Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror

Edited by Jordan Peele

Release date: 2023

We learned the lesson early, felt it down to our bones: Of all the tools of oppression, fear was the cruelest. – Maurice Broaddus, The Norwood Trouble

I now have a list of authors whose books I simply MUST read.

This anthology of short stories, ranging from horror to sci-fi, gothic, dystopian, and more, is a masterpiece that should not be passed by.

Jordan Peele put together a star studded cast of authors. Some highlights inclue: N.K. Jemisin, Tananarive Due, Terrence Taylor, Nnedi Okorafor, Rebecca Roanhorse, Maurice Broaddus, Nicole D. Sconiers, and so may more talented individuals.

And yes, I’m gonna go there: as a white woman reading these stories, I learned a thing (or ten) about representation in media. In fact, I will say it is your DUTY as a white person (if you are one) to read these stories and think about them. Sit with them. And then pass this book along to your other white friends.

The BIPOC characters were not typically the victims in these stories, as is often portrayed in white-centered media. I kept expecting something terrible to happen to certain characters, bracing myself for the inevitable conclusion that white society has drilled into me: the Black person always loses in the end.

But alas, this was not so! In Out There Screaming, Blackness is celebrated through being the villain, the hero, the mystical something that people are afraid of when they close their eyes at night. Black and Brown folx are portrayed in ways that show their humanity, occupying professions they practice in the real world, engaging in normal, human activities; not serving as the token brown guy to move the narrative along.

My favorite story in this collection is A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree by Nicole D. Sconiers. A young woman suddenly finds herself a ghost, trapped on Dead Man’s Curve in Conshocken, PA. I learned about a real historical gravesite from this story- a gravesite I never knew existed, even though I grew up 30 minutes from Philly! These stories have helped me think more about what it’s like to be a BIPOC navigating this world, this country. I love this book for everything it is.

Over time, I forgot that beneath the playground of passing cars was the disturbed burial ground of people who thought they were free. – Nicole D. Sconiers, A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree

Buy this one, check it out from a library, borrow a friend’s copy…either way, read it! It’s refreshing to have such diverse voices in horror. As a rabid horror fan, I cannot be more excited to share this one with you!

Trigger Warnings: Racism, drug use, sexual assault, police brutality, child death, incarceration, pregnancy, misogynoir, tokenism, parental death, blood, gore.

Go check out Jordan Peele on Instagram at his production company Monkey Paw Productions and order Out There Screaming below!