I think I need to stick to novels and not short stories because unfortunately, none of these "scary stories" were enjoyable. Maybe it's just the various authors' writing styles that I'm not used to, but getting through the first few pages (this was an e-arc, so "pages??") was a huge struggle each new story. Was it too descriptive? Was it not eyegrabbing and enticing enough? It was also disappointing how I was hoping for horror that would, you know, keep me on edge and stuff, but somehow, the Goosebump books I read in second grade did more to scare me than these did. Not even Goosebumps. the Trap movie trailer did more to scare me than all 13 short stories. so uh. low score in the scary storytelling department.

I will say, though, "all eyes on me" was the only one apart from "docile girls" (i'm extremely biased towards chloe gong i fear. sue me. thats a joke. please please thats a joke dont actually TT) that i enjoyed. but after the death, i kind of lost the point of the story... apart from the fact that it's about finding yourself? or at least, that's my interpretation.

anyway, don't write the book off just because i did. maybe short stories are more to your liking! me personally, i think i'll stick with good ol' fashioned novels.

(note: i tried rereading a few of the stories again. i guess my interpretation of everything was incorrect? the stories aren't supposed to be horror like stephen king and stuff. it's supposed to be a little horror-y but the focus is on power imbalance? could be wrong again pt 2 but take it as you will!)

I arrived blind to this book. The title intrigued me and I was in the mood for an anthology specially when I saw some names of the author's involved in it.

There are thirteen stories in a wide range of horror genres.

Some like The Golden dragon and Docile girls resonate with me and the slasher or asian folklore like a Japanese horror movie.

I wasn't expecting to be so enthralled by some of the stories and yet there's always a few that I didn't like it. This usually happens to me with modern anthologies. But this baby has so much good in it that for me it was a four star reading. It kept me glued to the pages on my weekend.

This is solid gold for horror fans of YA. It was like goosebumps on a good afternoon. I had the thought that I would like to read something like this in my teens but now as an adult I have enjoyed so much that I have to thanks to Netgalley for the arc and the publisher for dare to make a diverse horror short stories anthology with racial representation.

Thanks to Terry J Benton Walker for editing this book. It is no easy to work with so many voices and make it so addictive.

If you don’t like body horror or are squeamish in any way, this is absolutely not for you. I want to let that be known up front.

This is a really good YA anthology of 13 horror stories written by BIPOC in which the white guy always gets what’s coming to him and I love that for all of us. There are some pretty famous YA authors included in this anthology and some I’ve never heard of but all of their stories were very compelling and unique.

Read this if you:

1) Find new life appearing from what appears to be barren soil, the endless heat of summer, and the promise of the longest day of the year to be slightly creepy.

2) Wish to be haunted

3) Love NK Jemisin’s “How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?”

As with most short story anthologies, I loved some stories and didn’t care so much for others. Standouts were:

-“The Golden Dragon”
-“The Protégé”
-“Everything’s Coming Up Roses”
-“The Road to Hell”

“The Road To Hell” was particularly good. I’d recommend this book for a bite of horror when you tire of summer!

The White Guy Dies First
An Anthology
A Review by Jamilla (@ LandsAwayBooks)

As an avid enjoyer of all things horror (media), the title immediately drew me in, sparking a chuckle.

Horror is a genre notorious for its mangling of diversity — quick to cast those who are different as villains, smother their voices and say they don’t belong. Needless to say, I was enthused at the prospect of an anthology horror shorts written by a pool of popular BIPOC & LGBTQIA authors!

Strange, macabre with blood practically dripping from every page, The White Guy Dies First — lays before you a buffet of horror. From unexpected slashers to girls coming under the employ of a demon bureaucracy and elder sisters coming in clutch — there are thrills here suitable for even the most discerning of palates.

In the beginning, a stage is set. We’re told of the mysterious and murderous circumstances behind which these 13 stories came to be. Supposedly written by the interns of a missing filmmaker whose 13 unpublished films later turned cult classics all had their lead characters— white guys— gone missing or found dead.

