Sime~Gen

Fandom
Name:	Sime~Gen
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:	Jean Lorrah and Jacqueline Lichtenberg
Date(s):
Medium:	books
Country of Origin:
External Links:	http://www.simegen.com/
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Sime~Gen aka Sime/Gen and Sime-Gen is a Science Fiction shared universe created by Jean Lorrah and Jacqueline Lichtenberg.

some Sime~Gen biology, illo by Beth Ann Wempe, detail from Post-Syndrome: Considerations on Sexuality in the Sime/Gen Universe

"All the work by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah revolves around themes of an "exchange of lifeforce." Both of them have written "traditional" vampire novels and stories (not in the Dracula vein), but their major work has been reinventing the vampire archetype in the Sime~Gen series."

Some of the "Sime~Gen's" appeal to fans is the exploration of gender, power, destiny, and sexual relations. It is, outwardly, presented as almost entirely het, though same sex relationships are explored in subtle ways.

Elements of this universe are very similar to the fan-created Alpha/Beta/Omega and more extreme elements of the Sentinel AU tropes. Also see Dominance Hierarchy.

Sime-Gen, Sime/Gen, Sime~Gen

The terms: "Sime-Gen" and "Sime/Gen" were used in the print zines. "Sime~Gen" is used online.

There appears to be no meaning attached to whatever punctuation is used.

Regarding the use of "-" and "/": Lichtenberg certainly was aware of those terms' meaning in early fanfic, and while "/" did not originally refer to same sex fanworks, the virgule certainly took on the meaning in later creations. Perhaps Lichtenberg used "/" until it became what she may have thought was misleading? The choice to morph to "Sime~Gen" may have been due to the "~" being available on newer keyboards, and to distance itself from slash.

What Is Sime-Gen?

Fan Descriptions

Summary from "Secret Pens":

Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, they tell the story of a humanity split into two separate races: the energy-producing Gens and the tentacled, energy-feeding Simes. At first, Simes kill Gens to get their selyn or life energy. The two halves of humanity live in separate nations in a state of perpetual war. But then it is discovered that some Simes, called channels, are able to take selyn safely from a Gen and give it to another Sime. Some Gens, called Companions or Donors, can learn to give selyn safely to any Sime. Eventually there comes to be peace. Together, the eight published novels and two published short stories span several centuries from horse-and-buggy era to spaceflight.

Description from another fan:

The Sim-Gen series was about a future Earth in which humans had split into two species, one of which became dependent upon the other in a pseudo-vampiric way. The stories revolved around efforts of some of the 'predators' to find ways to draw sustenance from their 'prey' without killing them in the process. The act of transfer was described in these books in a highly sensual, subjective way... long before Anne Rice made her fortune with gothic-romance-vampire stories.

From A Companion in Zeor #11 (1994):

Sime~Gen, or S~G as it is often abbreviated, is an interesting universe created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg. It is set in Earth's far future after a cataclysmic disaster that brings about a mutation of the human race.

Not only do the people evolve into two distinct groups of beings, but strange new plants and food sources evolve at the same time.

One group of humans evolve to be generally tall, thin, graceful, tentacled and feared by the other group. These were the Simes. They look human until you see their forearms. Each arm has four handling tentacles which function like extra hands or fingers. Two of them are over the wrist and two are under the wrist. There are two additional tentacles on either side of the wrist. These are called Laterals.

More on the Simes in a moment.

Then there are the Gens. Gens look just like you or I do today. Gens are normally terrified of Simes in that some Simes are known to kill Gens. Up to a point in time where some Simes and Gens started working together to create peace between their two races.

Gens unknowingly produce an energy source called selyn [pronounced seh-line]. Simes require the Gen's selyn to have a continued existance. Here is where the fear of Simes in a Gen comes into play.

Gens could easily live without the Simes. But the Sime cannot live without the Gen. Early in their development Simes used to capture Gens strictly for their own survival. They would ultimately kill the hapless Gen of every ounce of selyn. It was no wonder that the Gens have come to learn to fear the Simes and pass this fear on down through many generations of Gens!

Eventually, some of the Simes learned how not to kill a Gen when taking their selyn thus preserving the said Gen's life. This presented a tremendous challenge to the Sime population as well as the Gens.

