I wish each author wrote like a one page about their short story themes and why they wrote it that Jordan replied to so we could have more insight on why it was chosen and what was going on for the weird ones haha
Missed the live show but came to say I've been working my way through this collection and not loving it. I regret buying the full price hardback. I think that FRIDAY BLACK by Nana Kwame Adeji-Brena (Chain-Gang All-Stars) is the Black Horror anthology we were expecting this to be.
When chatting with a few of the people before the live session, that idea of ancillary material came up as well. I did find an Atlantic article titled "What Scares Jordan Peele?" in which NK Jemisin is interviewed about her thought process behind "Reckless Eyeballing" and an interview on Lithub titled "Lesley Nneka Arimah on Why Black Horror Speaks to Us Now" in which she talks about coming up against the word limit for "Baby Snatchers" and other end points she considered. I just know a lot of the discussion here was for commentary from authors and it does exist if you go hunting for it. I agree it is a misstep not to have this kind of thing ion the book itself.
I ended up with a 3.52 rating (rounded up to 4 for Goodreads because it had more hits than misses for me). My favorites were Hide & Seek, Lasiren, and The Other One. I liked the anthology overall, but I'm a newbie horror reader who loves fantasy and sci-fi, so this was right up my alley. But even I was pausing at the end of a lot of the stories and thinking, "But was that horror?" Overall, I'm happy with the time I spent with it and ended up with a bunch of new authors to check out! Can't wait for next month!
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century is my all time favorite short story collection. It’s also more speculative than horror. I read it 3 years ago, and I still think about some of those stories from time to time.
This book was a mixed bag for me (so sad I missed the liveshow😭) My 5 stars: Pressure (my absolute favorite, felt like the perfect short story for me) Flicker (was nervous about the whole “it’s all a simulation” but I think the author did it very well) Invasion of the Baby Snatchers(would like as a full novel) The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World ( I really liked the main character) My lowest rated: The Aesthete (felt like it squeezed too much in and didn’t make sense to me) Your Happy Place(it felt heavy handed to be and the villain felt slightly cartoonish, and didn’t particularly like the writing. It didn’t do anything for me)
Relieved to hear that I wasn’t the only one with mixed (leaning toward negative) feelings! 😅 My average turned out to be 3.03 and my favourites were “The Rider” and “Your Happy Place” 😊
My mathematical rating was 3.3! I read it back in October for UK Black History Month just after it released and to be honest, even with some of my favourites from the collection, six months later I can barely remember them. My top three were Eye & Tooth, The Most Strongest Obeah Girl in the World and American Fable! Shout out to Hide and Seek too though. For black speculative work/a short story rec, I would recommend Nudibranch by Irenosen Okojie.
😂 I gave the collection 5* the only story I wasn't keen on was the first because I didn't understand it. This was a reread for me, all the stories were between a 4 and a 5 barring the first at a 3.75. Just checked my maths and it was 4.78 average.
i got Love, Death and Robots vibes from the Aesthete. sort of connected to that one about the pool cleening robot becoming more and more human? idk, i was intrigued
1. I am not usually a horror reader. I am usually a romance reader so this was a shift for me. This is my first anthology. 2. I have only read from Tananarive Due and Erin E. Adams before. 3. I agree with Aaron here. I need to be entertained. 4. I averaged a 3.1. I wish that Jordan Peele wrote a story for it. 5. I would recommend it to people who like speculative fiction.
See your comments about wishing it had been billed as speculative? I'd never have picked it up otherwise, they aren't my style typically. But I picked this up because it was billed as horror and I really loved it.
I wish each author wrote like a one page about their short story themes and why they wrote it that Jordan replied to so we could have more insight on why it was chosen and what was going on for the weird ones haha
18:07 I think Aaron is on to something… maybe Jordan Peele took the 20th story out and is going to make a movie about that one 😂
I seem to be an outlier here, but I loved this anthology! My numerical rating was a 4.2, but it felt higher because I had so many 5 star stories.
