Astounding Stories #7

When a man with a dubious track record in UFO claims makes contact with an extraterrestrial dignitary, he sees a golden opportunity to profit from public fascination—even if it means some creative staging to keep the crowds coming back. Hiram Tristram Barr quickly turns his encounter with Prince Calga of Venus into a booming enterprise, selling records, photographs, and the chance to witness the alien's mysterious voice firsthand. What begins as a clever hustle spirals into something neither Barr nor his audiences quite expected.

In "Dream of Death!", Dr. Howard Jordan attempts to bridge the gap between Alan Foster and Marla Goren, two souls bound by dreams that only come alive in the night. When Jordan tries to bring them together in the waking world, a fateful flight ends in tragedy, leaving Alan the sole passenger lost to the crash.

In "Man of Mystery!", a determined criminologist follows a chilling pattern: every century, on a single day, a mysterious killer strikes London, leaving behind a cryptic tattoo of a sun and a cat’s head on their hand. As the trail stretches through centuries, the detective uncovers a dark secret buried in history—linking the modern murders to a long-dead wizard whose legacy refuses to die.

Don Stone, a young officer haunted by whispers that his father deserted in the First World War, finds himself commanding a desperate defense of a French chateau during the 1944 D-Day invasion—only to awaken, confused and in doughboy uniforms, fighting the same battle his father once fought in the exact same stronghold. As wave after wave of German assault crashes against the walls, Don begins to understand the terrible, impossible truth unfolding around him. This tale of redemption, duty, and the mysteries that echo across generations asks whether a man can rewrite the shame of his father's name when given a second chance.

A wealthy young man obsessed with medieval history gets far more than he bargained for when a mysterious woman dressed in 13th-century garb appears on his estate—claiming to be Princess Astrid, a fugitive from the Age of Chivalry who escaped her murderous uncle via a time machine. When her pursuers follow her across the centuries to reclaim her lands, Ned must decide whether to help her fight back using the only weapons he has at his disposal. This thrilling tale by Kurato Osaki and Al Wenzel proves that some dangers are timeless, and some debts of honor transcend the ages.

Dmitri Simenov, chief architect of a ruthless campaign to erase Ivan Kolchak from Russian history and memory, discovers that the machinery of totalitarian erasure can turn on anyone—even him. When he's suddenly arrested, tried, and condemned by judges who should no longer exist, Simenov finds himself trapped in a nightmare where the very techniques he perfected are used to unmake his own identity. As he desperately tries to reclaim his life and prove who he is, he learns a chilling truth about the price of playing god with human existence.

An elderly man down on his luck discovers a mysterious jewel that grants his wishes—and uses it to transform his impoverished life into one of comfort and security. But when he attempts to turn the jewel's power toward revenge against an old enemy, the magic exacts a price he never anticipated. A cautionary tale about the true nature of good fortune and the cost of abandoning one's principles.