Omni Science Fiction

On glossy stock, under airbrushed skies where chrome cities hum and something stranger waits just past the data, the future arrives one story at a time. This is the fiction of Omni — the magazine that ran science fact and speculative dream on facing pages, and whose short stories are gathered here into anthology. It is not a single saga but a gallery: standalone collections drawn from two decades of a publication that paid its writers well and printed them beautifully. The lines run in parallel — the career-spanning Best of Omni Science Fiction, the Omni Books of Science Fiction, the later Omni Visions — shaped chiefly by fiction editor Ellen Datlow, with Ben Bova before her and Don Myrus among the hands. Landmark stories broke here: George R. R. Martin's "Sandkings," William Gibson's "Burning Chrome" and "Johnny Mnemonic," Orson Scott Card's "Unaccompanied Sonata." The register is Omni's own — sleek, forward-tilted, half in love with the machine and half unnerved by it, the hard edge of real science bleeding into the uncanny and the paranormal. Expect short fiction, not epics: cyberpunk before the label, cool dread, ideas delivered clean. There is no order to obey; each volume stands alone. Begin with The Best of Omni Science Fiction, then follow whichever cover pulls you in.