Missed the live show but came to say I've been working my way through this collection and not loving it. I regret buying the full price hardback. I think that FRIDAY BLACK by Nana Kwame Adeji-Brena (Chain-Gang All-Stars) is the Black Horror anthology we were expecting this to be.
When chatting with a few of the people before the live session, that idea of ancillary material came up as well. I did find an Atlantic article titled "What Scares Jordan Peele?" in which NK Jemisin is interviewed about her thought process behind "Reckless Eyeballing" and an interview on Lithub titled "Lesley Nneka Arimah on Why Black Horror Speaks to Us Now" in which she talks about coming up against the word limit for "Baby Snatchers" and other end points she considered. I just know a lot of the discussion here was for commentary from authors and it does exist if you go hunting for it. I agree it is a misstep not to have this kind of thing ion the book itself.
My constant thoughts while reading were “I hated the concept, loved the writing”
I ended up with a 3.52 rating (rounded up to 4 for Goodreads because it had more hits than misses for me). My favorites were Hide & Seek, Lasiren, and The Other One. I liked the anthology overall, but I'm a newbie horror reader who loves fantasy and sci-fi, so this was right up my alley. But even I was pausing at the end of a lot of the stories and thinking, "But was that horror?" Overall, I'm happy with the time I spent with it and ended up with a bunch of new authors to check out! Can't wait for next month!
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century is my all time favorite short story collection. It’s also more speculative than horror. I read it 3 years ago, and I still think about some of those stories from time to time.
omg im reading that rn!! im enjoying it a lot!🖤🖤
This book was a mixed bag for me (so sad I missed the liveshow😭)
My 5 stars:
Pressure (my absolute favorite, felt like the perfect short story for me)
Flicker (was nervous about the whole “it’s all a simulation” but I think the author did it very well)
Invasion of the Baby Snatchers(would like as a full novel)
The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World ( I really liked the main character)
My lowest rated:
The Aesthete (felt like it squeezed too much in and didn’t make sense to me)
Your Happy Place(it felt heavy handed to be and the villain felt slightly cartoonish, and didn’t particularly like the writing. It didn’t do anything for me)
Relieved to hear that I wasn’t the only one with mixed (leaning toward negative) feelings! 😅 My average turned out to be 3.03 and my favourites were “The Rider” and “Your Happy Place” 😊
I read this in February and LOVED IT. Your Happy Place was my favorite. It was so Black Mirror.
i adore how this live show is constructed. overview of each story and a review! it’s perfect it just scratches an itch
My mathematical rating was 3.3! I read it back in October for UK Black History Month just after it released and to be honest, even with some of my favourites from the collection, six months later I can barely remember them.
My top three were Eye & Tooth, The Most Strongest Obeah Girl in the World and American Fable! Shout out to Hide and Seek too though.
For black speculative work/a short story rec, I would recommend Nudibranch by Irenosen Okojie.
😂 I gave the collection 5* the only story I wasn't keen on was the first because I didn't understand it. This was a reread for me, all the stories were between a 4 and a 5 barring the first at a 3.75. Just checked my maths and it was 4.78 average.
i got Love, Death and Robots vibes from the Aesthete. sort of connected to that one about the pool cleening robot becoming more and more human? idk, i was intrigued
I read two stories and decided to drop it
Kayla truly is in her eyeball era huh...
Very interesting to watch back!
I wanted to love this but I DNF'd it. I think I am just not a short story anthology girl.
I DNF’d it too!
This collection is huge, I’m glad I didn’t even try to read it 😂
1. I am not usually a horror reader. I am usually a romance reader so this was a shift for me. This is my first anthology.
2. I have only read from Tananarive Due and Erin E. Adams before.
3. I agree with Aaron here. I need to be entertained.
4. I averaged a 3.1. I wish that Jordan Peele wrote a story for it.
5. I would recommend it to people who like speculative fiction.
See your comments about wishing it had been billed as speculative? I'd never have picked it up otherwise, they aren't my style typically. But I picked this up because it was billed as horror and I really loved it.
I’m glad I didn’t buy this then! I wanted to read it with y’all but didn’t think I would like it.