The standouts for me were:
All Eyes on Me by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
(Has clowning ever been so bloody?)
The Golden Dragon by Kendare Blake
(Big sister knows best!)
Best Served Cold by H. E. Edgmon
(Sometimes hunger is supernatural.)
Everything’s Coming Up Roses by Tiffany D. Jackson
(For special roses you need special manure.)
Break Through Our Skin by Naseem Jamnia
(In which I learn, in order to be understood, shed your flesh and become divine.)
Wasps by Mark Oshiro
(Houses come with history and sometimes we should feed gentrifiers to them.)

These stories delightfully took me back to my goosebumps days and I’m thrilled that YA has these authors and these stories!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5
a solid collection! I often find that with horror (especially short form horror) you don't get satisfying conclusions or things are too wild for me to fully grasp. but I think this was a good mix! Nothing really blew me away (and it's honestly sooo heavy on body horror, which isn't my thing) but I had a good time reading a couple stories while in between tasks.
I also liked the opening and closing, which gave some logic for how these stories all came together—it was a fun element I hadn't seen before.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The White Guy Does First was a really exciting scary story. The book is setup like an anthology and each story is written by a different author.

I can’t recommend this one enough! Once I picked this book up I couldn’t put it down. The list of authors is fantastic! And the stories are all well worth the read.

I wasn't able to finishing reading (for personal reasons) but the stories I did read were rather enjoyable, and I like the fun little set up with the blog post at the beginning. I love when stories implement different methods of showcasing stories that aren't just chapter by chapter with walls of text. I'll have to purchase a copy for a later date so I can properly review it, but overall, I liked what I read!

Interesting collection of stories that range from terrifying to intense (in the best way), but all pose questions about power, our expectations, and just fear in general. Fun to read.

This book was very unique. After reading it, it was the kind of book that stuck with me for days and days after finishing it. I enjoyed it andmy husband enjoyed hearing all about it! I would reccomendit to anyone who isin aslump. It is a quick read but stunning writing.

A complication of Ya Horror short stories that while stand alone, come together beautifully with the prologue and epilogue written by Terry J. Benton-Walker who also wrote the last of the 13 short stories by 13 BIPOC authors.

Hedge by Kalynn Bayron (4⭐️) creepy, dark, and a horrifying ending about a creepy park that horrifically claims the lives of those that visit.

The Golden Dragon by Kendare Blake (5⭐️) if you also were freaked out by The Grudge but also kept watching, this novella is one you won’t want to miss out on!

Best Served Cold by H.E. Edgmon (4.5⭐️) Gripping and grotesque… I don’t know how else to describe this novella!

The Protégé by Lamar Giles (4⭐️) a dark and deadly magical novella that felt a little bit like a dark mash up of some of the vibes from The Prestige, The Illusionist, or Now You See Me. I loved each of these movies so this was quite the thrilling novella with these vibes!

Docile Girls by Chloe Gong (4⭐️) creepy setting, a broken heart, and popular mean kids that need taught a lesson? This combo makes for a chilling read!

Gray Grove by Alexis Henderson (3.5⭐️) this novella is a combination of a murder podcast, Mindhunter, and the loch ness monster.

Everything’s Coming up Roses by Tiffany D. Jackson (4⭐️) is a fast read all in the format of journal notes and I absolutely loved the way all the information slowly came together and how dark and twisty it was while reading Leesa’s journal!

Wasps by Mark Oshiro (3.5⭐️) home alone, but a teenager, and make it gory with some Hispanic folklore added in!

Hell is Other Demons by Karen Strong (3.75⭐️) this was quite the interesting demon raising and banishing novella that gave a bit of The Good Place in its vibes. It was enjoyable but left me wanting in the ending.

The Road to Hell by Terry J. Benton-Walker (3⭐️) if you have read and enjoyed the September house I’d highly recommend this final novella as it gave similar vibes!

Thank you to the publisher for my arc in exchange for my honest review! I truly enjoyed this variety of novellas!

