It is impossible to talk about the last 10 years of horror films without bringing up Jordan Peele’s name. His impact on the genre with game-changing offerings like Get Out, Nope, The Twilight Zone, Wendell & Wild, and Us is undeniable, encouraging more Black creatives to unleash their complex horror stories into the world. While we can dissect and analyze his works in perpetuity, we are always wondering what he will do next. Following on the heels of Nope’s success, Jordan Peele is heading into the print space with Out There Screaming, a horror anthology book featuring a slate of stellar writers and scary short stories.
Monkeypaw Productions made the big announcement about the anthology of Black horror, which Jordan Peele edited and curated, on its Twitter page. According to publisher Penguin Random House, the book will explore “not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.”
Here’s a detailed description of Out There Screaming:
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.
Jordan Peele put together quite the list of horror authors for Monkeypaw’s Out There Screaming anthology book, including the following: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.
Out There Screaming releases on October 3 and pre-orders are currently available. We can’t wait to see what delightful frights lie within its pages.