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Scream Along With Me: Alfred Hitchcock Presents
HITCHCOCK'S A NEW BREAKER BUDDY.
Hitchcock has a brand new CB radio, built to his own special specifications. With it he can communicate with all his very best fiends where they may be hiding. Of course, on the wavelength he uses, the ca;; names of his CB soul mates tend to be a bit bizarre: There's "Mad Dog", "Bloody Mary", "Jack The Ripper", "Strychnine Suzie" - to name but a few. So if you happen to be a CB fan yourself, you can try to tune in the master's voice beaming out his message load and clear: "SCREAM ALONG WITH ME!"
17 of the most delightfully devilish chillers ever written.
Hitchcock has a brand new CB radio, built to his own special specifications. With it he can communicate with all his very best fiends where they may be hiding. Of course, on the wavelength he uses, the ca;; names of his CB soul mates tend to be a bit bizarre: There's "Mad Dog", "Bloody Mary", "Jack The Ripper", "Strychnine Suzie" - to name but a few. So if you happen to be a CB fan yourself, you can try to tune in the master's voice beaming out his message load and clear: "SCREAM ALONG WITH ME!"
17 of the most delightfully devilish chillers ever written.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
3 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Alfred Hitchcock
1,145 books774 followersSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (1899-1980) was an iconic and highly influential film director and producer, who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres.
Following a very substantial career in his native Britain in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen with dual nationality in 1956, thus he also remained a British subject.
Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career which spanned six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of sound films, and far into the era of colour films. For a complete list of his films, see Alfred Hitchcock filmography.
Hitchcock was among the most consistently recognizable directors to the general public, and was one of the most successful film directors during his lifetime. He continues to be one of the best known and most popular filmmakers of all time.
Following a very substantial career in his native Britain in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen with dual nationality in 1956, thus he also remained a British subject.
Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career which spanned six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of sound films, and far into the era of colour films. For a complete list of his films, see Alfred Hitchcock filmography.
Hitchcock was among the most consistently recognizable directors to the general public, and was one of the most successful film directors during his lifetime. He continues to be one of the best known and most popular filmmakers of all time.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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October 9, 2014from the troll by t.h. white:
"You know that eye-to-eye recognition, when two people look deeply into each other's pupils, and burrow to the soul? It usually comes before love. I mean the clear, deep, milk-eyed recognition expressed by the poet Donne. Their eyebeams twisted and did thread their eyes upon a double string. My father recognized that the Professor was a Troll, and the Professor recognized my father's recognition. Both of them knew that the Professor had eaten his wife."
"Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned: how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness. Unfortunately, happiness is there. There is always the chance (about eight hundred and fifty to one) that other heart will come to mine. I can't help hoping, and keeping faith, and loving beauty. Quite frequently I am not so miserable as it would be wise to be."
"You know that eye-to-eye recognition, when two people look deeply into each other's pupils, and burrow to the soul? It usually comes before love. I mean the clear, deep, milk-eyed recognition expressed by the poet Donne. Their eyebeams twisted and did thread their eyes upon a double string. My father recognized that the Professor was a Troll, and the Professor recognized my father's recognition. Both of them knew that the Professor had eaten his wife."
"Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned: how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness. Unfortunately, happiness is there. There is always the chance (about eight hundred and fifty to one) that other heart will come to mine. I can't help hoping, and keeping faith, and loving beauty. Quite frequently I am not so miserable as it would be wise to be."
July 25, 2021
This is pure nostalgia for me, these Dell Hitchcock anthologies. After exploring the works of Poe (and before discovering King and Lovecraft) a helpful employee at our town's tiny bookstore put this into my hands. I'd recently discovered the films of Hitchcock and I was intrigued.
Months later, sometime in the mid-90's I went to what was undoubtedly the seediest, dirtiest used bookstore I've ever been to in my life. The guy behind the register looked like he'd just worked under a car (perhaps he had) he was smoking a cigarette, his shirt was stained, dirty and full of holes. The whole place smelled; it was dark, hot, the grit on the bare concrete floor scraped under my sneakers. There was a perpetual wind and roaring as they futilely attempted to abate the blazing Georgia summer heat with the doors propped open and some dirty old box fans blowing.