Can I give this book more than 5 stars please? I loved every page of this book. The stories were gritty and so well written. I love how not one story over shadows another. Each authors brought there amazing story telling skills to a project where every contributor is amazing in their own right.
Each story gave us horrors in different forms. There is gentrification, racism, homophobia, a prior haunted slave plantation and so much more. These stories will upset you and have you rooting for characters to get what's coming to them. If you are a lover of horror that weaves in real like horror into a fiction story, especially a collection of stories from authors who are making waves in the horror genre, you will want to add this book to your shelf.

This will be a anthology I cherish for years to come, Thank you Torteen and Netgalley for this e-arc.

Requested the ARC for the name, stayed for the near perfect content

Anthologies are hard for me. I've only read a few but every time I walk away from it feeling like something was missing. Not only that, but I typically only find one or two stories that really grab me and the rest make me want to skip the whole story which results in around a 2 star rating. I actually make a pact in my head that if this book followed suit, I would be done with anthologies pretty much forever.
If I would have dismissed this, I would have missed out on one of my favorite reads of the year...

The beginning of the book starting off with a blog post regarding a missing persons really captured my interest. Terry J Benton-Walker found a really intriguing way to tie all the short stories together by doing this, and it played in to the title of this book really well considering the missing person was working on a project with the same title.

Then we immediately jump into Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé 's story. She has a way of story-telling that makes you hungry for more like it. The way she is able to bring up this white man's behavior, address the problem with it, "fix" it (I mean, it IS a horror story), and allow the FMC to explore safety and happiness all within a story as short as this is so commendable and powerful and exciting.

And when that ends, we get a terrifying story by Kalynn involving nature and gardens. I LOVE a dark, paranormal story where nature is the villain.
Then Tiffany D Jackson somehow made me nervous about the Home Depot's garden center.

There are so many of my favorite authors in this group and it was just a delight reading them again, I also was able to find a few authors I have yet to read, who I will be BECAUSE of their stories.
For example, there's a story about a sentient house who just wants to be cherished and loved by the people who move in. It was so poetically horrifying.

There is not one story in this collection I would rate under 3 stars, but most of them are 4s and 5s. It's important to mention that a 5 star read for me is a hard achievement. This collection deserves it.

I want a physical copy asap. Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for this ARC.

Ghoulfriends Online Blog + Epiloge ⭐️⭐️⭐️
All Eyes On Me⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hedge⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Golden Dragon⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Best Served Cold⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
The Protégé⭐️⭐️.5
Docile Girls⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Gray Grove⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Everything's Coming Up Roses ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heaven ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Break Through Our Skin⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
WASPS⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Hell Is Other Demons⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Road To Hell⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Arc generously provided by NetGalley.


This short story collection contains everything from LGBTQ+ killer clowns to a murderous hedge maze.
Also, the title is very fitting.
Very unique, kind of gruesome, fun read

This collection of short horror stories written by authors of collour where really interesting and fun.

I will search each and every author to check their other works too.

Short story collections always make for a great resource in the library, and The White Guy Dies First is no exception. Horror is a genre that has been desperately in need of diversity for years, and this collection smashes those stereotypes. Each story has its own spooky flair, from mind-bending to shocking. This title is highly recommended for library collections serving teen populations, but will surely also be a hit for a new adult audience.

I absolutely adored this collection. The diversity and variety of characters and themes kept every story fresh and interesting. I love the introduction and conclusion as well, really drew all of the stories together. Thank you for including so many of these super talented BIPOC authors. Creepy and fantastic!!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a funny horror stories compilation. The white guy is the first to die but the endings are still good!

I'm not usually a horror fan because I get scared easily. Even though I only occasionally read it during the day, I thought these short stories were excellent. It's a good thing they weren't too scary otherwise I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. These were thought-provoking and slightly unsettling tales, akin to those told around a campfire. As the headline stated, I also liked that the white guy usually killed first. It was good to see more representation for individuals because BIPOC characters is typically the first to die in most novels and films. Each of the thirteen tales was quite engaging.