While drilling for oil, a geologist stumbles onto an amazing archaeological find: a modern house that has been buried in rock for twelve billion years. In that home is a nine volume history of the world that goes beyond the current year (1998) and tells the future. But the nineth volume is missing and the geologist, obsessed with finding the missing volume, is running out of time.
Peter Perkins is ignored at work and henpecked at home. So, he creates daydreams where he is the hero. But he is such a loser that even in his daydreams, things won't go his way and soon he has trouble distinguishing between dream and reality. What happens to Peter in real life is what makes this story so interesting.
A notorious gangster is found dead and a reporter is dispatched to Europe to dig up background on him for a biography. Not long after he arrives, he begins behaving oddly and irritating his editor. He's onto something very important. When he makes a startling revelation, he finds himself drawn into a bizarre underworld where the criminal isn't dead but he might soon be.
Three sailors try to locate Captain Kidd's treasure while avoiding the gaze of the Syndicate, a nebulous organization bent on taking the treasure from anyone who might find it. They also have to contend with the curse of the dead pirate.
A young, wealthy couple think they commited the perfect crime but a local sheriff knows better — only he can't prove it.
A traveling salesman poses as a photographer to seduce and rape amateur models. He eludes the suspicion of the police and his wife at home, But when he progresses to murder, has he gone too far?
A mystic induces young women to leave their homes and families to follow him. They are compelled to forget their pasts, babble inscrutable doctrine, plummet into depression, and finally die. A man decides he will intervene and stop his friend's daughter from doing the same.
A young boy seemingly has the power to kill at will with his mind. When people speak favorably about death and dying in his presence, he goes to his room and the appropriate person turns up dead. After two deaths, his parents get suspicious, but the boy is just getting warmed up and they suspect they might be next.
This is the whimsical tale of an affable ghost who has returned to the world of the living but who has forgotten his mission. A man meets the ghost and they team up to pull off a card hustle that will benefit the ghost's living daughter. However, the ghost's real purpose is not so self-centered.
A little copper statue of the 'Queen of Thieves' lures a crooked stockbroker, with a taste for playing the ponies, into a highly successful career as a thief and then tries to get him to commit murder. He finds his back against the wall when an investor demands the return of her investment. She promises to help him plot another crime to cover his previous thefts.