Out There Screaming, like many anthologies, has great, good and not as good stories. I don't think that any of them were bad though, those with lower ratings mostly felt underdeveloped and/or had abrupt endings, but with intriguing concepts nonetheless.

Here are my ratings for each story :
Reckless Eyeballing (N.K. Jemisin) 3.5⭐️
Eye & Tooth (Rebecca Roanhorse) 4⭐️
Wandering Devil (Cadwell Turnbull) 2.5 ⭐️
Invasion of the Baby Snatchers (Lesley Nneka Arimah) 3⭐️
The Other One (Violet Allen) 3.5⭐️
Lasirèn (Erin E. Adams) 3.5⭐️
The Rider (Tananarive Due) 4⭐️
The Aesthete (Justin C. Key) 4.5⭐️
Pressure (Ezra Claytan Daniels) 3.5⭐️
Dark Home (Nnedi Okorafor) 4.5⭐️
Flicker (L. D. Lewis) 4.5 ⭐️
The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World (Nalo Hopkinson) 4⭐️
The Norwood Trouble (Maurice Broaddus) 3.5⭐️
A Grief of the Dead (Rion Amilcar Scott) 3⭐️
A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree (Nicole D. Sconiers) 4.5⭐️
An American Fable (Chesya Burke) 4.5⭐️
Your Happy Place (Terence Taylor) 5⭐️
Hide & Seek (P. Djèli Clark) 4.5⭐️
Origin Story (Tochi Onyebuchi) 4⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with a copy.

Out there Screaming is a collection of stories ranging from mildly unsettling to horrifically wicked. I e joyed the majority of the stories but a few of them fell a but flat and I skipped to the next. But I loved a lot of these, the writers have done a very good job integrating social issues and meaningful messages into the stories whilst still hitting the mark horror-wise. This was an interesting colelxtion and I recommend for lovers of scary stories and short story compilations.

Description:
An anthology of Black horror, curated by Jordan Peele.

Liked:
As always in an anthology like this, it's a mixed bag. Some incredible standouts in here, though. I particularly loved the following:
Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah for its body horror and tight central mystery
The Rider by Tananarive Due for its action and sheer pleasure in revenge
Pressure by Ezra Claytan Daniels for its meandering but impactful focus on character
Flicker by L. D. Lewis for inducing abject terror
A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree by Nicole D. Sconiers for being a really satisfying ghost story
Hide and Seek by P. Djeli Clark for a slowburn reveal which packs a punch

Disliked:
I've enjoyed Tochi Onyebuchi's work before but this felt like an overtly pretentious grab for attention. It's crammed full of disparate references, from anime to canonical existentialist plays, but none of this really serves a useful purpose. Another reviewer called it cringe and I couldn't agree more. Still, it's impressive that in a fairly large book of short stories, there was only one dud!

Would recommend wholeheartedly. I’m a little late for proper spooky season but if you like extending it till December as I do, jump right in!

Jordan Peele (writer/director of acclaimed movies Get Out, Us and Nope) presents this anthology of 19 short stories from black voices of horror fiction, co-edited by John Joseph Adams. Featuring a line-up of award-winning writers, Out There Screaming won the 2023 Bram Stoker award for superior achievement in a horror anthology.

Like any collection of short stories, this is a mixed bag of delights and there’s something here for everyone. The collection veers from N.K. Jemisin’s twisted tale of police brutality and body horror through to tales of spiritual traditions like obeah and juju, even taking a few detours into Black Mirror-esque science fiction dystopias. Many of these stories deal explicitly with the horrors of historical and present day black lived experiences: slavery, life under Jim Crow, everyday racism and sexism; meanwhile others are simply black writers telling their horror stories. One or two of the stories didn’t really land for me, but the vast majority of these had me in their thrall.

In terms of stand-out stories, Violet Allen’s The Other One grabs the reader hard. Our heart-broken narrator is sending text messages to her ex-lover into a void of silence… until one day she receives a jarring reply followed by threats and demands for money: “lol, why are u texting my boyfriend?”

In Tananarive Due’s The Rider, two young civil rights activists realise that their bus will never get them to their demonstration. Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Ariman is a wild ride that wears its X-files influences on its sleeve right from its killer opening: “Used to be, you could tell an alien pregnancy from a human one with your naked eye, back before they’d figured people out…. But of course, they learned.” In Your Happy Place, Terence Taylor channels the uncanny feeling of Peel’s own Get Out when a prisoner discovers the horrifying secret between a new reform programme for inmates.