Householdings were established after a time where Sime and Gen could live peacefully together. Early on in their history the Householdings were criticized and ofttimes attacked by hostile Simes. Householders, as they were called, were often referred to as perverts because of their chosen way of life.

By this time, Simes and Gens had different levels of status.

For the Gens, there were the Out-Territory Gens. Often called Wild Gens. There were Gens who came to be called Companions because of their abilities to serve their Sime partners willingly and without fear. They were the more talented Gens! As they also had a knack for keeping most Simes from getting their internal systems royally turned upside down and kept hostile nagers (the identifying feature of a Gen as well as Simes though Simes were not as brilliant and easy to see in the dark as Gens were) from interfering with a Channel's work. There were also Out-Territory Gens who were general donors much later on in their history.

Simes, on the other hand, had developed into either Channels, renSimes, or junct (addicted to the kill) Simes. The Sime who was junct could either be a renSime or a Channel. He or she depended on pen Gens (captured Gens from Out-Territory or specifically bred in government pens) for their survival. The Gens they used always died. A renSime living in a Householding depended on the Channels for the selyn they needed to live. Channels got their selyn from their Companions and with their Companions help either collected selyn from the usually nervous O-T general donor or in the distribution of the selyn to the renSimes.

No matter which sort of Sime you were, you had to have selyn every twenty-eight days or run the risk of dying by attrition or lack of selyn. This was not a pleasant way to die!

Gens who captured Simes in their territory often locked up the Sime in a cage in a public square and watched the offending Sime suffer and die. That is, if he or she didn't get shot to death.

Which brings me to another point. The children. Parents of In and Out Territory children could never be sure WHAT their child would be. Gen parents feared their children if blisters broke out on their forearms and would shoot and kill any and all such children! Why? To keep their communities safe from the killer Sime! First Need is a thing to be feared unless the child changes from pre-Gen (what all children are called) to a full-fledged Sime! Unless a qualified Channel or Donor is available, the new Sime will kill the first Gen they get their tentacles on!

Sime children who fail to changeover (the process of becoming a Sime and often unpleasant to the child in question) have the problem of being taken to the Gen pens where they are kept in a drugged state for the junct Simes' use. Unless they can escape from In Territory to Out Territory through established secret routes. Even escape to Out Territory can be cut short if border guards or licensed or unlicensed Raiders catch them!

Gen children who manage to get to the border face the same risks Sime children face. Raiders or the Gen Border Guards!

Eventually, a Unity is worked out between the Simes and the Gens.

Official Descriptions

From a 2015 for-profit book of Sime~Gen fanfic:

Sime~Gen is a series of novels written by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah It is set in a future where humans have mutated into two subspecies. Simes, who go through a brief but dramatic change at puberty and Gens, whose change, whilejust as dramatic, is invisible to the naked eye.

The outward sign of the Simes' change is development of tentacles on their forearms, four strong and flexible "handling" tentacles and two smaller tentacles just for selyn transfer, called "laterals." Gens produce life energy called "selyn" which Simes require once a month to live. Unfortunately, the result in obtaining this energy is usually the death of the Gen.

This physical transformation happens just prior to puberty. There is no way of knowing, before that, if a person will be Sime or Gen.

At the chronological beginning of the published novels by Jacqueline, and Jean, a second mutation of Sime emerges. These "channels" are able to keep Simes from Killing Gens, thus saving mankind from self-annihilation. The stories that you find here, and the published books by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah, explore the role of these new Simes, and the Gens who live side by side with them as humankind struggles to become one again.

From an 2012 interview with Jacqueline Lichtenberg

I'd say it's more Science Fiction in a Vampire garment. But even that doesn't begin to scratch the surface.

It's not totally untrue to indicate the core themes of Sime~Gen as being related to the driving conflict we are seeing in the modern Vampire stories, especially Vampire Romance.

Vampire fans generally love Sime~Gen if they prefer Vampire stories that are not horror-genre. Those who seek horror-genre Vampires really dislike Sime~Gen because the worldbuilding behind Sime~Gen is more like "Star Trek" in that it is the optimistic view of the universe.

