13 scary stories by 13 authors of colors. This is inclusive horror anthology features, this is a YA anthology with diverse collection of stories and commonality. they all feature a smug white guy as their first victim. The stories range widely from post-apocalyptic fantasy.

I am not one to read a book of short stories as I feel like I never have enough time with the story to care about the characters or find an interest. This book changed that for me for the most part. there were a couple of stories that I thought were okay, but the others had me fully enveloped into the stories to the point i did not want to stop listening.

What a fantastic collection of short stories! And what an amazing collaboration of authors! I was pumped going into The White Guy Dies First since I’ve read and enjoyed many of these authors, and it lived up to that expectation!

Like all short story collections, there were some I enjoyed more than others, but overall, all of the stories were unique, eerie, and had some excellent social commentary. A couple were a little predictable (and shocking, the white guy did indeed die first in every single one!), but the vibes were still always on point. There was a LOT of queer representation throughout these stories, which I of course loved. They varied in genre to some extent (all were horror, but you had some paranormal, some contemporary, some fantasy, some with magical realism vibes, etc.), which kept it interesting and had me looking forward to what the next story would bring.

I also had the opportunity to listen to the audio thanks to @macmillan.audio via @netgalley and it was excellently produced. Each story had a different narrator, which helped keep the stories distinct and easy to follow and differentiate. All of the narrators very well matched the voice and feel of the stories - very important for horror!

This was a very well done anthology that sucks you right in and makes you want to devour each story like some of the monsters in these tales. The audiobook was really well narrated and I love when there are multiple narrators and their ability to do different accents and voices so well that you forget it's one person reading a given tale to you. This anthology has many different cultures and experiences reflected which adds a great variety to this collection. As a black woman, there were characters/stories I could relate to and some that gave insight to others' experiences which led to me to see similarities between both as well. I definitely recommend this anthology and will be adding it to my shelves.

Thanks for the arc Netgalley! :)

This was a great selection of scary/horror stories! I love that the complication was by authors of color, that does not happen nearly often enough! I will definitely be looking for books by these authors!

Overall, this was probably one of the best anthologies i have ever read. I loved the common theme and the brutality.

The White Guy Dies First is a gripping YA horror anthology that flips a classic trope, centering marginalized voices and delivering sharp social commentary alongside genuine scares. With contributions from 13 authors of color, the collection explores a range of horror subgenres—from post-apocalyptic battles to haunted houses—each tale offering unique perspectives and thrills.

Tiffany D. Jackson’s "Everything's Coming Up Roses" shines as a standout, her mastery of unreliable narrators leaving a lasting impression. Other highlights include Kalynn Bayron’s sentient haunted house and Mark Oshiro’s speculative take on societal expectations. The diversity of protagonists and cultural insights make the stories deeply engaging and relatable.

The audiobook is a treat, with a talented cast of narrators enhancing the eerie atmosphere. While some stories resonate more than others, the anthology as a whole is both entertaining and impactful, blending spooky fun with a powerful anti-racist message.

The White Guy Dies First is a groundbreaking and electrifying horror anthology featuring powerhouse voices like Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Chloe Gong. Each story redefines the genre, centering diverse characters and cultural narratives while delivering chills, thrills, and sharp social commentary. From the eerie to the visceral, this collection is as thought-provoking as it is spine-tingling.

A must-read for horror fans craving fresh perspectives and unforgettable tales.

I'm not a big horror reader, as some of it can scare me a bit (even in Young Adult), but seeing this collection was edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker and I enjoyed Blood Debts and Blood Justice, I decided to take a chance on it, and even though I was creeped out during a good chunk of the stories, I enjoyed most of the stories. I've only read work from the editor, but I do have a couple of the other authors on my TBR, and this implored me to at least check some of their other works out. All but "Heaven" take place in contemporary USA settings, but each bring subversions to popular horror tropes and conventions, with BIPOC characters at the forefront and for a change, the white guy being killed off first in these stories. It goes without saying being horror, all the stories has graphic violence and gore. Many have various degrees of body dismemberment, body horror, racism/classism, and profanity. Also, I don't recommend reading this before bed. But this is perfect for fans of the horror genre, and even those interested in trying a new to you BIPOC author.

