Unfortunately this fell quite short for me. I almost DNF'd after the first story as I felt like it was so unnecessarily long. I persevered but sadly it wasn't for me overall.

This anthology was absolutely incredible. I feel like every story was completely original, and I enjoyed every single one (which is so rare for a multi-author collection!!). I particularly loved P. Djèli Clark’s Hide & Seek, so much so that I have since read their other work.

I think if you enjoy horror then this is pretty much a must-read!

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc. 🫶🏻

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I love Jordan Peele, and I love spooky stories, so this was a win win.

This is everything I expected and everything I wanted.

Of course, some stories are stronger than others, but this is a excellent collection.. I would highly recommend!

What a fantastic anthology of Black horror! I thoroughly enjoyed this collection which spans pretty much every kind of horror trope with an exciting, nuanced twist! In particular, my favourites were THE OTHER ONE by Violet Allen and ORIGIN STORY by Tochi Onyebuchi, but any fan of horror will not be disappointed by the versatile and chilling stories found in the book!

When it comes to anthologies of short stories, it can be a mixed bag. Each author has their own writing style, which has an effect on the characters, the pacing and the theme of each story.
There are obviously going to be some that appeal more than others and this is no exception to that.
There aren’t any particularly bad or off-putting stories in this one, and together the book is a good one on the whole.
I would recommend this.

Out There Screaming brings together a wide range of short stories that combine traditional horror elements with reflections on cultural identity, injustice, and personal loss. The anthology’s varied approaches—some subtle, others more fantastical—invite readers to consider fear in both supernatural and everyday contexts.

Much of the appeal lies in how the individual tales blend imaginative twists with deeper questions about societal power dynamics. Many of these narratives go beyond surface-level frights, examining themes like familial legacies, evolving technology, and spiritual or mythological beliefs. The stories often leave room for interpretation and further thought, making them suitable for those who prefer layered reads that offer more than quick thrills.

Because multiple authors contribute, the pacing shifts throughout, with some pieces favouring an immediately engaging hook while others take a slower route. Readers who enjoy anthologies may find that approach appealing, especially since each contribution offers a distinct setting and voice. The collection includes a few tales that feel underdeveloped or end abruptly, but the majority present compelling ideas and strong atmospheres.

The book avoids predictable scare tactics by placing its horrors in realistic environments where issues of race, history, and resilience become part of the tension. Rather than focusing solely on dread, many authors use their stories to comment on the broader human experience, weaving social and political messages into the narrative without undermining the unsettling mood.

While the range of themes and writing styles might appear uneven, the thematic through line of confronting fear—both tangible and intangible—connects the diverse voices. Readers intrigued by horror that merges eerie storytelling with reflections on societal structures will likely find this collection worth exploring. It offers a mixture of tones, from starkly frightening to quietly disturbing, all underscored by a sense that true horror can stem from more than supernatural forces alone.

Fun, creative and difficult to put down. Some of the stories were genuinely scary but more were thought provoking. Few were less than wholly original, with an array of ideas and exploration of how horror IS politics, and vice versa. Some were perfect as short stories, some felt more like compressed novels, all were great.

Multi-author anthologies are always going to be a mixed bag, but this one hits more than it misses. There’s some really strong stories here, especially the ones by Lesley Nneka Arimah, Nnedi Okarofor, Nalo Hopkinson and LD Lewis. Pretty much essential for anyone interested in modern horror.

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.