Asimov's Science Fiction March 1996 (Volume 20, No. 3 – Whole #243)
Cover by Kinuko Y. Craft (for "The Road to Reality")

Novelettes: "Amends" by John Brunner ("China" series)
"Beauty and the Opera or the Phantom Beast" by Suzy McKee Charnas [Hugo nominee]
"The Road to Reality" by Philip C. Jennings

Stories: "The Joys of the Sidereal Long Distance Runner" by Tony Daniel
"The Age of Mud and Slime" by Steven Utley.