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Title: Stories To Stay Awake By
Series: ———-
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 198
Words: 78K
Table of Contents:
Introduction by Alfred Hitchcock (ghost written)
Success of a Mission by William Arden
The Splintered Monday by Charlotte Armstrong
Death by Judicial Hanging by Francis Beeding
Floral Tribute by Robert Bloch
Red Wine by Lawrence G. Blochman
Canavan’s Back Yard by Joseph Payne Brennan
A Murderous Slice by Marguerite Dickinson
The New Deal by Charles Einstein
Boomerang by Guy Fleming
Sleep is the Enemy by Anthony Gilbert
The Second Coming by Joe Gores
From the Mouse to the Hawk by Dion Henderson
Letter to the Editor by Morris Hershman
The Spy Who Came to the Brink by Edward D. Hoch
Second Talent by James Holding
The Ohio Love Sculpture by Adobe James
Homicide House by Day Keene
Every story here revolves around somebody dying or being killed or being a killer. I found them linked thematically quite well and they didn’t seem like random stories just lumped together.
I really liked the final story, Homicide House by Day Keene. As soon as the narrator revealed that he was bricking up the body of his murdered wife, I knew exactly where the story was going to end and it was ghoulishly delightful to watch as the story went down the path I had predicted.
This book was originally released in hardback with 35 stories and then later on was released in two paperbacks with each containing half the stories. The second paperback was called More Stories To Stay Awake By but I haven’t been able to track down an ebook version, not even a pdf scan, so I will probably not be able to read the other 18 stories from the original. What a shame.
★★★✬☆
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
What is a love sculpture and why it is in Ohio?
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It was 3 taxidermied young women, who the main character thought were sculptures.
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I remember reading a horror story that ended like that, with the narrator being turned into one of the sculptures at the end. It was very disturbing.
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Sounds disturbing.
One thing I am thankful for, Hitchcock stays mostly away from the supernatural….
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Maybe somebody could get you the hardback for birthday/Christmas!
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My collecting of paper books is pretty much done now. I’m too used to ereading on my kindle now 😀
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So how much of this was written by actual ghosts?
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1%.
Hitchcock was a big believer in privilege….
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I need some stories to fall asleep to….
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May I recommend some “modern literature” to help Madam sleep then? These might not work so well for that….
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I see Open Library lists a book of that title as available: it’s 466 pages as opposed to 198, so must include all the stories – but I’m guessing you’ve already know this? Doubt if it is actually available, especially in an ebook format.
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Yeah, I’ve found open library to be pretty useless for my needs overall.
There is no official ebook version of most of hitchcock’s anthologies, so its been up to fans to scan them, clean them up and then distribute them….
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I guess officially trying to re-publish that sort of stuff in an ebook format would mean contacting all the original authors for permission? (ie, a nightmare).
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Or their estates. Which would be an even worse nightmare.
I imagine they also wouldn’t sell super well, as most people only seem to want the shiny n new 😦
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This looks really good. I’ll need to check my library for a copy.
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If you do ebooks, feel free to email me to borrow it.
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How about the hardback that collects both? Is there an ebook version of that that you could get and skip to the part you haven’t read? 😮
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So far, none of the places I frequent have the original version or the second part.
I’d have to buy a paperback and scan it. And that’s a lot of work!
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