Frank Pournelle 
Facebook remixes old content as new discoveries. What is nostalgia for one becomes a history lesson for others. Here is a quick look back at OMNI Magazine as it relates to Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. (A free copy of the short Oath of Fealty appears at the bottom from 1981)
Our friend Olav Phillips (of Area 51 and Alien Sightings) reminded us today in his FB feed that the entire collection of Omni Magazine is back online through Amazon as a fundraiser for the Museum of Science Fiction. The link is from a 2017 Verge article.
For many coming of age before the Internet, OMNI was their only monthly connection to science and science fiction. (Personally I had a choice of magazine to “borrow” while visiting the Niven mansion and it was not PLAYBOY or PENTHOUSE that ended up dog eared and hidden under the mattress back at ChaosManor– but OMNI)
Just what is the emotional button that creates the direct call-back to the breathless anticipation that we felt as young adults about science in the 80’s? Why did that door to the future ever close? (PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW)
Incidentally and co-incidentally, we had posted this on Twitter just a few hours earlier:
“For some of us, the door never closes on our childhood dreams. That’s what ChaosManor™ is all about…doors never being closed on a kid’s future.” I would add that “you’re also never too old to be kid –when it comes to dreaming of a better future.”
Omni Magazine was an enormously influential publication that ran from 1978 to 1995. Created by Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione and wife Kathy Keeton, it featured interviews with scientists such as Freeman Dyson, art from the likes of H.R. Giger and Chris Foss, and original fiction from established science fiction authors such as Isaac Asimov and newcomers like William Gibson. The original magazine went digital in 1995, but shuttered in 1998.
Niven and Pournelle were not prudes when it came to publication houses or what supported their empire. After all, they both wanted a larger reading population to sell more books — and its working today to sell books written 30, 40 even 50 years ago.
The PENTHOUSE publishers weren’t alone. It was Playboy Press that won the bid for Lucifer’s Hammer and helped sustain a summer-long promotion bringing Hammer to #2 on the New York Times Bestseller List — behind Thornbirds for 16 weeks.
Another example of Pournelle|Niven and their social libertarian publisher policy comes from this FB post from Mike Massee:
Many years ago in a science fiction thread on a news aggregation site, someone posted a cartoon of Larry and Jerry at a convention that went something to the effect of “Hi, I’m Larry Niven, I write books about people having sex with aliens.” and “Hi, I’m Jerry Pournelle, I keep Larry from writing too much about people having sex with aliens.” I’ve never been able to find the cartoon since.
This headline popped up reminding us that Larry Niven had a featured opinion article in Omni. (That may explain how they scored that 9 page feature on their other NY Times Bestseller OATH OF FEALTY.)
THE LAST WORD By Larry Niven in Omni Magazine
*The concept of money
burning a hole in your pocket would take on new meaning*
Other science fiction authors found their voice and far larger audiences in Omni Magazine. Circulation in North America and abroad reached 700,000. See below this interview snippet with Theodore (Ted) Sturgeon who died in 1985. — Our favorite of Ted’s is A Saucer of Loneliness—
Omni: Is science fiction changing?
Sturgeon: It’s changed a lot. and still is. It’s moving away from the nuts-and-bolts types
of stories, from outer space to inner space, Science fiction is people, and their motivations are important. That’s what makes
good fiction. Omni: And what about people like Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven? They’ve written
fine hard-science fiction, and still do. separately and together. Sturgeon: Oh, sure. They’re very good. No
doubt about it. I certainly have no- argu- ments with them, or they with me—except perhaps over my politics. Omni: How so?
Sturgeon: Well, you know Jerry’s been described as beinq somewhat to the right of Genghis Khan
Enjoy this teaser from OMNI Magazine and then go buy the eBook OATH OF FEALTY or subscribe to ChaosManor.
Thanks for reading!
The Sturgeon quote regarding Jerry’s political position reminded me of many discussions I had with him (Jerry, not Mr. Sturgeon). My politics were and are considerably more liberal than Jerry’s, but what I remember most was that he was always a gentleman even when we heatedly disagreed.
I miss Jerry.
Amen to that. Perhaps Genghis Khan is not the right choice, though. He was, after all, an absolute autocrat who established an enormous bureaucracy and carried on endless foreign wars, none of which resonated with Jerry, or any genuine conservative. (OK, I have nearly, but, I think, not quite committed the No True Scotsman fallacy here.)
Omni was a great magazine. But why did it stop publication?
1. Endless articles on UFOs. Not just a few articles. But in every months issue.
2. Very far left. In one issue, they had an anti school voucher article. This was very anti voucher. It read like an editorial, or an opinion piece. You can now see it in Analog. The editorials in that magazine has turned left.Thats all I have to say for tonight.
Good night.
The UFO garbage was why I cancelled my subscription. It went on for months. The Great UFO conspiracy, part IX. Very Sad. Even Sadder, most of my issues went missing during a move.
I have every issue from a subscription. Some are duplicated by purchase. Have 2/3 copies of first. If anyone wants them I will ship for cost of shipping.