Astounding Stories #76

In a Near Eastern country, the local magician dazzles the crowds—until officials, seeking to maintain peace, summon a rival from America. Morton the Magnificent arrives with a flair that leaves the audience breathless, proving his mastery in a dazzling display. As he departs, he leaves behind a cryptic message for the people, one that lingers long after his disappearance.

In "The Man from Nowhere," a reckless wish for wealth and power backfires when a flawed summoning circle turns the man into a homeless beggar—no grand fortune, no dominion, just the bitter taste of a wish gone wrong. The story’s twist is as sharp as it is unexpected, unfolding in just four pages of pure, no-nonsense sci-fi irony.

When Commodore Nashton's distress call crackles across Earth's communication lines after months missing in space, a rescue expedition races to the Moon—only to discover the transmission is part of an elaborate trap set by the invading Zajarites. As Earth's finest search parties fan out across the lunar surface, they find themselves hunted one by one, lured deeper into hidden tunnels beneath the Moon by a shocking decoy designed to deliver them into enemy hands. The crews must see through the deception and turn the tables before the Zajarites can use their captured leader to launch an unstoppable assault on Earth.

Kurt Heffner awakens as the sole survivor of a space-ship crash on an alien world, where he must navigate a barren landscape and the impossible odds of finding life—until a mysterious archer with inexplicable knowledge changes everything. This three-page tale captures the desperation of isolation and the startling discovery that even the most remote corners of the cosmos may hold unexpected allies.

In "Man Without Fear," Jo strolls out to find a group of visiting Martians, convinced they're just kids playing a prank on Halloween—only to realize too late that they're real. His unshakable calm, born of a lifetime of not fearing anything, unexpectedly convinces the aliens that Earth is too unpredictable to threaten, and they depart. When his wife later tells him, “Halloween isn’t till tomorrow night!”, Jo is left stunned—was he really the only one who didn’t know?

When A. A. Allingham finally opens the purple door after years of resistance, the quiet rhythm of his life unravels in ways he never expected. The choice to look behind it sets off a chain of events that reshapes everything he thought he knew.