Jordan Peele has proved he is a horror genius by making us face personal traumas in Get Out and Us, while discovering sinister experiences in Nope. He is continuously changing the landscape of the horror genre, with his use of social commentary.
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror is a horror anthology by Black authors edited by Jordan Peele and I was so excited to read this. As we know, Peele definitely has an eye for a good story so I was very intrigued. The collection is a mix of horror, science fiction, folklore, and social commentary from the perspective of Black experiences that grapple with death, grief, racism, technology, and spirituality. Overall, this was a brilliant anthology filled with cosmic horror to psychological horror to your typical hauntings and haunted houses.
One thing that works for this collection is how differently the stories are. I wouldn’t be able to put any two stories from this collection together and say they felt similar, so I think anyone who picks this collection up will be able to find something they like.
With anthologies, my intention is to read two or three stories a day instead of trying to read it in big chunks. I managed to do that and it helped my enjoyment of it, as I never felt weighed down. Some of these stories are a little heavier in theme so reading them back-to-back wouldn’t have been the best idea.
This book was a great introduction to several new-to-me authors in a genre I’ve started to delve into more deeply. It’s also an outstanding example of the diversity of storytelling that exists within it. There were a few standout stories and authors I’m especially excited to read more from, but the anthology as a whole captivated my attention.
From psychological horror to monster hunting to alien abduction to folk/spiritual horror to contemporary history, this collection has varied ideas. Some of the stories were gut punches but perfectly paced and focused. Others felt like they could have benefitted from 50 more pages and being made into novellas.
The first story in the collection is Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin. Black cop Carl sees eyes on car headlights which leads him to suspect that the drivers are guilty of crimes. Jemisin knows how to tell a story! The ending was a bit of body horror.
Eye & Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse is about a sibling duo, Zelda and Atticus, who are supernatural hitmen, if you will. They accept a job in rural Texas from a woman with a supernatural creature problem. So, think creepy farmhouse, creepy cornfields, and creepy child galore. The atmosphere and setting were spooky. All of these elements drew me in quickly. But the ending was too abrupt for me. I wish there were more hints for Zelda’s powers. It felt like it came out of nowhere, but for a short story, I suppose it worked.
The Rider by Tananarive Due is a story of two sisters, Pat and Priscilla, who are involved in the Freedom Riders movement during the Civil Rights era. They take a bus to Montgomery, Alabama (or try to, anyway). I loved the historical aspect combined with a creepy monster devil. Thank goodness their plans didn’t work out!
My other favorites in this collection are The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson. Yenderil swims to the bottom of the blue hole to kill the beast that haunts her village. But instead, the beast latches itself to her. It’s a combination of body horror and cosmic horror. It was gross and cool at the same time. The Norwood Trouble by Maurice Broaddus is about a young girl who experiences a lynch mob in the years before civil rights was initiated in the United States. I was expecting a short story with a historical setting where racism itself is the monster and this was definitely it. There is a quote from this story that stood out for me:
“Know your place. Stay in your place. But if you build your place into something nice, they want to take it from you. All they needed was an excuse.”
Within the 19 stories, some paint a bright image, some just get under your skin, some are bleak and dark, and some came through with a sense of hope, but they all force you to ask yourself, what is it that horrifies you? What is more frightening to you: a supernatural entity, or a police officer in a small town? What about your place in history? Regardless of what you see when you stare at the horrific, there is something in this collection to excite you, and something that will dig its way into your mind, blurring what you thought you knew to be safe.
In 1973, The Exorcist appeared in movie theaters. Three years later, writer James Baldwin shared his thoughts about the film in The Devil Finds Work, a book-length essay about racism in American cinema. Baldwin felt that the most memorable scene, a young girl twisting her head 360 degrees, was horrific but not for the obvious reason: that white Americans could watch it but have no real fear, by contrast, when imagining the everyday horrors of life as a Black American.
To Baldwin, the film was designed to horrify white Americans, who would have no idea of what it was like to be treated as inhuman. “The mindless and hysterical banality of the evil presented in The Exorcist is the most terrifying thing about the film,” he writes. “The Americans,” he continues, “should certainly know more about evil than that; if they pretend otherwise, they are lying, and any Black man … can call them on this lie; he who has been treated as the devil recognizes the devil when they meet.”
What I appreciate about Peele is that he is using his immense platform and influence to elevate the work of Black horror writers and stories. These stories are grounded in many different aspects of the Black experience, although not always explicitly, and this is what connects all of these diverse stories. I loved the inclusion and discussion of race and being Black in America in some of these stories. It really goes back to the question: What is it that horrifies you? Because for Black people, our answers will be quite different than others.
I highly-recommend this book for those that love horror stories, as well as those starting to dip their toes into the horror waters. It blends non-fictional themes with social and psychological aspects of the Black experience. The quality of the stories and the variety of horror represented makes this a 5/5 star read for me.
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror is available October 3, 2023 wherever books are sold.