As a white reader, I’m sure there were details and layers here that I simply missed and I can’t help but wonder what those were and how it would have affected my reading experience. Out There Screaming is a thought-provoking and chilling anthology that will send readers scurrying away to track down the other works of writers included here. I would love to see this title reprinted in a few years time with the addendum “Volume 1” for the sake of clarity, because it had since become the first in a series.

Out There Screaming was published in paperback earlier this month and is currently available on Kindle for just 99p. Thank you to NetGalley and Picador for providing a digital advance review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

A collection of short horror stories by Black authors curated by Jordan Peele? Yes please!

Here, Peele had pulled together 19 authors to take us to their Sunken Place and I had a blast going there with them.

As with many anthologies, not every story hit for me. But I did want to shout out the following selection:

Reckless Eyeballing - N M Jemisin: Starts as a story about a power hungry cop that sees eyes on the headlights of cars he should pull over,descends into madness and obsession and delicious body horror.

Eye & Tooth - Rebecca Roanhorse: Brother and sister are a team of supernatural monster hunters/expellers. Really good - creepy dolls, kid and woman, great reveal and chef’s kiss ending.

Wandering Devil - Cadwell Turnbull: Freddy the man who can never settle, and his fortune told to him by an old busker. Compelling fable like story with a dark sting in the tail…enjoyable.

The Other One - Violet Allen: obsession and paranoia and a royally wonderful case of wtf is happening?? Loved the climax. Fucked up.

The Rider - Tananarive Due: Jim Crow era Tallahassee, two women taking a bus ride to a protest that goes all kinds of hellish. Dark, disturbing, delightful.

Pressure - Ezra Claytan Daniels: looming, dread-inducing tale of being an outsider in your own family, while also set a background of stuff that just isn’t right! Really one to get under your skin.

Dark Home - Nnedi Okorafor: wonderful bit of Nigerian folk horror - loved how it crossed the ocean with the main character, and the security alerts were especially creepy

Flicker - L D Lewis: probably my favourite of the bunch, a really profound story about the end of the world, framed through the lens of everything shutting down because we just don’t care any more. The world starts blacking out for increasingly long periods and in those blackouts bad things happen, but the world is looking away. This could be about racism, about Israel, about AI, or anything else. Very clever, very disturbing and very moving.

A Bird Sings By the Etching Tree - Nicole D Sconiers: two violent spirits patrolling the road where they died and playing a game of murder. Fun and engrossing.

An American Fable - Chesya Burke: a captivating and magical - and terrifying - tale. It really felt like a fable, brilliantly crafted.

Your Happy Place - Terence Taylor: shocking and very cleverly done with a fun twist that you kind of see coming but that is no less enjoyable. A bit like Don’t Worry Darling but far darker.

Overall, I would highly recommend this collection. Some absolute bangers here and a really high standard of stories throughout.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy!

For anyone who is a fan of Get Out or any of Jordan Peele's work, this is a must read.

The book serves horror and science fiction, but it also serves much more. It delves into many social issues from race, culture, violence, and much more, powerfully depicting the black experience and critiquing race relations in today's society.

Excited to delve into some of the included authors ' other works.

I would recommend to anyone reading not to read too many of the stories back to back and split it up over a longer period of time, to fully appreciate each in their own right

Out There Screaming is a fantastic and needed collection of stories, covering everything from creepy supernatural events to thought-provoking explorations of racism and identity. The stories are diverse and offer plenty of different horror styles.

What makes this book stand out for me is how it blends classic horror elements with real-world issues, something that has always given true horror its real edge. Some tales hit harder than others, but overall, the collection is packed with eerie, unsettling moments that will stay with you. I've been a fan of Peele's filmography for a while, and I'm sure that fellow fans will appreciate the blend of social commentary and horror that's so key to his work. This is a great pick for anyone looking for fresh, culturally rich takes on the genre. Perfect for horror lovers who want something original and thought-provoking.

I have to say that I was disappointed to see that the Kindle ebook had some formatting issues, so I needed to download and read on the Netgalley app itself. This could just be a fluke issue though.

Thank you to both Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to review this book.

Embarrassingly I have to admit that I hadn't heard of most of the contributors to Out There Screaming, and the few I had heard of I hadn't previously read, but that's my loss. Jordan Peele and fellow editor John Joseph Adams have produced a collection that is filled with stories that touch on racism, slavery. bigotry, the supernatural and Black Mirror-esque techno-horror. The publisher and editors are to be applauded for shining a light on authors within the Black community who are uniquely able to write about some of these subjects.