The framing device at the start and end of the book was clever, written by Benton-Walker. I don't count this as part of the 13 stories as some other reviewers have. Though I sorta wish it wasn't tied heavily to my least favorite story in the collection in the end.

Overall score: 52/13=4 stars

Individual story reviews:

*All Eyes On Me by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé: A killer clown and a traveling circus appears at a crossroads to Helen's life. The prose is great, great narration, and a good exploration of Helen without being too scary. 4/5

*Hedge by Kalynn Bayron: A group of boys explore a haunted hedge maze to uncover the truth of a man's death with a twist ending. A great sense of horror with excellent imagery. 4/5

*The Golden Dragon by Kendare Blake [Narrated by Nicky Endres]: An asian flavored ghost story with emphasis on two sisters and a group of friends. Lots of tensions along with some humor to keep things from getting too dark. This one does deal with bad touching. 5/5

*Best Served Cold by H.E. Edgmon: An Indigenous youth connects to their culture and fables with an unusual buddy in a haunting and disturbing manner. This tale was creepy and unnerving in a good way, even up to the end. This one has cannibalism and kidnapping in it. 5/5

*The Protégé by Lamar Giles: The occult comes to life as mysterious events occur around a young magical protégé. While the prose was immersive in setting, I had a little trouble following the story and couldn't invest in it as much as I hoped. 2/5

*Docile Girls by Chloe Gong [Narrated by Nicky Endres]: A young asian teen helps decorating the gym for the school dance with ex-friends turns deadly. A classic slasher setup, if a bit slow, with a clever twist at the end. 3/5

*Gray Grove by Alexis Henderson: Two girls visiting an abandoned slave plantation house for a podcast discovers more secrets than they bargained for. An interesting perspective on racism in the past and present. 3/5

*Everything's Coming Up Roses by Tiffany D. Jackson: Lisa journals her experiences gardening and working at the big box home improvement store with hints of darkness. The story was gripping from start to finish and had a lot of flavor and character voice in it, especially once you notice that she's not just your friendly mild mannered gardener. Easily my favorite. 5/5

*Heaven by Adiba Jaigirdar: A scientist from a dystopian city in a post apocalyptic Earth searches for her missing partner while evading the monsters that have taken over and discovers many dark secrets. Rather intriguing with many twists despite its short length. The emotional narration gave this an extra flavor of immersion. 5/5

*Break Through Our Skin by Naseem Jamnia: A young Iranian intern at a museum with a condescending professors finds a relic of their culture as they seek someone to understand their full self. An intriguing story with a countdown clock that kept me engaged. This one has queerphobia, cultural appropriation and cannibalism. 4/5

*Wasp by Mark Oshiro: A young girl is trying to protect her home from a nasty landlord and neighborhood gentrification, but things are much darker than on first glance. I do like that WASP meant more things than one. That twist was interesting and the imagery was great. 4/5

*Hell is Other Demons by Karen Strong: Demon summoning gone awry becomes demon hunting for this young lady. Interesting lore and great character voice kept it from being too dark. This one has queerphobia and cannibalism in it. 4/5

*The Road to Hell by Terry J. Benton-Walker: A haunted house story told from the house's POV as they fall in love with a good family that's moved into them, trying to escape a troubled past. Loved the jealous lover/yandere vibes the house gave out. 4/5

I had such a great time reading this anthology! That there was a bit of a story before and after, that these stories were written and associated with a filmmaker, 13 unreleased movies and 13 missing/dead male actors...yeah, that was so cool! Plus it was another horror anthology poking at the tropes of horror, this time with the white guy dying first!

This anthology was bookended by this story that set up the premise of the anthology, that there was this filmmaker who made a bunch of movies that were never released about these storie where the white guy dies first, and then all these male actors had been found killed, and these stories are somehow related to what was going on (I had this in audio, and I think I missed if these were the written form of the movies, or related stories in the same vein.) Which was a really interesting premise for this anthology!

One thing that this collection solidified for me, is that I like happy ending horrors, where the protagonist gets out of whatever horrifying situation that they were in ok. Because a few of the stories here weren't, they lost to the horror that they were facing.