The Sime~Gen Universe is built on the concept of the Human as essentially Good. Given no restraints and no outside control, the Human tendency is to do GOOD. The Natural Human is constructive, not destructive, and we tend to Love not Hate.

This is an assumption about Human Nature most people need to view via a Science Fiction lens. It's bizarre. It doesn't match up with what we think we see in the real world around us. It's fiction. But as such, it makes a terrific cornerstone for a science fiction worldbuilding exercise.

Another bizarre assumption behind Sime~Gen worldbuilding is (as with Star Trek) that the universe is essentially benign, a comfortable and welcoming natural home for the basic Human.

[...]

One basic cornerstone postulate behind Sime~Gen is:

The Sime~Gen Universe

where a mutation makes the

evolutionary division into

male and female pale by comparison.

From the Sime~Gen website:

Imagine a world, our world, in the far distant future. Humanity has mutated into two different races. There are the GENS or generators of SELYN the energy of life. Their bodies produce more selyn than they require to live. Then there are the SIMES. They require SELYN to live, but their bodies don't produce it. The only way they can obtain SELYN is from a GEN, which can kill the GEN. Can humanity survive under these conditions? This is the premise behind the Sime~Gen universe, created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg. For almost 30 years these novels have captured the imaginations of men and women of all ages. They have banded together, created beautiful art, written wonderful stories and novels, published fanzines, formed mini-clubs known as Householdings, and more recently have invaded the internet, to create what we lovingly call the Virtual Tecton.

Its Origins

Also see Marion Zimmer Bradley's Influence on the Sime~Gen Universe, an article by Jacqueline Lichtenberg.

From a 2012 interview with Lichtenberg:

How did Sime~Gen fandom form? I couldn't honestly say it ever FORMED. It's an amorphous sprawl of happy role players who just love bouncing ideas around and rewriting the established Sime~Gen Universe exactly as Star Trek fans (me, too, with Kraith) rewrote Star Trek.

The fans create all these alternate universes that I just totally adore, and another one just started bouncing some ideas around on the Sime~Gen Group on facebook.

Remember those 60 copies of HOUSE OF ZEOR that I sold on a money back guarantee? Well they were to Spock fans, who were mostly fans of my Kraith Series of Star Trek fanfic -- and the reason they knew me was from reading fanzines, in which many of them also wrote stories.

I drew a bead (aimed) directly at that nerve that Spock's character twanged in those writers, and they responded to Sime~Gen the same way they responded to Trek -- the reached out their hands, grabbed the wet clay of my universe, and remolded it.

And that's how Marion Zimmer Bradley taught me -- molding my words with her hands, running my words through her typewriter, kneading them as you knead bread.

The Star Trek fan writers sent me Sime~Gen stories they'd written.

When you've got a tiger by the tail, there's nothing to do but swarm aboard and ride it. So I sent the stories to the editor of Ambrov Zeor (which was various people at various times) and she published them.

OK, it wasn't quite that simple. Before I would allow anything to be published in Ambrov Zeor, I had to make sure it met the highest professional standards of craftsmanship I knew how to meet. So often a fan written Sime~Gen story would go through 3-5 rewrites before it went to the editor and copyediting (and more little tweaks and twiddles) -- the exact same process any professional publishing house uses.

By doing this, we trained a lot of writers in the craft, and several editors, two of whom are working professionally now on the basis of what they learned then. I can think of two of the writers who have sold professionally, also. But many fan writers just don't want to write professionally -- not that they don't want to turn out high precision craftsmanship, but that their subject matter isn't geared to the commercial markets.

That squeezes a lot of material into the fanfic market which is now online with all kinds of fanfic spun off from TV shows. Many of our writers still write in those venues.

From a 2003 chat with Jacqueline Lichtenberg:

I used the same research I had done for Star Trek Lives! based on fan reader responses to my Kraith Series to construct the first novel in the Sime~Gen Universe....The core of that novel, House of Zeor, is what I called in Star Trek Lives! The Spock Effect. I sold it to 60 Spock fans on a money back guarantee and never had one returned. In other words, it works. Today, many more than 50 fans are writing Sime~Gen fanfic, posting it to the web, and having a ball. They role-play online, and do all kinds of things. So Sime~Gen does indeed capture whatever quality it was that ST had that made people want to write ST fanfic. I'm very pleased with the way that has turned out. I was as far as I know, the first writer to allow people, to encourage and train people, to write in my universe.

