Out There Screaming

Starred review from September 25, 2023
For this electrifying anthology, horror movie director Peele (Get Out: The Annotated Screenplay) brings together 19 Black authors to “give us their Sunken Places.” The cars have eyes in N.K. Jemisin’s “Reckless Eyeballing,” about a corrupt police officer named Carl who gets his comeuppance for wrongfully pulling people over. “Wandering Devil” by Cadwell Turnbull follows Freddy, a man driven by wanderlust and a fear of commitment, who finally finds a place—and a person—he wants to call his home, only to encounter a terrible apparition that threatens him if he stays still too long. Other authors find horror in history: in Tananarive Due’s “The Rider,” two Freedom Riders on their way to Montgomery, Ala., in 1961, are joined on their bus by a strange being whose presence may spell their doom, while “The Norwood Trouble” by Maurice Broaddus concerns a Reconstruction-era community calling upon higher powers to bring bloody justice to a lynch mob of Night Riders. These tales are all both gruesomely imaginative and firmly rooted in the realities of anti-Black racism and brutality—and there isn’t a weak one in the bunch. This is essential reading for any horror fan.

Starred review from February 9, 2024

Filmmaker Peele reads his brief introduction to this phenomenal horror collection, which he curated and edited along with six-time Hugo Award finalist Adams (editor, Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms). The anthology's 19 Black authors, some household names, some up-and-comers, seamlessly fold social commentary into their spine-tingling tales, as Peele did so effectively in his films Get Out, Us, and Nope. Although each author addresses social issues, their stories reflect the creativity and breadth of the modern horror genre. From aliens to monsters to ghosts to sinister technology, fans of most horror subgenres will find something to keep them up at night--especially because the supernatural themes are coupled with real-life horrors such as police brutality, economic inequality, systemic racism, and intergenerational trauma. The ensemble cast performances magnificently--standouts include Adenrele Ojo's immersive portrayal of a woman trying to protect her unborn baby in Lesley Nneka Arimah's "Invasion of the Baby Snatchers," and Shayna Small's magnetic performance of a young Freedom Rider in the Jim Crow South trapped on an otherworldly bus in Tananarive Due's "The Rider." VERDICT The collaboration of these uniquely gifted narrators with extraordinarily talented Black horror authors results in a thrilling, multifaceted audio experience that belongs in all fiction collections.--Beth Farrell

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