Satisfies the seasonal need for scary, starting off strong with an introduction by its editor, the filmmaker Jordan Peele. The rest of the table of contents is a veritable who’s who of black writers in genre fiction ... Many of the stories are traditionally creepy yarns, with nary a bad one in the bunch.
Serves mood in abundance. The sense of isolation its title evokes refers to the eerie tales in its pages as well as to Black people’s uneasy history with the genre.
The artistic value of this anthology, highlighted in every tale of deals with the devil, alien pregnancies, and haunted dolls, is that it gives form to the possibility of Black catharsis. Like all good horror fiction, these stories serve as artful and psychologically useful cognitive tools for real people to manage real horror ... Out There Screaming achieves a rare balance. It engages the universal structures of our brains’ aesthetic responses while at the same time addressing the singular experiences of Black readers and writers.
While some readers might be drawn to this book by Peele’s star power, this is a well-crafted anthology that’s perfect for introducing readers to emerging and established Black authors.
Electrifying ... 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.