The Logo

P.S. Nim's logo design, the symbol of the House of Zeor, as printed in The Sime/Gen Concordance

The "Ambrov Zeor" logo was created by Signe Landon and used on issues #5-#12. In 1976, Lichtenberg wrote about the logo in Ambrov Zeor #5:

The Ambrov Zeor logo on the cover of each issue of AZ after #3, Signe Landon's design which won the logo contest, is not, repeat not, the House of Zeor symbol. And the House of Zeor symbol is not the starred-cross. P.S. Nim's logo design is the House of Zeor symbol. The starred-cross is something else. I invented the starred cross while writing House of Zeor, and although it is not described in HoZ, Idid have aspecific design in mind. Much to my surprise, as I learned more of occult and esoteric theory, I found that the starred-cross symbol I had in mind is perfect for the Sime series.

Dominance Hierarchy, Genetics, Need, and Survival

"Sime~Gen" is a fandom focused on the genetic need. Simes need organic body elements of Gens, Gens need to give this to Simes, despite the danger to themselves. Puberty is the time when humans either become Gens or Simes.

It is similar to the Alpha/Beta/Omega trope in this way, though "Sime~Gen" is almost entirely het, rather than same sex.

• 

  from A Companion in Zeor #6 (1980)

• 

  from A Companion in Zeor , a cartoon from issue #5, by Lori Tartaglio, Michael Tartaglio: Woman says: "Dirty, rotten, stinking, shoven @#!*?*, lousy, miserable #!*@! Rant! Rave!..." Man says: "Oh, well. It's "that" time of the month".... But do I get her a Midol or a Gen?!") (1980)

• 

  cartoon from "A Companion in Zeor" #10, artist is Donell Meadows: portrays two Simes, and a Gen with a chain around their neck, the captions: "Slina's Gen Pen. Guaranteed Good Kills. Prime Stock. Special Orders." And No, I Won't Gift Wrap It."

Inherent Homophobia

Gay characters and homosexuality in "Sime~Gen" was a big topic of discussion, both with fans, and Jacqueline Lichtenberg herself.

Many fans were very distressed at Lichtenberg's refusal to include any relationships in her work that were not heterosexual and this was perceived by some fans to be homophobic. Fan discussions on this topic were certainly carried out privately by letters and phone calls to each other, but also in more public areas, such as letters of comment to zines.

Fan Comments

1984

I ought to explain to Julia that my interpretation of Jacqueline's contention that there are no gay channels is that the Tecton doesn't recognize their right to exist any more than the Church of the Purity recognizes the right of any Simes to exist. [JL: Tecton has nothing to do with it. If they exist they die 3 months after changeover, maybe a year at the most.] It is based on the logic of homophobia that what you fear will go away if you ignore it or if that's impossible you use severe enough tactics so that the feared minority will live in fear. Oh, it works very well. You can see how effectively it destroyed Grant, Sart and even the bisexual Dev. I wanted to show the consequences of denying fundamental needs uh requirements. (I have to watch my terminology here.) [JL: It doesn't, so you do.] If the mainline Tecton doesn't adhere to this strategy, I have yet to understand Jacqueline's reasoning about her universe. [Because the discussion of homosexuality in the Sime/Gen universe has bothered some fans, we have decided to continue it only in a special zine Kerry Schaefer hopes to put out that will deal with all aspects of sexuality in the books and in the universe. If you have any interest in these matters, write Kerry Schaefer...]

1985

It basically goes back to the complaint that many fans have brought up (and it is many) that Jacqueline says there are no homosexual channels (or if there are, they would die in First Year), and that there is no such thing as a sexually-locked orhuen. There are a large number of homosexuals and bisexuals in S/G fandom, and this statement of JL's makes them feel locked out. I've found that, like most people captivated with the S/G universe, they like to picture themselves in it, like to pick out roles for themselves. Most seem to fancy themselves Companions or channels. The intense intimacy of the S/G relationship seems a dream, an ideal to them, because it allows a socially acceptable relationship between two people of the same sex. Of course, they would like to turn that physical intimacy into sexual intimacy, in their ideal. And then they find out that they can't, that this is not allowable in this fantasy world they thought was their ideal — because Jacqueline says so. They are very deeply, terribly, frustrated.

