Mysterious Stories #2

Don Chester embarks on a Sahara expedition with Professor Allan Morse seeking leisurely adventure, but when a devastating sandstorm separates them, Don awakens in the hidden kingdom of Emiton—ruled by an unexpectedly vigorous High Priest who guards a remarkable secret. As Don discovers the source of the land's eternal youth, his obsession with escaping middle age tempts him toward a dangerous choice that could change everything.

When the dying maestro Umberto Romani reveals to his pupil Morton Jenks the dark secret behind his legendary violin tone—that the bow requires hair from the freshly dead—Jenks dismisses it as the ravings of a sick mind. But after inheriting Romani's Stradivarius and watching his own playing collapse into pathetic squeaks, Jenks finds himself compelled toward a horrifying truth, and begins a descent into madness as he chases the perfect sound at any cost. The Gravedigger returns to spin a cautionary tale about what ambition and obsession can drive a man to do.

Grandma Gruesome twists the classic tale in "Snow Grey and the Seven Drips," where the heroine rules over seven hapless workers in the Dis-Enchanted Forest—until Queen Hideous, jealous over a magic mirror's verdict on ugliness, arrives with a scheme to ruin her rival. When Snow Grey accepts the Queen's mysterious beauty product and falls into an enchanted sleep, the Seven Drips celebrate their freedom, but a determined Prince pursues Snow Grey through the forest, convinced only his kiss can break the spell. Will the Prince's persistence overcome Snow Grey's resistance, or does this twisted fairy tale have a darker finish in store?