Jordan Peele’s new anthology of horror celebrates Black writers

Comedian Jordan Peele, of Key & Peele fame, has since transitioned to directing horror, becoming a force to reckon with in modern genre cinema.

The Oscar and Emmy Award–winning writer, producer, and director put himself on the radar of genre fans with innovative psychological horror movies like Get Out and Nope.

Continuing his work to champion new voices in the genre, like giving a platform to original voices in cinema through his Monkeypaw Production, he has now sets his sights on shaking up the literary world through the upcoming Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror.

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What is Jordan Peele’s short story horror collection Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror about?

According to a report from Variety, this thrilling new anthology that celebrates Black horror writers was co-edited by both Peele and John Joseph Adams.

Adams is known in literary circles as the series editor of the Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and the Wastelands anthology series. This is his first editorial collaboration with Peele.

Peele was very involved in the curatorial process. He personally selected the 19 authors and wrote the introduction.

The authors included in the Out There Screaming anthology are Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djeli 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.

Jemisin is one of the more prominent contributors to the anthology. The Nebula and Hugo award-winner’s name will be familiar to readers for her epic Inheritance Trilogy of books. In fact, on the publisher Random House’s page, Jemisin’s new story “Reckless Eyeballing” is the featured excerpt.

The anthology promises to deliver the kind of horror that hits the same surreal territory as Peele’s movies. The hype page says that the book is committed to “exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.

This 400-page collection is due for release on paperback and hardcover by October 3.

Pre-orders are now open and the anthology is, in fact, already a number one new-release on Amazon due to the high number of those same advanced orders.

You can check out an excerpt and order Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror on Penguin Random House.