Strange Suspense Stories #59

Rudolph Bojac has spent eleven years in the steel mill obsessed with heat—relentlessly pushing his crew to stoke the furnaces hotter and hotter, driven by a hunger that goes far beyond the job itself. When a catastrophic accident at the mill forces a reckoning, Bojac's true devotion to the molten steel becomes impossible to deny, and the old-timers' whispered legends about men who surrender their souls to the work take on a chilling new weight. What unfolds is a haunting tale of obsession and transformation set against the roaring infernos of industrial America.

When Rhea and Arthur Ames move into their new home with Fritz, their pedigreed German Shepherd, the dog's frantic barking every night leaves them baffled—there's nothing visible to explain his terror. Arthur suspects Fritz's keener senses detect something beyond human perception, but a mysterious cigar butt found near a fire in the living room suggests something far stranger is at work. As Fritz continues his nightly vigil, the Ames family discovers they're not alone—and their dog may be the only thing standing between them and an unseen threat.

Four space pioneers—Captain Nebo Carson, navigator Halpern, engineer Craft, and scientist Grayson—complete mankind's first triumphant journey through time, traveling to the Felestra Cluster and back in their ship the Venture. But when they return to Earth expecting a hero's welcome, they discover that time has played a cruel trick on them, and everything they knew and dreamed of is forever beyond their reach. A cautionary tale from 1962 about the price of tampering with forces beyond human understanding.

A penniless mystic with hypnotic powers takes over television airwaves and slowly mesmerizes an entire nation into worshipping him as their leader—but his iron grip on power may not be as absolute as it seems. Written by the Charlton editorial team, "Ranga's Eye" is a tense science-fiction thriller about mass manipulation and the thin line between showmanship and genuine authority that builds to a final revelation about the true nature of this would-be dictator.