Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #31

Truck driver Joe Benton has been obsessed with spotting flying saucers for years, but his skeptical partner Al Kopek refuses to believe a word of it—until a mysterious craft forces them off the road and Joe vanishes into the night. Now Al must reckon with the impossible truth behind his partner's obsession, and the strange presence that seems determined to watch over him.

Captain Franz Kone explores what appears to be an empty, uninhabited planet in the Xerses Cluster, but a nagging sensation of being watched troubles him throughout his survey. When he launches back into space, he discovers a duplicate of himself already aboard his ship—a shapeshifting entity called a Myztel, made of ectoplasm rather than matter, that has stolen his identity and plans to infiltrate Earth as him. Now Kone faces a threat that his instruments could never detect, and a creature capable of impersonating anyone it chooses.

When overworked businessman Walter Coombs arrives at the exclusive Happy Island resort run by the perpetually grinning Giggling John Dag, he finds himself unable to resist the island's peculiar hold—and vanishes into a life of endless contentment. Now his son Dave, suspicious of his father's sudden demands for millions in cash, arrives with his new bride to investigate, only to discover that Happy Island harbors a far stranger secret than any nervous breakdown. A science fiction tale of alien schemes and hypnotic thrall set in 1962, where paradise may come at the price of your free will.

When humanity ventures into space, feeding an astronaut becomes a puzzle all its own—normal food, utensils, and cooking gear simply won't work in a weightless environment. "Space Kitchen" explores the real engineering challenge of keeping a spaceman properly nourished when gravity disappears, examining everything from the danger of floating hot grease to the specialized ovens and food containers that will need to be invented for survival in orbit.

Shark Logart, a world-famous deep-sea hunter who's conquered every dangerous creature the ocean has to offer, finds himself bored and restless—until he discovers a thrilling new obsession lurking in the waters off California. When a mysterious swimmer intervenes, Logart vanishes from the beaches and resurfaces a changed man, forever haunted by something he encountered in the depths. This tale of obsession and underwater terror shows what happens when a thrill-seeker finally meets his match.