BUT, I'd called ahead and knew they had TONS of these old books. Everything receded into the background as I pulled out pile after pile of them...Hitchcock Presents: Terror Time!, Hitchcock Presents: Grave Business! It was one of those moments reserved for young bibliophiles. They weren't always in great shape and they were cheaply made with spines that cracked and darkly yellowed pages that could fall out with rough handling. These books are still among the most aromatic old books my olfactory receptors have encountered. I bought up everything my meager funds could afford. Fortunately these were really cheap back then -- they're not exactly rare these days, but you're not going to get them nowadays for $1~ a piece either.
I would find out later that Alfred Hitchcock himself likely had little to do with these books at all. Many of them, especially in later years, were reprints of stories from Alfred Hithcock's Mystery Magazine. The earlier collections however, going back to the 40's and 50's contained a mix of older horror and ghost stories and newer material, while the later books were almost exclusively crime stories.
This particular volume is more horror-focused than most of the Hitchcock paperbacks. This is actually a reprint of half of the stories from a hardback put out by Random House in the mid-60's titled "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Scared Even Me." The other half would be reprinted in another Dell paperback titled "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Slay Ride."
One can imagine, with all of this reprinting and book splitting it was difficult to ascertain where these stories were coming from and how many books there were in this "Hitchcock Presents" series. When I first discovered these there was no internet, so I only culled information by calling around bookstores in the Yellow Pages ("Let your fingers do the walking!"), always finding a new title. Now we know there's not an endless number of these, but there were about 70.
Re-reading these again after many years, some of these hold up better than I expected, although to my more jaded eyes, the majority are clearly just mildly entertaining. I will admit, I've thought about some of these stories for over a quarter of a century, longer than anything else I've read. Several of them made a big impression on me, if nothing else, these were a gateway drug.
Just a few of my favorites:
Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb - This is a creepy swamp story from 1913 that has been reprinted many times.
A Death in the Family by Miriam Allen deFord - This story really shocked me as a kid.
The Knife by Robert Arthur - This is another story that I recall vividly, about a cursed knife. I can't say this is a great tale, but it has a great, winking dark humor.
The Estuary by Margaret St. Clair - This story scared me more than anything else in this book, I got a genuine shiver from this one. This was originally published in Weird Tales under the title "The Last Three Ships."
Tough Town by William Sambrot - I distinctly recall reading this story first. It's not a great story, but it does have a sort of grim charm.
Journey to Death by Donald E. Westlake - This story is quite good, with a gruesome, shocking ending. Two men are trapped together in a sealed room after a ship sinks, and one of them seems to be losing his sanity.
It by Theodore Sturgeon - This is another story that has been reprinted so many times it's ridiculous, over FIFTY times according to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
Months later, sometime in the mid-90's I went to what was undoubtedly the seediest, dirtiest used bookstore I've ever been to in my life. The guy behind the register looked like he'd just worked under a car (perhaps he had) he was smoking a cigarette, his shirt was stained, dirty and full of holes. The whole place smelled; it was dark, hot, the grit on the bare concrete floor scraped under my sneakers. There was a perpetual wind and roaring as they futilely attempted to abate the blazing Georgia summer heat with the doors propped open and some dirty old box fans blowing.
BUT, I'd called ahead and knew they had TONS of these old books. Everything receded into the background as I pulled out pile after pile of them...Hitchcock Presents: Terror Time!, Hitchcock Presents: Grave Business! It was one of those moments reserved for young bibliophiles. They weren't always in great shape and they were cheaply made with spines that cracked and darkly yellowed pages that could fall out with rough handling. These books are still among the most aromatic old books my olfactory receptors have encountered. I bought up everything my meager funds could afford. Fortunately these were really cheap back then -- they're not exactly rare these days, but you're not going to get them nowadays for $1~ a piece either.
I would find out later that Alfred Hitchcock himself likely had little to do with these books at all. Many of them, especially in later years, were reprints of stories from Alfred Hithcock's Mystery Magazine. The earlier collections however, going back to the 40's and 50's contained a mix of older horror and ghost stories and newer material, while the later books were almost exclusively crime stories.
This particular volume is more horror-focused than most of the Hitchcock paperbacks. This is actually a reprint of half of the stories from a hardback put out by Random House in the mid-60's titled "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories That Scared Even Me." The other half would be reprinted in another Dell paperback titled "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Slay Ride."
