Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror by Jordan Peele
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror is a project brought to us by writer and director, Jordan Peele.
I’m sure you’re aware of Peele’s work. He has left quite the stamp on pop culture with his brilliant movies and television work. His popularity catapulted this collection onto many TBRs before it released this past October.
I was highly-anticipating this Anthology and am so happy to report, it’s great! Peele was able to bring together an impressive list of authors to contribute to this collection.
I loved how unique each story felt. Within the Horror genre, you really have almost every subgenre represented here. There’s something for everybody.
I’ve written before on the difficulty of rating Anthologies super highly. You’ll always have some stories you connect with more than others. I try to base my rating on the reading experience as a whole.
It’s clear, every contributor here is a gifted storyteller, and whether or not you vibe with the exact content of each story, you’ve got to appreciate the level of skill and heart that each author brought.
Whether you are a fan of SF-Horror with futuristic concepts, Speculative Horror with supernatural elements sprinkled throughout regular life, Mermaids, Historic Horror, or Social Horror; you will absolutely be able to find a story within this collection to sink your teeth into!
If you are interested, some stand-outs for me were: Eye and Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse, The Other One by Violet Allen, Lasiren by Erin E. Adams, Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor, Flicker by L.D. Lewis, The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson, A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree by Nicole D. Sconiers and Hide and Seek by P. Djèlí Clark.
While these are the stories that resonated the most with me, as I mentioned before, this collection truly has stories for every type of Horror Reader.
It’s super diverse, extremely fast-paced, well-arranged and will keep you on your toes throughout.
Overall, this is a well-rounded collection. Every person who reads this is going to have a different experience. I think it would be really fun to read this with friends, or a book club. There would be so much to discuss!
That’s what it’s all about; making your own connections and interpretations, having fun and learning from others perspectives, cultures, traditions, folklore and experiences.
I think all of the contributors to this Anthology should be proud of the work they put forth here. Everyone was bringing their A-game.
I’m happy to have been introduced to a some new authors that I can follow, as well as getting to read more from some of my tried and true favorites like P. Djèlí Clark, Nnedi Okorafor and Rebecca Roanhorse.
I definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys Anthologies, Horror stories, or Speculative Fiction in general. I’ll remember this collection for a long time!