Startling Terror Tales

This issue of *Startling Terror Tales* contains two principal fiction pieces: "There Is No Escape," a noir-styled crime story by an unattributed author, centers on Mark Bramwell, a jealous man plotting murder. When his ex-fiancée Lila Harvey begins dating Daniel Parker, Bramwell hatches schemes to kill his rival. He first attempts vehicular homicide by intentionally colliding with Parker's car at a roadside junction, but a red traffic light ironically saves Parker's life. Now, on the bitterly cold January morning of 1941, Bramwell waits in darkness along a rural Pennsylvania road with a hammer, determined to finally murder Parker when he leaves Lila's house. The primary featured story, "Slamming Them About Like They're Rag Dolls," is an unattributed war comic narrative following Lieutenant John Palmer, a university history professor who returns to military service during the Korean conflict. After infantry training, Palmer serves with an S2 intelligence unit gathering reconnaissance. Following a lead about a mystery temple on Konji Mountain, Palmer and his unit engage in fierce combat against enemy forces. During the see-saw fighting, Palmer becomes separated from his outfit, discovers a temple sanctuary, and witnesses a grenade explosion that injures an attending priest, though Palmer survives with minor wounds before regrouping with advancing American forces.