Forbidden Worlds #92

Jeff London, a lens designer obsessed with creating the impossible—a single optic capable of wide-angle and telescopic work with infinite depth of focus—seeks out the notes of Arthur Winterling, a vanished optical genius rumored to be working on the same problem. When Jeff travels to Hollywood to investigate, he meets Winterling's daughter Helen and discovers her father's mysterious disappearance may hold the key to his breakthrough. As Jeff studies Winterling's research and grows closer to Helen, he uncovers the strange truth behind the lens that could change everything.

At Arlington Mental Hospital in 1924, a troubled composer named Wilson is committed, his genius overshadowed by what doctors dismiss as noise—until a heart attack claims him one fateful night. When the staff hears phantom music echoing through the halls and glimpses a ghostly figure at the piano, they must confront whether Wilson's tormented spirit has found a way to finish his unfinished masterpiece.

A meek time traveler's accidental arrival in 1960 throws a wrench into the plans of three desperate criminals—Ape Moran, Runt Kepper, and Slick Dooley—who seize his alien dematerializer weapon and attempt to use it to escape the law. When Inspector Kryll arrives to retrieve the wayward traveler, a chaotic showdown erupts in the railroad yards that forces the stranger to reckon with the consequences of leaving advanced technology in the hands of twentieth-century "primitives."

PFC Roger Carter joins a paratroop mission to destroy a bridge over the Marne near Dufresne, France—but strange instincts begin guiding him through the operation, revealing an uncanny knowledge of the terrain he's never visited before. As Carter navigates treacherous currents, finds hidden caves, and locates shelter in ancient ruins with impossible accuracy, his lieutenant grows increasingly puzzled by these mysterious premonitions. "Puzzle from the Past!" weaves wartime action with an intriguing mystery about what—or who—might be pulling the strings.