Katie presents very well the feelings of Jacqueline's gay fans. We are deeply frustrated indeed, to find ourselves excluded yet again, and by those we had reason to believe rejoiced in the diversity of the universe, rather than condemning certain forms of that diversity. Some of us have simply lost interest in S/G fandom as a result. Others continue to argue the issue. (For those interested in previous discussions of this topic, I refer you to the AZ#8 Letcol, correspondence between Linda Frankel and JL, and the AZ#9 Letcol, letters from Barbara Tennison, Jean Lorrah, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Linda Frankel, and JL.) What follows is the result of this ongoing dialog with Jacqueline.

1989

The message that I get from JL loud and dear is: All fans welcome! However, if you are not a heterosexual and you are disabled, please take your business elsewhere.

Yes, I can appreciate that not all of an author's "future histories" have biases, points of view which match my own. However, I do not wish to be in the position of seeming to support this author's racist views by continuing to buy and rave about this author's S/G books. The author has the right to dream up any stories she so wishes, I, as consumer, have the right to "vote with my wallet" and not buy her works.

1994

Well, the Sime/Gen series is pretty homophobic overall. [INSCRUTABLE SIME/GEN JARGON WARNING] I mean, if a donor gives a channel transfer and they are of opposite sexes, the sudden release of tension and flood of physiological good feeling just naturally and automatically expresses itself in a burst of sexuality, but if the donor and channel are of the same sex, they shake hands — "thanks, buddy," "right, mate" and that's it. Talk about unlikely! It's the same physiological process in both cases, and ought to have the same physiological result. [END JARGON]

According to some of Lichtenberg's commentary on the Sime/Gen books, donor/channel transfer between opposite sexes is followed by a burst of sexuality as you mention, but between same-sex donor and channel it is followed by corresponding physical repulsion, a sort of don't-touch imperative, as if static electricity were pushing them apart. This theory of magnetic-sounding physiology goes further to define the sexes as absolute opposites instead of roughly the same thing with variations; the former view seems to me dangerous as well as inaccurate, and very much at the root of exaggerated "romantic" thinking of all kinds.

Meta

• Three Letters on the Subject of Homosexuality in the Sime/Gen Universe, letter exchange between Linda Frankel and Jacqueline Lichtenberg (1979)
• Post-Syndrome: Considerations on Sexuality in the Sime/Gen Universe (1985) ("If anyone's interested, there's a zine debating the problems of sexuality in the Sime/Gen Universe (especially given Lichtenberg's homophobia) available...")
• also see Homophobia in Fandom

The Intended Sime~Gen Audience

Jacqueline Lichtenberg commented on a male fan's letter of comment in Ambrov Zeor #7 that he was not her specific intended audience:

I am delighted that you liked "House of Zeor" so much. I normally say that it is written only for the SF of over 15 years' standing whose palate is somewhat jaded. I am always shocked when I meet a fan of the book who does not fit my intended audience (women between the ages of 18 and 25 who have been reading nothing but SF since they learned to read). But I've concluded that if one does something well, it can be appreciated by those for whom it was not intended.

Sime~Gen and Star Trek

From Ambrov Zeor #7: "Since Jean Lorrah and Jacqueline Lichtenberg are collaborating on the same Sime novel, "First Channel," It is expected that a familiarity with both Jean's Star Trek stories... and Jacqueline's Star Trek stories, the Kraith series, will enrich the Sime fan's enjoyment of "First Channel" [a Sime~Gen pro book]."

Also, see the 1976 essay House of Zeor and Star Trek.

From Ambrov Zeor #6 (1978):

SINCE JEAN LORRAH AND JACQUELINE LICTENBERG ARE COLLABORATING ON TIE SIME NOVEL, FIRST CHANNEL, IT IS EXPECTED THAT A FAMILIARITY WITH BOTH JEAN'S STAR TREK STORIES AND JACQUELINE'S STAR TREK STORIES, THE KRAITH SERIES, (for info. S.A.S.E. Carol Lynn [address redacted]) WILL ENRICH THE SIME FAN'S ENJOYMENT OF FIRST CHANNEL.

