THE BEST OF OMNI SCIENCE FICTION NO.2

The Best Of Omni Science Fiction No. 2, 1981. Cover painting by Fred-Jurgen Rogner.

This is a re-post of an Omni mag I originally scanned in May 2011. I was skimming through a few issues a few days ago and noticed I'd apparently missed at least half a dozen pieces of artwork from this particular magazine. This issue also featured pictorials on Chris Foss' book 21st Century Foss and John Schoenherr's Dune illustrations (from The Illustrated Dune) but you can find the real thing(s) here and here, respectively.

"This very worthy successor to a much-acclaimed first volume is intended for science-fiction devotees and neophytes alike. It has an introduction by Robert Sheckley and 16 memorable stories by such masters of the genre as Theodore Sturgeon, George R. R. Martin, and Orson Scott Card. In a special sf appearance TV personality Hugh Downs describes a reincarnation deep in the future and Robert Silverberg contributes a never-before-published novella about a distant moon in a distant time. Arthur C. Clarke annotates an illustrated presentation of cosmic spaceships. Five other breathtakingly colourful pictorials include works of John Schoenherr, Christopher Foss, and David Jackson."

Painting by Bob Layzell, from the pictorial Spaceships.

Painting by Bob Layzell, from the pictorial Spaceships.

Painting by Peter Knifton, from the pictorial Spaceships.

Painting by Peter Knifton, from the pictorial Spaceships.

Painting by Alan Daniels, from the pictorial Spaceships.

Painting by Bob Layzell, from the pictorial Spaceships.

Painting by Colin Hay, from the pictorial Spaceships.

Painting by Alan Daniels, from the pictorial Spaceships.

Painting by Paul Lehr, from the pictorial Star Seekers.

Painting by John Schoenherr, from the pictorial Star Seekers.

Taken Hostage, painting by Michael Whelan, from the pictorial Star Seekers.

The One Who Stayed Behind, painting by Darrell Sweet, from the
pictorial Star Seekers.

Painting by Angus McKie, from the pictorial 7 Wonders Of The Universe.

"The doors of Launch stand four kilometers from the ground. The hangar itself measures 4,600 square kilometers and was built when subatomic fuel was still cheap and muon-guzzling space limousines were gigantic."

Painting by John Harris, from the pictorial Time Travellers.

JOHN BRUNNER: WEB OF EVERYWHERE

NEL paperback, 1980. Cover by Gerald Grave.

Rear-cover synopsis: 

"In a society revolutionised by a device that lets you walk through a door and be anywhere in the world - instantly... 

At a time when unauthorised travel has caused millions to die violent deaths... In a world where invasion of privacy is the ultimate crime... 

HE IS THE VISITOR."

BRIAN STABLEFORD: THE CITY OF THE SUN

Hamlyn SF paperback, 1980. Illustration by Tim White.

"It was a circular city - like the City of the Sun, a perfect community dreamed up by the seventeenth-century philosopher Campanella. 

Many utopian groups had emigrated into space to found their ideal settlements. And it was on one such colony world - appropriately called Arcadia - that the recontact starship Daedalus made its fourth planetfall. There in all its splendour stood the fulfilment of Campanella's dream - the real seven-circled City of the Sun. 

But the city was too ordered, the inhabitants too perfect, the world too Arcadian ... and very soon the Daedalus's scientists realized that in this particular utopia the idealists had unleashed a force that could undermine all human culture on other planets."

STAR TREK - THE MOTION PICTURE

Futura paperback, 1980 reprint. Cover artwork by Bob Peak.

Rear cover synopsis: 

"It came from an unexplored quarter of the galaxy. 

It ignored all attempts to communicate with it. 

And it annihilated all opposition with energy bolts of unimaginable ferocity. 

Computer projections showed that it would enter the solar system in precisely three days. 

The USS Enterprise, refitting in dry dock, was the only craft that Starfleet Command could send to intercept the Cloud in time..."

'Why are we now travelling into Space? Why, indeed, did we trouble to look past the next mountain? Our prime obligation to ourselves is to make the unknown known. We are on a journey to keep an appointment with whatever we are.' 

- Gene Roddenberry.