Forbidden Worlds #59

When Ted Mallard, a brilliant but arrogant government scientist, is whisked away to the planet Klexora by a mysterious visitor named Theo, he expects to find validation for his belief that superior intellects deserve to rule. Instead, Ted discovers a civilization whose "normal" children possess intelligence that makes him feel like a novice, and is then taken to an alien world where the inhabitants are nothing like the self-assured humans he despises—forcing him to confront what "born to rule" actually means.

Alice Franklin narrates the unsettling mystery surrounding her husband Bob, a successful lawyer whose inexplicable dread of music and Mozart—panic at the opera, fits of rage at performances, violent outbursts—seems to hint at something far stranger than mere distaste. When Bob insists they abandon his law career and journey to Europe in a frantic quest that culminates in Vienna, Alice discovers he's composing piano pieces in his sleep, and the music he's channeling bears a disturbing resemblance to something achingly familiar. As the nocturnal compositions mount and the truth begins to crystallize, Alice must grapple with the impossible implications of what—or who—her husband truly is.

Dr. Orin Blakely, curator of the Institute of Psychic Research, explores the origins and enduring appeal of one of humanity's most cherished superstitions: the lucky horseshoe. Through a series of historical accounts—from a lost battle decided by a missing shoe, to a prospector's unexpected fortune, to a horseshoe pitching champion's narrow escape from danger—he traces how this everyday object became invested with talismanic power across centuries. A fascinating look at how superstition takes root in our collective imagination, grounded in real stories that gave the belief its staying power.

Haunted by strange feelings that others dismiss as delusions, Hal Thornton becomes convinced his wife Edith—lost in a plane crash five years earlier—is trying to reach him from beyond. When a mysterious figure appears in photographs of Hal, always pointing in the same direction, he turns to occult expert Professor Jonathan Welles to decode her cryptic message and follow where she's leading him. What unfolds is a supernatural detective story where the boundary between grief and the impossible begins to blur.