THE BEST OF nnrui IENCE FICTION NO.6 _ -LECTOR'S EDITION FIRST PUBLICATION OF HARLAN ELLISON'S "CHAINED TO THE FAST LANE IN THE RED QUEEN'S RACE" PLUS 16 MORE ILLUSTRATED STORIES- NEW AND CLASSIC. FEATURING ORSON SCOTT CARD SALVADOR DALI POUL ANDERSON ^^ RENE MAGRITTE EDITED BY DON MYRUS V THE BEST OF Dfuirui SCIENCE FICTION NO.6 SPECIAL EDITORIAL SERVICES FOR THIS BOOK WERE PROVIDED BY AARON OMNI ENCORE/PART ONE NORMAN AND DEBORAH WRAY: SPECIAL DESIGN BY RICHARD BLEIWEISS. 6 A SEPULCHER OF SONGS by Orson Scott Card BETSY VAYDA, ASSISTANT EDITOR 16 JOHNNY MNEMONIC by William Gibson LINDA OUINN ADMINISTRATION 23 PICTORIAL by Paul Wunderlich A HARLAN ELLISON CELEBRATION 32 CHAINED TO THE FAST LANE IN THE RED QUEEN'S RACE FACING PAGE AULD'S ACQUAINTANCE IS PAINTING BY 38 WHEN FORGOT TIM WHITE 42 ON THE SLAB Acknowledgement "A Brief Dance the Music to 47 AN APPRECIATION by Robert Silverberg of (he Spheres £ 1983 by Michael Kurland and author's agent Cunjs Brown Ltd 575 Madison SCIENCE FICTION ORIGINALS Avenue Ne™ York New York 10022 "The Hero as Werwolf © 1975. 1979 by Gene Wolfe 50 A BLOSSOM IN ARES by Jack Massa "Kyrie by Poui Anderson reprinted by permission ol the au'ho' and the author's agents. 57 PICTORIAL by Rowena Morrill Scot! MereO'tn Literary Agency. Inc.. 1W5 Third Avenue. New York, New York 10022 Painting 66 A BRIEF DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES page 77 repriced from The Flight of Dragons by Peler Dickenson Text Si 1979 by Peter by Michael Kurland Dickenson. Illustration e 1979 by Wayne Anderson Replied >':"- perr-n^ion of Harper 70 THE HOLY FATHER by Michael Cassutt and Row. Publishers 76 INTERMEZZO by Melisa Michaels Copyright ffi 1963 by Omn. Publications SCIENCE FICTION CLASSICS 84 KYRIE by Poul Anderson simultaneously in the United Slates of America 90 THE HERO AS WERWOLF by Gene Wolfe States ol America by Meredith'Burda and OMNI ENCORE/PART TWO Curtis Circulation Company. 21 Henderson Drive, 100 ANGEL AT THE GATE by Russell M. Griffin West Caldwell. N.J. 07006. Distributed In the U.K. by Comag Ltd.. Tavistock Road, West Drayton. 108 STANDING WOMAN by Tsutsui Yasutaka Middlesex. UB7 70E. England. Certain ot the materials contained herein were copyrighted 113 A CAGE FOR DEATH by Ian Watson 1978 to 1982 inclusive by Omm Publications d. Omni is the registered 118 THE MICROBOTIC REVOLUTION by Ian Stewart ni Publics Painting bySalvador Dal', 71. re( :: page By 124 LAST WALTZ by Warren Brown of the Chesler Dale Collection, 1955. 128 GOD IS AN IRON by Spider Robinson 135 PICTORIAL by Pete Turner " — rom the first issue of Omni (Octo- ber 1978) to this writing (July 1983), one hundred sixty-one science-fic- tion stories have been published in its pages. Choosing the best for republication has been a challenging task. All the stories are read not only by the editor, but by his associates who, for each story, write a report made up of a precis and a value judgment. Then the editor cogi- tates and decides. It is worthy to recall now a very literate young woman's evaluation of "A Sepulcher of Songs" by Orson Scott Card. The report on this bitter- sweet tale, of a girl with no limbs and the man who tries to keep her from running away, concludes: "A good and touching idea, presented with grace and subtlety. The author leaves it up to the reader whether . Elaine's story is madness or truth The report on William Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic" notes that "man, woman, beast, and machine have fused into awesome warriors some of whom are appealing, some of whom aren't. It's a grim tale, but it has its comical side, too. Villains lurk around every corner. Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet would be at home here." Born in Berlin in 1927, Paul Wunderlich has been much celebrated since the early 1960s. His paintings selected here were published in Omni in October 1981. Their personalized, very colorful subject matter fits in well with the magazine's celebrated graphics. / fl SEPULCHER OF SONGS , quietly in her chair on lawn, watching everything. And then later BY ORSON SCOTT CARD was losing her mind during ihe tain. For four weeks it than anyone. Perhaps because she was only fifteen, the only child the Shecame down nearly every day, and the people at the Millard in an institution devoted to adult misery. More likely because she in the day they would wheel her back in. of