ALFRED HITCHCOCK

STORIES

THAT SCARED

EVEN ME

Random House (1967)

CONDITION:  VERY GOOD book, but no jacket.  Minor shelfwear at edges and corners; pages and binding are very good.

NOTE:  I believe this is the book club edition.

Alfred Hitchcock speaking:

"... the stories in this book all gave me one or more of the pleasurable sensations associated with fear. Some quite terrified me. Some profoundly disturbed me... Others prickled my nerve ends pleasurably, touched my spine with chills, or made me swallow hard... Some did several of these things at once. On that basis, I offer them to you…”

Contents:

Ahem! If I May Have a Moment— by Alfred Hitchcock

Fishhead, by Irvin S. Cobb

Camera Obscura, novelette by Basil Copper

A Death in the Family, by Miriam Allen deFord

Men Without Bones, by Gerald Kersh

Not With a Bang, by Damon Knight

Party Games, by John Burke

X Marks the Pedwalk, by Fritz Leiber

Curious Adventure of Mr. Bond, by Nugent Barker

Two Spinsters, by E. Phillips Oppenheim

The Knife, by Robert Arthur

The Cage, by Ray Russell

It,   novelette by Theodore Sturgeon

Casablanca,    novelette by Thomas M. Disch

The Road to Mictlantecutli, by Adobe James

Guide to Doom, by Ellis Peters

The Estuary, by Margaret St. Clair

Tough Town, by William Sambrot

The Troll, by T.H. White

Evening at the Black House, by Robert Somerlott

One of the Dead,  novelette by William Wood

The Real Thing, by Robert Specht

Journey to Death, by Donald E. Westlake

The Master of the Hounds, novelette by Algis Budrys

The Candidate, by Henry Slesar

Out of the Deeps,  short novel by John Wyndham

Commentaries on line:

These stories. Are. Creepy.

This isn't cheap stuff. These tales were handpicked by Hitch himself and they are the elegant sort of horror tale in the tradition of Poe that just bother you. They don't shock you, they put ideas into your head that bother you, for days.

This is a great book of creepy stories. All the short stories can be read in one sitting and all are very well written. 

I was so enjoying the short stories that I was distressed when I realized the book ends in a novella. This was not the format I signed up for. But John Wyndham’s Out of the Deep is charming, eerie, and thought-provoking so it won me over. 

This is without a doubt the most disturbing book I have ever read.

Outstanding collection, most of which I've never read before. The novel by John Wyndham is amazingly prescient about the effects of sea level rise, which unfortunatly I think we're going to see come true.

Typical Hitchcock fashion, even though all different authors/contributors, they still have the twist that always leaves you wondering.

Anthology of short mystery/horror/fantasy stories. One of the best of the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" line, this has authors from Fritz Leiber to Ray Russell to Damon Knight to John Wyndham. Several of the stories have been made into Night Gallery or Twilight Zone episodes, so it's interesting to read the source material. Personally, I love anthologies; you can grab a quick enjoyable moment during your busy day!

_____________________