THE BEST OF OMNI SCIENCE FICTION NO. 4

The Best Of Omni Science Fiction No. 4, 1982. Cover painting by Michael R. Whelan.

"Three never-before-published stories and two science fiction classics are included among the contents of this, the fourth in a very popular and widely-selling series. The volume is organized into five sections and is illustrated throughout with artwork that has earned for Omni magazine a reputation for superlative graphics. Two of the sections consist of outstanding stories and pictorials originally published in Omni and believed by the editors of this anthology to possess an extraordinary and still-unfolding talent. The section of sf originals is highlighted by Spider Robinson's story "Rubber Soul" - a new kind of science fiction in which the return of a martyred rock superstar puts right certain celebrated relationships. The science fiction classics section is comprised of a renowned story by Alfred Bester and one by Brian W. Aldiss. Each a giant of the genre."

Contains Our Lady Of The Sauropods by Robert Silverberg, Dreamtime, a pictorial of paintings by various artists, Marchianna by Kevin O'Donnel, Jr., Dark Sanctuary by Gregory Benford, Sigmund In Space by Barry N. Malzberg, Light Voyager, a pictorial of paintings by John Berkey, Valley Of The Kilns by James B. Hall, Fat Farm, Quietus, St. Amy's Tale and Deep-Breathing Exercises as part of an Orson Scott Card celebration, Noble Savage, a pictorial of paintings by Boris Vallejo, Rubber Soul by Spider Robinson, I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes by Melisa Michaels, Love Calls by Oxford Williams, Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester, My Lady Of The Psychiatric Sorrows by Brian W. Aldiss, Out Of Luck by Walter Trevis, Return From The Stars by Stanislaw Lem, Transformations, a pictorial of artwork by Bob Venosa and Marshall Arisman, The President's Image by Stephen Robinett, Future Books by Cynthia Darnell, Soul Search by Spider Robinson, Save The Toad! by Norman Spinrad, Giant On The Beach by John Keefauver, Strike! by Isaac Asimov, The Last Jerry Fagin Show by John Morressy and Eastern Exposures, a pictorial of paintings by various artists.

Painting by Don Dixon.

Painting by Morris Scott Dollens that accompanied Barry N. Malzberg's
Sigmund In Space.

Painting by John Berkey, from his pictorial Light Voyager.

Painting by John Berkey, from his pictorial Light Voyager.

Painting by John Berkey, from his pictorial Light Voyager.

Painting by John Berkey, from his pictorial Light Voyager.

Painting by Bob Venosa, accompanying Valley Of The Kilns by
James B. Hall.

Painting by Marshall Arisman, from Robert Sheckley's
Transformations pictorial.

"Transformation - its prediction, its control, its meaning - has always been the province of the priest, the shaman, and the artist. Magic itself, the precursor of science, is essentially the study and control of changes. Alchemy, the study of magical transformations, metamorphoses into chemistry, the study of transformations in substances. Scientists look to artists for insights into the nature of the world. Art delineates the processes of the imagination, creating syntheses of fantastic and factual elements too complex to be explained in words."

Painting by Marshall Arisman, from Robert Sheckley's Transformations
pictorial.

"We shuffle things and arrange them, not as they are, but as we want them to be."