Thanks to NetGalley and everyone involved for an advance copy

Out There Screaming is a captivating anthology that delivers a diverse collection of terrifying tales, each brilliantly crafted to unnerve and haunt. The stories are inventive, blending supernatural horror with social commentary in a way that resonates deeply. Each tale feels unique, yet they all share a sharp, eerie tension that kept me on edge throughout. From psychological dread to visceral scares, the variety ensures there’s something for every horror fan. A few stories lingered longer than others, but overall, the anthology is a chilling and well-executed collection that is sure to leave readers disturbed and thinking.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an e-arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I do have this book in hardback - kindly bought for me by a friend but when I saw it on Netgalley I had to request anyway to experience any changes that may have taken place. The stories in the book are powerful. Like any anthology collection I enjoyed some stories more than others. But all the authors did super well in blending horror with Black storylines. Some of these stories are truly terrifying to think about happening and I feel like would resonate with a lot of people. I will definitely be researching some authors included in this collection and be adding their books to my TBR! I would recommend!

A solid and varied collection of horror stories, as with any short story collection, there will be some standouts but there were no flops. Definitely have a few authors to add to my to read list!

3.5 stars
As with all short story novels, there were some stories I loved and others I struggled with. I particularly enjoyed the short stories that featured a historical backdrop and the slightly supernatural ones. The stories that particularly stood out to me were: the one that focused on the blackout, the one that followed the two sisters in the 1960s, the one that followed the two victims of car accidents and the pair of siblings who were hunters. Overall, a great and equal selection of stories, with several that really made me feel uneasy.

Out There Screaming is a black spec fiction collection 19 short stories.
Various themes and topics are covered.
A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree, Your Happy Place and Hide and Seek were the standouts.
If this book started off with any of the above, and had two or three stories that I enjoyed less, than I would have easily recommended this book.
Unfortunately, this was a miss for me. I love Jordan Peele’s work, and Black horror, but the selection of the majority of the stories in this collection felt horrifically wrong, Most of them needed to be more fleshed out, some of them did not have interesting premises, and others were not executed meticulously. Because of my love for Peele’s work, and Black horror and voices, I double-checked my analysis, and I am still of the same opinion today,

I really expected to love Out There Screaming going in. I’m a big fan of Jordan Peele’s recent work, and the prospect of a horror anthology curated by him, working with a stable of authors including some stand out talents - the likes of Tannarive Due, N. K. Jemisin and Nnedi Okarafor - was very exciting. Which is why it is doubly disappointing that this just fell quite flat.

There were some good stories in here - with ‘Origin Story’ and ‘Dark Home’ being the stand outs - but there was a definite lack of cohesion throughout. I really struggled to keep a rhythm, reading along, and the length of the anthology didn’t help there either. I’m sure that many people have and will love Out There Screaming. But while it is an undoubtedly fascinating project in theory, the curation left a little to be desired.

Out There Screaming is an anthology of Black Horror brought together by Jordan Peele.  All of the stories not only delve into the horror genre in their own way, they also speak on society and real world adjacent injustices through this medium

I'll give a brief on each story below...

Reckless Eyeballing, NK Jemison - a cop, Carl, starts seeing eyes on the headlights cars of guilty parties... how will he use this knowledge 

Eye and Tooth, Rebecca Roanhouse - Zelda and Atticus have old magic, but when a creepy old lady with a doll obsession hires them for a job, they dont expect what they'll find

Wandering Devil, Cadwell Turnbull - Freddy comes from a long line of people with Wanderlust, can true love make him change his ways

Invasion of the Baby Snatchers, Lesley Nneka Arimah - reason number 142 not to get pregnant, possible alien babies trying to stage an invasion

The Other One, Violet Allen - Angela get a strange message from a woman from her exes phone, it wouldn't be a bad idea just to pop round, right?