In 1978, a fan commented on the connections between the Sime~Gen universe and Star Trek in a letter of comment printed in Ambrov Zeor #7:

I'm certainly glad I read STL, and AZ #1 before I read HoZ; otherwise I would have thought the similarities between ST and HoZ which I spotted were due to an overdose of ST zines instead of due to your intended use of the "tailored effects". For me, (I don't know how it appeared to anyone else) the similarity seemed most profound in the scene where Klyd is in his cell in extreme need. When I saw his actions at that time, I said to myself, "Hey, wait a minute: that sounds like a Vulcan in Pon Farr, maybe going into linger death." Then I realized that this was one of the "tailored effects" — the "superhuman" species which is stronger, faster, more resistant than so called "ordinary" humans, but who has a need, which, if it is not met, can lead gradually to madness or finally death.

Another fan in 1978 speculated on Sime~Gen and Star Trek, specifically Kraith:

This is an LoC of sorts on AZ 5&6 which I received yesterday; I just sort of arbitrarily decided to send it to you. I got some more ideas on Simes, etc., and also on Vulcans — in this case, re-workings of ideas of comparisons that I have previously discussed with Jacqueline (when I first got HoZ, and read it and critiqued it for her — I found a whole bunch of direct and indirect parallels between HoZ and Kraith — there was even a whole scene sequence I think JL just rewrote for HoZ right out of Kraith.) Anyway, I thought you (and other AZ people, including other readers) might be interested in the notes I jotted to myself last night.

One of the first things I did was make an equivalency listing: Vulcans = Simes; pon farr = need; (mating) Blooming = selyn (Gens). Now, I am aware that these are not exact equivalencies. The first two fit rather well (and the Vulcans are of course Kraith Vulcans — I do think that both Kraith Vulcans and Simes have many similarities, including a consciously constructed culture/ society. Other little details of similarity, things like Vulcan timesense, and Sime placesense. Body-knowledge/awareness, etc.)

The second one seems to me to be more than obvious. Both species are compelled by a basic biology they cannot deny; with the Vulcans it is pon farr, with the Simes it is selyn need.

In 1981, a fan questioned, among other things, the Star Trek connection:

[Beth]: ... one thing bugged me [in Ambrov Zeor #11]: I am not, nor have I ever been, or do I indeed ever plan to be, a Star Trek fan. Therefore, I don't think Trek-related material has any place in a Sine zine. I know it sounds petty, but I find it annoying. Also, a question — what impels a fan to write material in another author's universe? I have myself at least five universes of my own in various stages of development, and I knew I would never be able to write things in a world of someone else's creation. And yet many people apparently can and do, very happily. I don't really understand it. Can you?

((Answer from Anne Golar [editor of Ambrov Zeor]: Gee, a Sime fan who is not a Trek fan. I have not encountered very many of those. I guess one of the reasons that Trek is in our zine is because most of the people who are into the zine got into science fiction through Trek, like me, or got into Trek through science fiction. And, Jacqueline is one of the co-authors of Star Trek Lives! and has written her own Star Trek universe stories, the Kraith series. It would be very hard to separate Trek from Simes when even Jacqueline has written the Sime series in such a way that she states that if you like Star Trek, you'll like her books. But, you see, we are not only Star Trek and Sime/Gen fans. We are dragon fans and Darkover fans and Amber fans and I know I don't speak only for myself when I say that we are Heinlein fans and Asimov fans and Clement fans and on and on. Now as for what impels a fan to write material in another author's universe. Jacqueline and Marion Zimmer Bradley and even a lot of Trek fan writers have been asked this question and the answer came down to this. The writers are more the discoverers of the universes. The universes are not the personal property of the authors and when a fan has waited months upon months, and in the case of Trek, years, without any fresh material in that universe, they become desperate. In fact they become so desperate to visit more with Hugh and Klyd, or Regis Hastur or Spock that they have to make up more stories. I myself also carry a few universes in my head, but I think that I would be a lot poorer person if I could not make room for the universes of others.