I support women's rights, and women's wrongs, including in this story, like All Eyes of Me, and The Golden Dragon, that the girls come out on top! Wasps, absolutely infuriated me that it came to that, but loved how it turned out! All of the stories in this anthology were entertaining and raised my emotions, good and bad, but I really enjoyed these 3!

Loved reading this collection of stories, and I'm so glad that it exists!

Thank you Netgalley, Terry J. Benton-Walker with Kausar Mohammed and Macmillian audio for the audio arc of The white Guy Dies First.
Narrated by Alejandro Antonio Ruiz; André Santana; Angel Pean; Joy Ofodu; Kausar Mohammed; Nicky Endres; Samara Naeymi; Terry J. Benton-Walker; Torian Brackett

Having read a few novels of several of the BIPOC authors that have been gathered in the selection of shorter stories, I knew I would really enjoy The White Guy Dies First. I wasn't disappointed art all and really enjoyed the selection. Most of the stories are drawn through different subgenres of horror, some creepy, slasher and body horror. The common denominator... yep, the white guy dies first. Which is a great switch back from the earlier horror films/books where the persons of colour always got picked off first. For me, most of the stories were really engaging and even though they are fast paced, you still got some in-depth character development.

Its left me wanting more !

The narrators Alejandro Antonio Ruiz; André Santana; Angel Pean; Joy Ofodu; Kausar Mohammed; Nicky Endres; Samara Naeymi; Terry J. Benton-Walker; Torian Brackett. Did a marvellous job of keeping both the characters and each story unique and a pleasure to listen to.

4.25 for Storygraph, 4 stars for Netgalley, Amazon and Goodreads

I was quite excited for this anthology. In a genre that typically favors white, male writers, I loved seeing so many authors of color (and especially women of color) featured here. And while I enjoyed several of the individual stories, I found the anthology to be overall pretty forgettable. A lot of it felt horror-adjacent (more thriller or mystery than true horror), which made the book feel thematically uneven. I wish there had been more of a unifying theme or question. It felt like the only prompt the authors had to adhere to was "write a short story where the white guy dies first" (super interesting in theory but not quite as strong in practice).

Hands down, my favorite story in the anthology was "Everything's Coming Up Roses" by Tiffany D. Jackson; it was clever and funny, and it made me want to read more by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced copy.

**4.5-stars rounded up**

💀💖💀💖💀💖💀💖💀💖💀💖💀

13 SCARY STORIES. 13 AUTHORS OF COLOR.
13 TIMES WE SURVIVED THE FIRST KILL.

The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power is a YA Horror Anthology with something for every Reader. I loved it!

Everything from the set-up preceding the stories, to the diversity of topics, the subgenres of horror displayed, to the narration was fantastic. I def recommend the audiobook. The stories included are as follows:

1.) All Eyes On Me by Faridah Abike-Iyimide. Buzzwords: Circus setting, clowns, 'good for her' Horror, Queer.
2.) Hedge by Kalynn Bayron. Buzzwords: Sibling relationship (brothers), grief, argumentative teens, hedge maze, Eco-Horror.
3.) The Golden Dragon by Kendare Blake. Buzzwords: Korean-American MC, sibling relationship (sisters), rich kids behaving badly, revenge ghost.
4.) Best Served Cold by H.E. Edgmon. Buzzwords: Indigenous MC, LGBTQIA+, Body Horror, cannibals.
5.) The Protege by Lamar Giles. Buzzwords: Absent parents/kids fend for themselves, sibling relationship (brothers), magician ((the showman kind, not the magic school kind)), Secret Society.
6.) Docile Girls by Chloe Gong. Buzzwords: Asian-American MC, High School drama, Teen Scream, Slasher, Revenge Thriller.
7.) Grey Grove by Alexis Henderson. Buzzwords: Southern Gothic, paranormal, podcast element, cold case investigation, seance.
8.) Everything's Coming Up Roses by Tiffany D. Jackson. Buzzwords: Mixed media, obsession, disturbing behavior, hiding in plain sight.
9.) Heaven by Adiba Jaigirdar. Buzzwords: Futuristic, post-apocalyptic, Eco-Horror, creature feature, isolation.
10.) Break Through Our Skin by Naseem Jamnia. Buzzwords: Iranian-American MC, non-binary MC, Persian culture, archeology, gender identity, ancient entity.
11.) Wasps by Mark Oshiro. Buzzwords: Latinx MC, gentrification, generational story/responsibility/lore.
12.) Hell is Other Demons by Karen Strong. Buzzwords: Demons, possession, religion, Queer.
13.) The Road to Hell by Terry J. Benton-walker. Buzzwords: Southern Gothic, Queer, haunted house, sense of place, unique perspective.