One can imagine, with all of this reprinting and book splitting it was difficult to ascertain where these stories were coming from and how many books there were in this "Hitchcock Presents" series. When I first discovered these there was no internet, so I only culled information by calling around bookstores in the Yellow Pages ("Let your fingers do the walking!"), always finding a new title. Now we know there's not an endless number of these, but there were about 70.
Re-reading these again after many years, some of these hold up better than I expected, although to my more jaded eyes, the majority are clearly just mildly entertaining. I will admit, I've thought about some of these stories for over a quarter of a century, longer than anything else I've read. Several of them made a big impression on me, if nothing else, these were a gateway drug.
Just a few of my favorites:
Fishhead by Irvin S. Cobb - This is a creepy swamp story from 1913 that has been reprinted many times.
A Death in the Family by Miriam Allen deFord - This story really shocked me as a kid.
The Knife by Robert Arthur - This is another story that I recall vividly, about a cursed knife. I can't say this is a great tale, but it has a great, winking dark humor.
The Estuary by Margaret St. Clair - This story scared me more than anything else in this book, I got a genuine shiver from this one. This was originally published in Weird Tales under the title "The Last Three Ships."
Tough Town by William Sambrot - I distinctly recall reading this story first. It's not a great story, but it does have a sort of grim charm.
Journey to Death by Donald E. Westlake - This story is quite good, with a gruesome, shocking ending. Two men are trapped together in a sealed room after a ship sinks, and one of them seems to be losing his sanity.
It by Theodore Sturgeon - This is another story that has been reprinted so many times it's ridiculous, over FIFTY times according to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
October 27, 2021
Lose the attitude
create your own family
may I suggest dogs?
create your own family
may I suggest dogs?
May 31, 2021
There are some truly classic horror stories in here, including "It," by Theodore Sturgeon, and "Fishhead," by Ivin S. Cobb. Basil Copper's "Camera Obscura" really impressed me.
Another surprisingly good, nightmarish story is "Master of the Hounds," by Algis Budrys.
I picked this book up because I noticed that it includes a story called "Casablanca," by Thomas M. Disch. It was incredibly bleak, but very well done.
If I'm not mistaken, this paperback, together with another one entitled "Slay Ride," reprint all the stories from a hardcover volume called "Stories That Scared Even Me." I read Slay Ride long ago, and I remember thinking that every story in that volume was good, if not great.
As far as this one goes, I'd say about half the stories are good or great, and half are only so-so.
Another surprisingly good, nightmarish story is "Master of the Hounds," by Algis Budrys.
I picked this book up because I noticed that it includes a story called "Casablanca," by Thomas M. Disch. It was incredibly bleak, but very well done.
If I'm not mistaken, this paperback, together with another one entitled "Slay Ride," reprint all the stories from a hardcover volume called "Stories That Scared Even Me." I read Slay Ride long ago, and I remember thinking that every story in that volume was good, if not great.
As far as this one goes, I'd say about half the stories are good or great, and half are only so-so.
June 6, 2022
[NOTE: this review was rejected by amazon.com for violating their Community Guidelines.]
The 'Alfred Hitchcock' franchise was ubiquitous in the Baby Boomer years following World War Two. Something like 170 anthologies of short stories were issued in hardback, and mass market paperback, under the Hitchcock moniker.
Of particular prominence among the franchise's enterprises were the 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' paperback anthologies from Dell. These were commonplace on store shelves during the 60s and 70s. According to the Dell wiki, the 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' series began in June 1958 with 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 12 Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV', and ended in October 1979 with 'Alfred Hitchcock: Breaking the Scream Barrier'.
Most of these anthologies were edited by the indefatigable Robert Arthur, who also handled editing for the 43-volume ‘The Three Investigators’ series of books aimed at the Young Adult / juvenile market.
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Scream Along with Me' (224 pp.) is an abridged version of the 1967 hardcover anthology 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories that Scared Even Me'. Dell issued two editions of ‘Scream Along with Me’, one in 1970, and another in 1977; they have different cover illustrations.
The stories in 'Scream Along with Me' all saw print in an eclectic assortment of various books and magazines in the interval from 1913 to 1967.
The stories in this collection represent murder mystery, suspense, supernatural, and sci-fi themes, and include the Old School, pre-World War Two entries ‘Fishhead’ by Irvin S. Cobb, ‘The Troll’ by T.H. White, and ‘It’ by Theodore Sturgeon.
