Parallels: Sime & Darkover
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Parallels: Sime & Darkover |
| Creator: | Penny Ziegler |
| Date(s): | 1978 |
| Medium: | print, online |
| Fandom: | Darkover, Sime~Gen |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Parallels: Sime & Darkover; archive link; WebCite. |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Parallels: Sime & Darkover is a 1978 essay by Penny Ziegler.
It was printed in A Companion to Zeor #1, and is online.
While the essay was written to compare and contrast the two book series, it is also an example of the intense cross-marketing that both Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Marion Zimmer Bradley employed.
Excerpts
Jacqueline Lichtenberg has often said that anyone who enjoys her work will love Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover" series. I discovered this truth in reverse, having been a Darkover fan long before I read House of Zeor (Doubleday 1974/Pocket Books 1977). Although each author has her own unique imagination and writing style, the common appeal of the Darkover books and the Sime stories invites comparison.
The two series share several themes which reflect their authors' interest in certain broad aspects of human relationships and culture. Probably this can best be seen by examining the characters in the various stories -- their experiences and the motivations behind them.
Two characters who present an opportunity for comparison are Andrew Carr in Forbidden Tower (DAW Books 1977) and Hugh Valleroy in House of Zeor. Both men find themselves thrust into unfamiliar, frightening situations, and for the same reason -- the love of a woman. Each must come to terms with some basic issues in his own development as a person and his place in the culture: trust of others, sense of self, sexual identity, the complexities of intimate relationships.
Another theme which appears frequently in the work of both authors is that of the burden borne by those whose gifts set them apart from their peers. Throughout the Darkover stories, MZB makes it clear that laran, the inherited psi power of the ruling Cromyn [sic] caste, is a mixed blessing. This is perhaps most evident in the character of Regis Hastur (Heritage of Hastur: DAW 1975, World Wreckers: ACE Books 1971-77) etc, who finally comes to accept his special position but never learns to like it. In Sime, the Channel carries a heavy load of responsibility by vertue [sic] of a genetic trait for which he never asked. Yone Farris ("The Channel's Exemption:" Galileo #4) must deal with the pain and isolation this responsibility can bring when it conflicts with personal needs. In both worlds, adolescense [sic] is portrayed as a time of tremendous upheaval. This is more graphic in JL's stories, where the child destined to be Sime goes through the physical/psychological trauma of Changeover. The parallel on Darkover is threshold sickness, experienced by the developing telepath as his or her laran awakens. As mentioned above, these two authors have distinctly different styles. JL's work has a free-flowing almost colloquial flavor. She is especially skilled at writing conversational sequences which both advance the action and provide background information without making the speaker sound like a history professor. In descriptive passages she uses line, color and form to create both a physical stage set and a feeling for the emotional content of the surroundings -- an impressionist painting.
In the Darkover books MZB's use of language is much more stylized. She shows great concern for the subtle meanings of words and phrases, for the small details of dress, facial expression, body movement. Her descriptions are like intricate woodcuts. (MZB does not always write in this style; cf: "Genuine Old Master" Galileo #5).
The real connecting thread, and I think the reason for the common appeal, is that both authors are concerned primarily with people. It is most important to them that each character be a complete, credible human being (or alien). The problems which confront these characters are universal issues with which every reader is familiar on some level. The setting may be unfamiliar, but we are able to put ourselves into these stories because the characters exist for us as real people and because we know the territory. We've been there.
I love to read; I frequently get deeply involved in a story as it develops. If it is a good story by a talented writer, I may get ideas which stay with me, discover new ways of seeing the world which I am able to incorporate into my own mindset. But in general, when I finish a book, it goes on to the shelf to make room for the next.
With the Sime and Darkover books, it's not so simple. Characters like Regis Hastur, Lew Alton, Klyd Farris and Hugh Valleroy, Damon Ridenow and Callista Alton, refuse to stay between the covers. They have become a part of my world, and exist independent of the parts of their stories which happen to have been told in print. When JL talks about her conversations with Digen Farris, I think she is referring to this way in which characters become so much a part of our experience that we count them among our friends.
I think this also explains why fans of these two authors keep demanding more, why they are inspired to create their own stories, poems, drawings and songs. A criticism of House of Zeor which I have heard several times is that it stops too soon. The reader wants to know the rest of the story, and there is no doubt that in his or her mind that the rest exists, if only at some future time in the author's subconscious.
The people that JL and MZB introduce to us, whether Channel or Companion, Comyn Lord or Free Amazon, transcend their stories. They take hold of our imaginations, invite us to re-examine our own lives in the light of their experiences, put us in touch with aspects of ourselves we did not know existed. Where else can you get that kind of turn-on for $1.95?