Forbidden Worlds #76 (1959)

Botanist Harvey Kiron, driven by a lifelong obsession to create a plant that can survive anywhere, sacrifices everything—his career, his money, even his wife Elsa’s happiness—to pursue his dream. After discovering a mysterious spore from outer space, he and Elsa travel from the mountains to the Amazon, where the strange life form begins to adapt and grow at an alarming rate.

Professor Alonzo Benton, a self-proclaimed genius, resigns in a huff after being dismissed from his university for his arrogance. After a strange encounter with extraterrestrial visitors from Tolanno, he’s tested on their world and humbled when he fails to solve problems even children there could handle. Back at the university, he returns with a changed attitude, seeking forgiveness and a second chance—forever altered by the experience.

When Henry Stone buys an ancient mirror from a curious shop in Hawaii, he begins to notice unsettling differences between himself and his reflection—until the mirror’s image speaks, claiming to be his hidden, unrestrained self. As the entity takes control of his life, assuming his identity and making reckless choices, Henry struggles to reclaim his sense of self, even as his attempts to destroy the mirror only seem to strengthen the other’s hold.

In a prehistoric world where the Bear People and the Tawny Ones wage endless seasonal battles, the shaman Uri journeys to a forbidden valley to seek guidance from ancestral spirits. There, he receives a vision of a bow—a new weapon that could turn the tide—before returning to his people to share the ancient knowledge.