Among the best entries in the volume are those written in the 1960s. ‘Casablanca’, by Thomas M. Disch, visits the Ugly American theme in a science fiction setting. ‘The Road to Mictlantecutli’, by Adobe James (the pseudonym of American writer James Moss Cardwell) skillfully uses the bleak landscape of the Mexican desert as the locale for a supernatural encounter. ‘One of the Dead’, by William Wood, takes its time unfolding but proves to be a memorable tale about eerie goings-on amid the blinding sunshine, prefabricated housing, and suburban anomie of a Southern California subdivision.
Short-short tales from Henry Slesar, Robert Specht, William Sambrot, and Robert Arthur all feature surprise endings.
Summing up, these Alfred Hitchcock collections are from an era in which plotting was foremost in terms of short story and novelette composition, a stance that reflected the demands of most magazine and digest editors who often had to choose from many fine contributions made by established, accomplished authors who wrote short fiction for a living.
In this regard, the stories in these anthologies show considerable care and attention to the writerly craft, a skillset that has tended to decline in importance since the 1980s. If you are someone who finds contemporary horror and ‘weird fiction’ anthologies to be plotless, muddled expositions into characterization, mood, and atmosphere, then you may want to check out the entries in these vintage Dell anthologies.
The 'Alfred Hitchcock' franchise was ubiquitous in the Baby Boomer years following World War Two. Something like 170 anthologies of short stories were issued in hardback, and mass market paperback, under the Hitchcock moniker.
Of particular prominence among the franchise's enterprises were the 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' paperback anthologies from Dell. These were commonplace on store shelves during the 60s and 70s. According to the Dell wiki, the 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' series began in June 1958 with 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: 12 Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV', and ended in October 1979 with 'Alfred Hitchcock: Breaking the Scream Barrier'.
Most of these anthologies were edited by the indefatigable Robert Arthur, who also handled editing for the 43-volume ‘The Three Investigators’ series of books aimed at the Young Adult / juvenile market.
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Scream Along with Me' (224 pp.) is an abridged version of the 1967 hardcover anthology 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories that Scared Even Me'. Dell issued two editions of ‘Scream Along with Me’, one in 1970, and another in 1977; they have different cover illustrations.
The stories in 'Scream Along with Me' all saw print in an eclectic assortment of various books and magazines in the interval from 1913 to 1967.
The stories in this collection represent murder mystery, suspense, supernatural, and sci-fi themes, and include the Old School, pre-World War Two entries ‘Fishhead’ by Irvin S. Cobb, ‘The Troll’ by T.H. White, and ‘It’ by Theodore Sturgeon.
Among the best entries in the volume are those written in the 1960s. ‘Casablanca’, by Thomas M. Disch, visits the Ugly American theme in a science fiction setting. ‘The Road to Mictlantecutli’, by Adobe James (the pseudonym of American writer James Moss Cardwell) skillfully uses the bleak landscape of the Mexican desert as the locale for a supernatural encounter. ‘One of the Dead’, by William Wood, takes its time unfolding but proves to be a memorable tale about eerie goings-on amid the blinding sunshine, prefabricated housing, and suburban anomie of a Southern California subdivision.
Short-short tales from Henry Slesar, Robert Specht, William Sambrot, and Robert Arthur all feature surprise endings.
Summing up, these Alfred Hitchcock collections are from an era in which plotting was foremost in terms of short story and novelette composition, a stance that reflected the demands of most magazine and digest editors who often had to choose from many fine contributions made by established, accomplished authors who wrote short fiction for a living.
In this regard, the stories in these anthologies show considerable care and attention to the writerly craft, a skillset that has tended to decline in importance since the 1980s. If you are someone who finds contemporary horror and ‘weird fiction’ anthologies to be plotless, muddled expositions into characterization, mood, and atmosphere, then you may want to check out the entries in these vintage Dell anthologies.
December 2, 2022
Lskx
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2020
I’ve enjoyed the various Hitchcock anthologies, and this one may have been my favorite thus far. William Wood’s “One of the Dead” was perhaps the star of the book. My goodness what an utterly jarring and creepy ending.
August 8, 2025
It's been years since I've read this book and it still scares me. Awesome though. ;)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews