nightmares!
This collection was wonderful and inventive and really explored the bounds of what is horror, some in the more standard ways and others showing the way an everyday event can turn. I would highly recommend checking this one out!

OUT THERE SCREAMING –
An Anthology Of New Black Horror -
Edited by Jordan Peele & John Joseph Adams

The Following Are My Favorites:

‘Reckless Eyeballing’ – by N. K. JEMISIN – Creepy Good!

‘She looks fully at him for the first time, still with that neutral face—but her eyes are cold. Truth always lies in the eyes. “Can you tell me why you pulled me over, Officer . . . Billings?” “Well, I can see them now, but at first I thought there was an issue with your headlights.” He moves away from the window, around to the front of the car. Her headlights are still on, and he’s familiar with what this make and model should have: LEDs with a white rim, inward slanting. What’s actually on the front of this woman’s car are prettier than LEDs, and sly looking. They shift to follow him as he moves into their range.’

*singing slightly off-key*

‘Private eyes
They're watching you
They see your every mo . . . ‘

*cough*

sorry ; J

Someone please tell me how to get this Hall & Oates song out of my head… help!”

‘Eye & Tooth’ – by REBECCA ROANHORSE – LOVE This One!

‘“This is some real Children of the Corn s[…],” she mutters, thinking between the storm and the dark and the absolute lack of anything good, they’ve stumbled into her own personal nightmare. She’s a California girl, preferring a hot sun and streets thick with prefabs over this nothing and nowhere.’

‘“Why’d we take this job, again?”’
‘“Living ain’t free,” Atticus says.’’
“Neither is dying.”’

’Wandering Devil’ – by CADWELL TURNBULL – Love This One!

‘“[W]e leave a string of broken hearts behind. And hatred long and black as a shadow at dawn.”’

‘Invasion Of The Baby Snatcher’ – by Lesley Nneka Arimah – Disturbingly Creepy Good!
‘Your baby was born with a literal cow head? Fourteen stomachs? That doesn’t seem right. Stop counting its hoofs (heeves? hoofeses?) and call in the damn troops.'

'They had no idea how our bodies worked. It was almost funny.'

'But of course, they learned.’

‘The Other One’ by – VIOLET ALLEN – Creepy Good!

‘One night in bed, he leaned over and whispered, “I don’t love you.” Just like that, like it was just words, just sounds, meaningless and useless and without consequence. I was crushed, because I had never known a love like his before, and I was shocked because I had thought we were as happy as two could be.’

‘But then, when he woke up, he asked me why I was crying and why I held him so tightly and why I looked at him like that. “You know why,” I said.’

‘But he did not.’

My Thoughts:

‘You play with words you play with love
You can twist it around baby that ain't enough
'Cause girl [guy] I'm gonna know
If you're letting me in or letting me go
Don't lie when you're hurting inside
Cause you can't escape my

Private eyes…’

Yep, It’s still there, sorry not sorry ;)

’Lasirèn’ – by ERIN E. ADAMS – LOVE This One!

‘“If she calls to you, run before she can speak. If you are fool enough to hear, you must do as she says. She always grabbed my hand at this part. Listen! Or she’ll snatch you and leave a shell in your place.”’

‘The Rider’ – by TANANARIVE DUE – My Heart!

‘“They didn’t need any laws but their own. They made their own peace. Their own justice. You face your own judgment in Reclamation Swamp.”’

‘The Aesthete’ – by JUSTIN C. KEY – That Was Good!

‘My Creator stopped to trim a hedge that didn’t need trimming. Her garden was a circular labyrinth of zinnias, asters, pansies, and cosmos . . . Genetic modification didn’t touch the garden. Was I her only creation? I never asked.’

‘Pressure’ – by EZRA CLAYTAN DANIELS – That Was Good!

‘This afternoon’s event hardly warranted your presence, but you suspect this may be the last time you’ll be able to travel to your hometown with any faith that your plane won’t be snatched out of the sky by a flash storm, fire whirl, or pressure pocket.’

’Dark Home’ – by NNEDI OKORAFOR – My Heart!

‘“Hello darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to talk with you again.” I hummed the song under my breath and more tears squeezed from my eyes.’

‘Flicker’ – by L. D. LEWIS – That Was Creepy Good! The ending felt abrupt, though, perhaps it’s just me.

'The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World’ – by NALO HOPKINSON – That Was Good! I had never heard of an Obeah Woman or Man, so it was interesting to look up the history after reading this story.

‘She knew from the preacher’s sermons every Sunday that Hell was down below her feet, but down is the direction she was determined to go anyway, straight to Perdition if she had to. For the beast she was hunting had to be a creation of the Devil’s . . .’

’The Norwood Trouble’ – by MAURICE BROADDUS – Flora—My Heart! Love This One!

‘They thought that we were too young to understand, but children knew. We learned the lesson early, felt it down to our bones: Of all the tools of oppression, fear was the cruelest. There was a story we don’t tell that needed to be shared before the last of us died and no one remained to remember.’

‘A Grief of the Dead’ – by RION AMILCAR SCOTT – Creepy Good, though what happens with Sorai perplexed me a bit. Love The Ending!

‘In my house, I once kept on a light in the upper room, the room I held for him and him alone when he was alive, the one he stayed in whenever he and his lover, Shantí, were on the outs. That light felt like a beacon for my brother. Many days I would go up to the lighted room with a cup of tea, look out the window, and think, I’m still here, twin, come find me if you need to talk.’

'A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree’ – by NICOLE D. SCONIERS – Love This One!

‘“Where will you go first?” Amber asks.’

‘“Home, if I can make it.”’

‘“I never got that far.”’

‘We’re hiding in the woods adjacent to the highway. It’s after midnight, I think. A darkness so thick and merciful, it masks the blood on the blond girl’s face.’

‘An American Fable’ – by CHESYA BURKE – My Heart—Love The Ending!

‘Being back home felt . . . wrong somehow. His discomfort had not only been in the way the United States had thrown Black soldiers aside. Noble and thousands of other Black men and women agreed to fight for their country hoping that afterward, it would see them as worthy—perhaps even stop treating Negro people as lower-class citizens . . . But coming back home presented horrors that even war could not parallel.’

‘Your Happy Place’ – by TERENCE TAYLOR – WHOA, My Heart!

‘They’d said the facility was built to test a new reform project. He understood they had to keep everything confidential until they got results, filed their patents. But they hid more than their methods. Everything in him said he should keep his mouth shut, keep his head low, collect his paycheck. Everything but his conscience.’

’Hide & Seek’ – P. DJÈLÍ CLARK – My Heart!

‘Something heavy is being dragged across the floor downstairs. Something else lands with a thud. Our hunter is searching. Now the footsteps head upstairs. Then silence. . . . This is hide & seek. And it’s not a game.’

'Origin Story’ – by TOCHI ONYEBUCHI - Horrifically-Cringeworthy-Ideology, which, of course, is the author's intent—A Creepy Good Story, though I struggled with understanding the ending, specifically the scene with the mask.

‘Setting: Humanities Building classroom Time: Thirty minutes before Ms. Geraldine Cunningham’s Grand Unified Theory of Whiteness seminar’

‘WHITE BOY #1:’

‘“Bro, we are an undifferentiated mass of heterosexual, cisgender, Anglo-Saxon, upper-class, male privilege. Who the fuck is gonna wanna explore our inner life by the end of this?

'The other boys look at the hulking figure that White Boy #1 has become, transformed by angles and firelight. . . . 'Are you not even a little bit concerned about our impending obsolescence?”’

I enjoyed reading all of the Horror Stories within, and I look forward to purchasing a Hardback version—Highly Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Random House (Random House), for providing me with an eBook of OUT THERE SCREAMING at the request of an honest review.

3.75 stars for the overall collection

I love Jordan Peele, both his comedies and his movies. I also loved his revival of The Twilight Zone and it's cool to see him bringing some of those writers from the show back to have their spotlight in their stories. This short story collection was a highly anticipated 2023 release for me. I was lucky enough to get an eARC of it, which I immediately started reading. Then I decided I needed a physical copy and purchased one of those, too. Then after getting halfway through the collection, my schedule was becoming busy with grad school, so I chose to listen to the rest of the stories on audio through Spotify Premium. I can't remember the last time I read a book in all three mediums, but this was such a fun experience doing so. I can distinctly tell you when I read some of the stories and where I was or what I was doing. That makes for a memorable collection.