Lasirèn, Erin E Adams - Widelines mother tells a tale of warning about mysterious women in the water. When her sister goes missing, she might find out more about what this means 

The Rider, Tananarive Due - Two sisters, Pat and Priscilla are on their way to a non-violent protest. However, the bus there takes them on a journey neither expected 

The Aesthete, Justin C Key - in a world where sentient Art is made by The Creators for their own purposes, what does it mean to be Art or be Human 

Pressure, Ezra Claytan Daniels - 3 cousins return home as adults, with little in common other than their strained youthful relationships... that's a lot of pressure to have in one room 

Dark Home, Nnedi Okorafor - a trip to Nigera for a funeral brings back more than just the aftermath of grief to deal with

Flicker, LD Lewis - Kam has a weird sensation that the world goes black every so often, like blinking but more.  But when the whole world starts to experience similar glitches, things quickly descend into chaos 

The Most Strongest Obeah Woman Of the World,  Nalo Hopkinson - Yenderil  has lost her family and there are tales around the Blue Hole and the devil inside.  Can she descend into it and come back whole and alive with just her cutless to protect herself 

The Norwood Trouble, Maurice Broaddus - a young girl has to learn what her, and her family, need to do to survive when there are threats and rules in the very place they live

A Grief of the Dead, Rion Amilcar Scott - Mahad struggles in the aftemath of his twins death, which is the most recent in a long line of tragedies to befall his family.  What will he do to be like his twin again...

A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree,  Nicole D Sconiers - two girls die tragically at different times on the same stretch of road, and linger, all whilst playing a game of getting rid of the dangers that come onto said road

An American Fable, Chesya Burke - Noble Washingon served his country as a solider in the war efforts, but his uniform won't protect him from a mob, but a mysterious young girl just might

Your Happy Place, Terence Taylor - Martin, a petty criminal, has agreed to work transporting prisoners for The Process, something inmates serving a long sentence can agree to be a part of to shorten their stay.  However, Martin notices weird things about his job and sets out to investigate 

Hide & Seek, P Djèlí Clark - two young boys play a game of hide and seek with their mother in their Grandfathers old house where Hoodoo was practiced, what are they hiding from??

Origin Story, Tochi Onyebuchi - 4 White Boys have taken a class, and seem to be part of a play to contemplate the meaning of being a White Boy 

All in all, as with moat anthologies, there is something for everyone, which means not all stories are going to work for everyone.

There were definitely standouts for me with Your Happy Place and Hide and Seek, but all worth a read to see what calls to you

Perfect for spooky season, out in paperback 08 October.  Thank you to NetGalley and Picador/PanMacmillian for the review copy.  All opinions my own.

This is an absolute powerhouse of an anthology. I was incredibly impressed at the consistently high quality of the writing throughout this collection, and how complete and layered each story felt. Jordan Peele has done a great job presenting a variety of themes and different takes that all circle around the overarching Black experience.

My favourite stories were the ones that had a scifi/futuristic twist: The Aesthete by Justin C. Kay which deals with artificially created human-like creatures; Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah - an interesting twist on first contact; Your Happy Place by Terence Taylor, wherein AI in the prison industrial complex leads to profound horrors.

The standout for me was A Grief of the Dead by Rian Amilcar Scott.

An incredible mix of horror, ranging from pure thrills and jump scares, to existential crises and supernatural elements. I loved the mix of author styles and "Hide and Seek" particularly stood out for me. The foreword by Jordan Peele gave a great overview of the importance of providing this space for the anthology of Black horror authors.

As with all short story collections this was definitely a mixed bag which makes it a bit difficult to rate.. there were a few that I really wasn't impressed with, a few that were just okay and then others that I absolutely loved!

Overall the vibes of this collection are perfect for spooky season and I would still recommend giving it a go!

This collection of short stories is going to stay with me for years. It gets under your skin, both because of how much the stories can scare you and how much they force you to think. I believe that the best horror stories always do both.

Whilst I was unfamiliar with most of these authors before reading Out There Screaming, I can certainly see how talented they all are, and I have added a number of their works to my TBR. Being able to read these new works and experience a range of writing styles is part of why I love anthologies so much. They give you a way to explore new genres and topics. I would certainly recommend this book to any new horror fans or fans of horror movies that want to start reading more.

I won’t include any spoilers for the short stories in this review (you have to experience the twists and turns for yourself) but I will say that Jordan Peele’s introduction does an incredible job of explain how it feels to read these stories. He explains that each story is like its own oubliette- a torture device and isolated dungeon used in medieval times. Everyone’s experience in an oubliette would be different because they were left alone in the dark with their own minds. There were shadows crawling on the walls and strange noises from above. Your brain would confuse itself and you would never be sure what was real. And most importantly, there is no way out once you’ve been trapped inside. In the same way, each short story makes you question the very idea of truth. Tales like N. K. Jemisin’s ‘Reckless Eyeballing’ can be dreamlike, but the story quickly devolves into a nightmare.

The beginning of Autumn is the best time to read this collection so I definitely recommend that you pick it up.