My take is this should be adapted immediately into a Twilight Zone-esque mini-series where each story gets an episode with an intro by Jordan Peele. In the introduction to the book, Peele explains that he wanted authors to dig into their ‘sunken place,’ the name of the place Daniel goes to when hypnotized in Get Out.
Some things to note!
- Prior to getting into this collection, I have only heard of a handful of the authors: N.K. Jemisin, P. Djèlí Clark, and Tananarive Due.
- I listened to the audiobook for some stories and physically read the others (from my signed copy, might I add.) I liked the ones I physically read more.
Below is the synopsis from the publisher.
A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes where the headlights of cars should be that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus ride that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the depths of the Earth in search of the demon that killed her parents. These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers. Featuring an introduction by Peele and an all-star roster of beloved writers and new voices, Out There Screaming is a master class in horror, and—like his spine-chilling films—its stories prey on everything we think we know about our world . . . and redefine what it means to be afraid.
This is my ranking of all nineteen stories.
Hide & Seek by P. Djèlí Clark - Running to the library for Ring Shout right now. H o l y. I read this in my basement bedroom at night, which emphasized the horror, but this was everything I am looking for in a short story and then some.
Eye and Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse - I’d love to see these two get a similar treatment to the Warrens and the Conjuring series. I’ll take a series focused around these two, I love them. This story is enthralling. I found myself doing some housework while I listened to this and I kept stopping to listen and focus on it.
Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor - I’m more of a supernatural horror girl than any other trope and my top three radiate that. So many of these stories are tethered to culture and this is one of them.
Pressure by Ezra Clayton Daniels - Out of all 19 stories, this is the one that stuck with me the most. ‘Pressure’ in all sense of the word with a wild ending that I’m going to be thinking about for a long time.
Origin Story by Tochi Onyebuchi - The final story in the collection is written as a play between four characters: White Boy 1-4. It’s appalling, raw, disgusting, and so applicable to the US.
A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree by Nicole D. Sconiers - Barely knocked out of my top five, I loved this ghost story so, so much.
Your Happy Place by Terence Taylor
A Grief of the Dead by Rion Amilcar Scott
The Rider by Tananarive Due - The Reformatory is on my TBR <3
The Norwood Trouble by Maurice Broaddus
Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin
The Aesthete by Justin C. Key
Wandering Devil by Cadwell Turnbull - Sam Raimi would devour this.
The Other One by Violet Allen
Flicker by L.D. Lewis
An American Fable by Chesya Burke
Lasiren by Erin E. Adams
The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson
Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah
The stories toward the bottom of my list are solely personal preference. I don’t get into folklore, I don’t like stories with pregnancy, or I didn’t love the way it was written. I liked more than I disliked, which is the reason for the three-star rating. I think collections like this are ideal for people dipping their toes into horror to decipher what tropes they like and dislike. My favorite part was discovering new authors and adding their books to my TBR, like Ring Shout and prioritizing The Reformatory.
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