Honestly, the wide variety of the Black experience explored here in a multitude of different genres of horror is important. There's everything from slashers to paranormal to magical realism to sci-fi to historical to cosmic to suspense. There's a wide variety for every horror lover, but I also loved that this looked at so many different Black cultural experiences and different time periods. It was a cool experience to shift from the 2000s and then go to the 1950s and then to the Caribbean or the Deep South to the futuristic United States. I appreciated how wide of a variety there was in this collection. This is one of the best short stories I've read in a few months (probably since I read Tombs by Junji Ito in late 2023).

I can't recommend this collection enough to short story fans! There is something in it for everyone. I want to see if I can pull a story out to teach because I think there are a few in here that would be so interesting to unpack. My favorites in this collection are The Ride, Eye & Tooth, A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree, Your Happy Place, and Reckless Eyeballing.

Overall Ratings for Each Story:
5 stars: Reckless Eyeballing by NK Jemison, Eye & Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse, The Ride by Tananarive Due, A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree by Nicole D. Sconiers, Your Happy Place by Terence Taylor
4.5 stars: Flicker by LD Lewis
4 stars: Wandering Devil by Cadwell Turnbull, Lasirèn by Erin E. Adams, Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor, The Norwood Trouble by Maurice Broaddus, An American Fable by Chesya Burke, Origin Story by Tochi Onyebuchi
3.5 stars: A Grief of the Dead by Rion Amilcar Scott, Hide & Seek by P. Djèlí Clark
3 stars: The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson,
2 stars: Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah, The Other One by Violet Allen, Pressure by Ezra Claytan Daniels,
1 star: The Aesthete by Justin C. Key- DNF This was not it; I think I made it 5 pages and then said nope.

This was an amazing grouping of short horror stories. Between siblings with unique gifts, a cop who sees eyes, a breaking down matrix, a man with commitment issues and so many other plots - every story felt unique and interested. Each one caught me right from the beginning and I didn't stop until there was a pause for the next.

I started this as an ebook but then heard the audiobook had both Jordan Peele narrating an intro and then a full cast of voices for the stories. A full cast is always a high selling point for me and I rushed to get the audio. I'm SO glad I did! Each story had its own voice, it's own rhythm. Each narrator brought the story alive and it was haunting while I walked at night and listening to this one.

If you love spooky stories - like Podcasts or novels - don't miss this one! Especially don't miss the audio. It was so good, I look forward to listening to again sometime. I will absolutely reread this one, it was that good!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

This compilation of spooky tales was alright. It may be the length that made this book a lull for me or it could be that I had hoped to find bone chilling tales and none of these really shook me during my nightly reads. I did enjoy the stories, almost all 19 of them. I wouldn't call this a bad anthology, it just was not what I had wished it was.

I was excited to get my hands on Peele’s anthology of horror stories. This is a book with many different short stories by black authors. I found some to be very good and some missed the mark. For that reason I’m giving this a 3 star review. I read this over the span of October January as each story stands alone. Thank you for my arc copy!

Anthologies are difficult to review because there are always some stories that are really great and others not so much. Overall, I enjoyed this collection. Standouts for me included Lasiren by Erin E. Adams, The Rider by Tananarive Due, Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor, The Norwood Trouble by Maurice Broaddus and An American Fable by Chesya Burke.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Random House for as well as the authors and editors of this delightful collection. It was a true pleasure.
#NetGalley #RandomHousePublishingGroup-RandomHouse #EditedbyJordanPeele #ShortStoryCollection #OutThereScreaming
Title: Out There Screaming
Author: Various
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group-Random House
Publication Date: October 3, 2023