patients outside. depended more than most on the hours spent outside; certainly I often saw her being wheeled in — early, because I was there, A young girl's freedom County Rest Home didn't take any the hellish she took more pleasure from them. They would lift her into her though she never complained about my visits cutting into her It bothered them all. oi course, and made life especially on the love of a man and outside. I watched her being pushed toward the rest depends (or the nurses, everyone complaining to them constantly and de- chair, prop her up with pillows so her body would stay straight, and hours As home, she would smile at me so exuberantly that my mind invented a promise from the stars manding to be entertained then race down the corridor to the glass doors, Elaine calling, Elaine didn't demand entertainment, however. She never "Faster, faster," as they pushed her until finally they were outside. arms for her, waving madly to match her childishly delighted face; I told never anything there. Just sat imagined legs pumping, imagined her running across the grass, PAINTING BY ARMODIO seemed to demand much of anything But the rain hurt her worse They me she really said out — breasting the air like great waves. But there Actually, she had been five years old take him for ice cream and serve him to the were the pillows where arms should be, when an oil truck exploded right in front of guests." keeping her from falling to the side, and the her parents' car, killing both of them and She didn't smile. She just nodded, and I belt around her middle kept her from pitch- blowing her arms and legs right off. That knew that I wasn't getting anywhere. She ing forward, since she had no legs to bal- she survived was a miracle That she had to really was depressed ance with. keep on living was unimaginable cruelty. l asked her whether she wanted some- It rained four weeks, and I nearly lost her. That she managed to be a reasonably thing. My job was one of the worst in the state, happy person, a favorite of the nurses "No pills," she said. "They make me it louring six rest homes in as many counties, that I don't understand in the least. Maybe sleep all the time." I it visiting each of them every week. I "did was because she had nothing else to do, "If gave you uppers, would make you therapy" wherever the rest home adminis- There aren't many ways that a person with climb the walls." trators thought therapy was needed. I never no arms or legs can kill herself. "Neat trick," she said. figured out how they decided— all the pa- "I want to go outside," she said, turning "It's that strong, So do you want some- tients were mad to one degree or another, her head away from me to look out the thing to take your mind off the rain and most with the helpless insanity of age, the window. these four ugly yellow walls?" rest with the anguish of the invalid and the Outsidewasn't much. A few trees, a lawn, She shook her head. "I'm trying not to crippled. and beyond that a fence, not to keep the in- sleep." You don't end up as a state-employed mates in but to keep out the seamier resi- "Why not?" therapist if you had much ability in college. I dents of a rather seamy town. But there She just shook her head again. "Can't sometimes pretend that I didn't distinguish were low hills in the distance, and the birds sleep Can't let myself sleep too much." myself in graduate school because I usually seemed cheerful. Now. of course, I asked again. marched to a different drummer. But I the rain had driven both birds and hills into "Because," she said, "I might not wake didn't. As one kind professor gently and hiding. There was no wind, and so the trees up." She said it rather sternly, and I knew I brutally totd me, I wasn't cut out for science. didn't even sway. The rain just came shouldn't ask anymore. She didn't often get But I was sure I was cut out for the art of straight down. impatient with me. but I knew this time I was therapy. Ever since I comforted my mother "Outer space is like the rain," she said. "It coming perilously close to overstaying my during her final year of cancer I had be- sounds like that out there, just a low driz- welcome. lieved I had a knack for helping people get zling sound in the background of every- "Got to go," I said. "You will wake up." straight in their minds. I was everybody's thing." And then I left, and I didn't see her for a confidant.