Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror by Jordan Peele, John Joseph Adams

20 reviews

kirstym25's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, and Racism

Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse

Minor: Ableism, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

rorikae's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

'Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror' edited by Jordan Peele is an intriguing collection of horror short fiction written by a great collection of Black authors. The stories vary greatly though most have some type of speculative edge. The stories cover a range of topics from body horror and addiction to racism and being complicit in systems of power. I found that the level of horror in each varied greatly though all of the stories were well written. 
A few personal favorites from the collection include: 
- Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin about the impact of our misdeeds and body horror 
- Eye & Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse about a set of sibling monster hunters
- Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah which looks at a government agency set up to determine why an alien species is trying to imitate humans 
- Lasirèn by Erin E. Adams about sisters and predatory mermaids 
- The Rider by Tananarive Due which looks at racism and nature fighting back against its destruction
- Flicker by L.D. Lewis about what happens when everyone loses their sight for short intervals of time
- The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson about possession and trying to save oneself from a monster
- Your Happy Place by Terence Taylor about the prison system and slave labor in a capitalist society 
- Hide & Seek by P. Djèlí Clark about addiction and siblings that have to protect themselves from their own family
An overall great collection that's great when looking for short stories that are a little bit more haunting. I discovered some new authors that I'm interested in reading more from and also experienced some great new stories from a few of my favorite authors. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Death, Drug use, Grief, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Bullying, Murder, Body horror, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent

kshertz's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Always hard to review a short story book! There was about 5-6 stories I absolutely loved and the rest were good too! It’s how I discover new authors though. NK Jemison was great as per usual and now I want to look up these other amazing authors. Very scary in very different poignant ways. Worth a read if you like the scary stuff!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore, Ableism, Body horror, Addiction, Blood, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Drug use, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

As with most anthologies, there's a range of quality in the collected stories. Some were amazing and haunting, others were just ok, and a handful seemed not to understand the assignment (i.e. they were very clearly not horror.). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Body horror, Blood, Murder, Grief, Death, Animal death, Gore, Violence, Cursing, and Confinement

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexual content, Police brutality, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction

katiemack's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Like many reviewers, I saw Jordan Peele's name (along with other well-known authors) and instantly requested this eARC without even reading the description. While a few stories dragged for me, most of them are solidly terrifying and draw heavily on African mythology and cultural elements for their horror and conventions. The stories also vary in tropes and dabble in various genres, which I loved. Standouts include N.K. Jemison's "Reckless Eyeballing," Rebecca Roanhorse's "Eye and Tooth," Nnedi Okorafor's "Dark Home," L.S. Lewis' "Flicker," and P. Djèlí Clark's "Hide and Seek." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Homophobia and Mass/school shootings

onthesamepage's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The combination of an anthology curated by Jordan Peele and including a handful of authors I've loved reading from before made picking this up a no-brainer. There's an intro by Peele that explains the premise behind the anthology, which is basically meant to be like the Sunken Place in Get Out, i.e. a manifestation of the authors' personal horrors. I was really intrigued by this, since I felt like I was getting to peek into the authors' brains. I admittedly don't read much horror, but most of the stories felt on the tame side and lean more "vaguely disturbing" rather than outright "oh god what did I just read".

I do want to mention a couple of standouts, though.

Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin (5⭐)
This was such a banger of a short story. It was unsettling and disgusting and I loved every second of it.

Flicker by L.D. Lewis (5⭐)
I loved the premise and the execution of this, and thought it was really creepy to boot.

Hide & Seek by P. Djeli Clark (5⭐)
I loved the slow build-up and how gradually we got to the meat of the story in this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Murder, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Addiction, and Child abuse

Minor: Homophobia

annreadsabook's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

4.5

If you were a 90s kid and loved/were forever traumatized by that book SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK and are looking for something similar this season, let me tell you this is one of those books. It’s jam-packed with stories from powerhouse Black writers such as Tananarive Due, Nnedi Okorafor, P Djéli Clark, N.K. Jemisin, and many more. These are stories that examine what it means to be scared in our world—it pushes the boundaries of Black folks’ realities and nightmares (because sometimes our reality can be the stuff of nightmares).

While I enjoyed all of these stories, some stand-outs to me were those by Tananarive Due, Tochi Onyebuchi, Terence Taylor, and Nnedi Okorafor. I love how each of these stories take reality and morph it into something a bit more unrecognizable and all the more unsettling. This book is a series of funhouse mirrors distorting the already warped world that Black folks occupy—you probably won’t like (or forget) what you see. There’s all-seeing cars, mysterious hitchhikers, dark entities that hound people late into the night, and much more. But that’s all I’m about to say! No spoilers here!

Y’all are gonna definitely want to get your hands on this! Your October scary story reading will not be complete without it.

Thank you so much to Random House for the gifted ARC!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Racial slurs, Car accident, Murder, Police brutality, Addiction, Death, and Drug abuse

Minor: Mass/school shootings

ilusomochi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the first ARC I was approved for on NetGalley and what an honor it was to read these perfectly crafted horror stories. 

Reading horror is much like watching it. Some stories are good and some are bad. Out There Screaming may be my favorite collection of horror stories to date. 

Luckily, this Anthology was chock full of fantastic writing. There was not a single story that I did not like. Now, the caveat of horror is that the good stories make you feel an amalgam of disturbed feelings. I was spooked, uncomfortable, sad, and sometimes hopeless, especially when the stories tied in realistic themes of problems we face in reality. But that is why I loved reading this anthology so much. I like when literature evokes strong feelings. Whether you are a seasoned horror lit enthusiast, just getting into the genre, or are curious, this is the perfect fall read to dive into. Knowing that Jordan Peele had a hand in editing, makes the experience that much more special. 

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for entrusting me with a set of masterpieces. I will be sure to look for other writings of these authors.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Racism, Addiction, Slavery, Sexual assault, Grief, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Gun violence, Excrement, Colonisation, and Suicide

eternallyicarian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Misogyny, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racism, and Violence

different content warnings for different stories, i am not sure what to tag as moderate/minor/explicit so they're getting explicit, better safe than sorry i guess.

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Slavery, and Blood