Thanks to the abundance of talented horror authors working today, I have really developed a love for short story collections. It’s a great way to experience several different writing styles as well as stories at once. I’ve found several of my favorite authors this way. This collection was full of different types of stories ranging from stories about aliens impregnating human women to supernatural siblings to haunted houses and everything in between. As always, there were some stories that I liked more than others, but they all had something to like.
The story that was most enjoyable for me was written by Tananarive Due. It’s called “The Rider” and is disturbing in a way that’s both very familiar and very different at the same time. It’s about two sisters on their way to a Freedom Rider event. On the way, they meet someone sinister whose motivations aren’t what they seem. I also enjoyed “Eye and Tooth” by Rebecca Roanhorse. It’s about two siblings who hunt monsters. It’s perfect for a fan of the tv show “Supernatural”, like myself.
All in all, each story carries a unique voice as well as a wide range of subjects.. Some of these authors are favorites of mine and some are new to me. I enjoyed this book and I think most others will too,

Horror in many formats, from traditional to science fiction to every day life horrors. Nineteen black authors feature their short stories in this fantastic collection. I was impressed with the creativity in the topics they chose to highlight as scary. A few of the stories gave me chills and I was thankful I was reading with the lights on. Here are my favorites from the collection:

Eye & Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse
Wandering Devil by Cadwell Turnbull.
Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah
Flicker by L.D. Lewis
A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree by Nicole D. Sconiers
Your Happy Place by Terence Taylor
Hide & Seek by P. Djèlí Clark

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Anthologies are always difficult to rate because by definition you will be exposed to a wide range of voices and story telling style and not all of them can be hits. That said I did really enjoy all the voices and works that were curated for this collection. The first and final story are particular highlights and ones I continually come back to. Highly recommend to horror short story lovers!

I love Jordan Peele and, like so many others, he’s one of my favourite directors. I was incredibly excited to get my grubby little hands on a copy. However, I don’t read a lot of short story collections, especially when they are written by various authors rather than just one, so please take my thoughts below with a grain of salt.

Unfortunately, this was less hits than misses for me. This isn’t a bad collection by any means, but when you’ve gathered 19 different authors with 19 different ideas and styles, you’re bound to have at least a few that don’t work for you. However, my favourites were:

Invasion of the Baby Snatchers
Pressure
Flicker
A Grief of the Dead
A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree

I think this book is the perfect example of how beautiful and subjective reading is.

Jordan Peele, the creator of GET OUT, US, and NOPE, curated this horror anthology by black writers. With an introduction by Peele, the anthology contains stories by beloved black writers, like P. Djèlí Clark, Tananarive Due, N. K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, and Caldwell Turnbull. I would read anything and everything by these authors, so all of them plus more in a horror anthology curated by Jordan Peele? This was catnip for me. I loved this book. It was terrifying, and every story was ingenious, unique, and utterly terrifying.

I love a good anthology. The only problem with anthologies is that sometimes there’s a good book in there and sometimes there’s a story that’s not so amazing. This one had some up-and-down but overall I really enjoyed reading it. I was so excited to get an advance copy of this.

Out There Screaming is a fantastic anthology of short stories from black authors. I had a really great time reading this and it got me very interested in the history of black horror in film as well. I was bummed that Peele's forward wasn't included in the e-galley, but looking forward to eventually getting a physical copy so I can read that too! His perspective on horror is fantastic. Overall, I highly recommend this.

I loved reading these short stories from authors that I’ve enjoyed their other work, or ones that I’ve been wanting to read something by but haven’t been able to yet. Like all short story collections some stood out more than others, but overall this was a really solid and creepy collection.

I absolutely loved this collection of stories. It was definitely worth the hype and I am super glad I picked it up.

I really enjoyed the first few stories in this anthology but not all the stories were equal. I think NK, Rebecca, Nnedi and Tochi’s stories were phenomenal. I’m glad I read it but definitely wasn’t as good as I hoped.

Jordan Peele is renowned for his filmmaking abilities--and here recently, for becoming a go-to master of the macabre. Films like GET OUT, US, and NOPE have garnered Peele a cult following, and he has more than earned the respect of other titans in the field.
When it was announced that he was compiling an anthology of black voices in horror, I knew for certain this was not to be missed.
There are some intriguing, dark, scary, and absorbing reads in this collection of short fiction, and for fans of the genre, there are some absolutely terrifying masterpieces--both old and new.
Kudos to Jordan Peele for spotlighting these stories and giving them the appropriate platform.
Pick this up and prepare to sleep with the lights on.