I really appreciated the diversity of topics which these authors brought to the page, and also, the arrangement of the stories within the collection.
I was always excited to see what was coming next. There were no two stories, even remotely similar, close to one another. It kept me fully-engaged and on my toes. As someone who loves many Horror subgenres, I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but some standouts for me were from Edgmon, Giles, Gong, Jackson and Strong. With this being said, I would be happy to pick up more work from each and every one of these talented authors!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. 'Tis this season for this type of collection and I absolutely recommend it for your Autumnal TBR!!

Amazing collection! I really enjoyed this one! Thank you netgalley for the advanced audiobook copy. I will be telling my friends!

I really enjoyed all the stories in this collection, but I’m so glad I listened to the audiobook vs just reading it. The narration was fantastic and totally made the book for me. The stories are unique and made me both cheer and shriek in equal amounts!

Special thanks to @torteen for my gifted copy‼️

After reading a couple mixed reviews on this one it was a must I read it for myself. The White Guy Dies First is a collection of 13 short horror stories surrounding fear and power. While I didn’t love every story I think as a whole the book is pretty decent. A few of the stories were meh but there were a few that actually made me want more and would make great Halloween movies.

𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝔽𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕖𝕕:

* 5⭐️ All Eyes On Me by Faridah Abike-Iyimide- “It just a circus it was a place where people go to shed their demons, real and imagined.”
* 5⭐️ Hedge by Kalynn Bayron- “A place to be at one with nature.”
* 3.5⭐️ the Golden Dragon by Kendare Blake
* 5⭐️ Best Served Cold by H.E. Edgmon- “Human beings become monsters when they taste their own people’s flesh.
* 3.75⭐️ the Protégé by Lamar Giles
* 4⭐️ Docile Girls by Chloe G - “Docile girls, who didn’t have enough humanity to do terrible things, who only lived to please, caught in the middle of such a terrible incident.”
* 4⭐️ Gray Grove by Alexis Henderson
* 4⭐️ Everything’s Coming Up Roses by Tiffany D. Jackson
* 3⭐️ Heaven by Adiba Jaigi
* 3⭐️ Break Through Our Skin by Naseem Jamnia
* 3⭐️ Wasps by Mark Oshiro
* 4⭐️ Hell is Other Demons by Karen Strong - “Humans are the real demons.”
* 3.5⭐️ the Road to Hell by Terry J Benton-Walker

Each story had a uniquely different feel when it came to the eerie, creepy and supernatural elements. We get a dark circus, house of mirrors, a haunted garden, missing father, a Japanese revenge ghost, cannibalism, a evil magician, high school murder, spirit box and a seance, a haunted slave plantation, the last city on earth, a sleepwalker, a demon possession, and a house from hell. It’s nowhere near scary so if that’s what you’re looking for this ain’t it but I highly recommend you add it to your TBR for spooky szn‼️

Whoa, what a diverse read this YA horror was! I loved how each story was unique and different. They all stood out on their own and now I wish I wrote notes as I listened. Some were a bit gruesome, but what horror book doesn't have that, right? It has clowns, slashers, cannibals, dark basements and more!
I really enjoyed the narration. There were several talented voices that kept me engaged till the very end. The narrators were Alejandro Antonio Ruiz, André Santana, Angel Pean, Joy Ofodu, Kausar Mohammed, and Nicky Endres. Together with the authors their narration was fantastic and addicting. If you're looking for a quick short story YA horror read where the white guy dies first, be sure to check this one out.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a good, entertaining compilation of stories for sure lol would recommend

I knew this was going to be good, but this collection took my breath away! Such compelling, chilling stories by a truly talented group of writers. It was amazing to read some favourite authors like Tiffany D. Jackson AND find some new authors I can’t wait to explore!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So good! Each story was an absolute 5/5. They were placed so well in the book and each was so well written.