Forbidden Worlds #64

Rex Galton, a writer seeking solitude at his Montana cabin to finish a new book, begins experiencing increasingly bizarre and terrifying phenomena—a mountain lion immune to his rifle fire, forest animals that ignore his presence, and strange anomalies in the lake itself. As he and his wife Lydia struggle to make sense of impossible events, the mystery deepens with each passing night, leaving them desperate to escape before dawn. With the fabric of reality itself seeming to unravel around them, neither can explain what's happening or why they're trapped in this nightmare.

Terry Marlowe—once known as Clarence Tubbs—abandoned his secure life as a music teacher to chase his dream of becoming a jazz musician, leaving behind his childhood sweetheart Amy and years of struggling poverty in his wake. When a desperate pawn of his father's gold coin finally lands him a trumpet for a crucial audition, he discovers the instrument possesses a mysterious power that transforms his mediocre playing into genius-level artistry. Now a celebrated bandleader with fame and fortune within reach, Terry becomes obsessed with reclaiming the coin that seems to be the secret to his meteoric rise—but the pawnbroker who holds it refuses to let it go.

Hugh Jenson, a trader with questionable scars on his conscience, sets his sights on Nedru, a golden idol sacred to the island's inhabitants—and Chief Paloki's desperate pleas make it clear that removing it would spell disaster for his people. When Jenson steals the idol anyway and buries it for safekeeping, he discovers that the spirit of the harvest has other plans for anyone foolish enough to defy it.