From a 2012 interview with Lichtenberg regarding Star Trek, and meeting Jean Lorrah:

I first encountered Jean's writing during the compilation of STAR TREK LIVES! Jean had co-authored a STAR TREK story which we wanted to include in a center section of STAR TREK LIVES featuring fan fiction -- no fan fiction devoted to any TV, film or book series had ever been professionally published, aired, or discussed in professional journalistic media of any kind at that time.

It turned out that the fanfiction section would make the book too long, (and yes, they were against the concept of fanfic, and there were nasty copyright issues with Paramount which owned Star Trek at that time). So it wasn't included.

However, to their utter astonishment STAR TREK LIVES! was a best seller and went 8 printings -- we blew the lid on Star Trek fandom! So Sondra Marshak took on another partner, Myrna Culbreth and did the anthology STAR TREK: THE NEW VOYAGES (and some sequels, plus some original Trek novels) while I went on developing Sime~Gen.

When HOUSE OF ZEOR first came out in Hardcover, I sold copies I had bought myself to Star Trek fans I knew via snailmail magazines and groups. I sold it on a money back guarantee (the hardcover was exorbitantly expensive). The guarantee was only to Spock fans. People who liked Trek for reasons other than Spock were not my target readership for HOUSE OF ZEOR (though McCoy fans were the target of UNTO ZEOR, FOREVER).

I sold over 60 copies of the hardcover on the guarantee and never had one returned.

Jean Lorrah, however, was not so much a Spock fan as a Surak fan.

So HOUSE OF ZEOR both worked and didn't work for her. She wrote a review in a fanzine titled Vampire In Muddy Boots calling House of Zeor a novel that was flawed in the way of typical first novels. She was a professional writer at that time, but hadn't sold a novel, and didn't know the "flaws" evident in first novels are there not because the author can't do any better, but because publishing houses would BUY a novel that was a first novel that did not have those "flaws." Catch-22.

Very soon after the publication of House of Zeor, my mailbox exploded with mail. I couldn't handle it all and found myself writing the same thing again and again. So I started making as many carbon copies as I could and putting them out in circulating lists (asking each person to forward it to another on the list).

That didn't work well, and before I knew it, Betty Herr had taken over creating a mimeographed fanzine Ambrov Zeor.

For the first issue, we wanted to publish Jean Lorrah's insightful review, so I wrote to her and asked permission. Within months she'd sent in several fanzine stories set in Sime~Gen -- and soon after that we met at a Star Trek/Media convention where she showed me the outline for a longer story.

FanQ Awards

Winners:

• 2005 STORY – GEN-A Matter of Necessity – Author: D. DaBinett

Honorable Mentions:

• 2005 SIME-GEN - 'ZINE – GEN - Sime-Gen Cooperative Fiction (SGCF – 2004) – Editor: Beverly Erlebacher
• 2005 SIME-GEN - 'ZINE – SLASH - A Companion in Zeor #21 – Editor: Karen MacLeod
• 2005 SIME-GEN - STORY – SLASH - A Companion’s Duty – Author: Lexie Pakulak

Fan Activities

Conventions

Specifically Sime~Gen

• Sime-Gen Con (in conjunction with Westercon, Sacramento, 1981)

flyer for Sime~Gen Con #1

As a Presence

• ConJose (2002)
• TorCon3 (2003)
• NorEasCon4 (2004)
• WriterCon (2004)
• InterSection(2005)
• MediaWest*Con (2005)
• LAConIV (2006)
• Darkover Grand Council
• ShoreLeave
• WesterCon

Filks and Original Music

There was also some interest in Sime~Gen filks and original music.

In 1981, these fanworks were to be sent to Lichtenberg:

INTERESTED in obtaining recording of Sime/Gen songs? Many have been written, but not recorded. Write some of them for us -- send to Jacqueline at [address redacted]. Tell us what you would pay for such a tape, and perhaps one can be made.

Also from 1981, a fan's letter to other fans, explaining that she had contacted Winston Howlett (creator of the Star Trek fanwork, Fanzine), and asked him about making a Sime~Gen music tape:

I have sent Winston Howlett the letter, a copy of which is enclosed for you. I really would like some music for the S/G universe and wanted you to know that we fen are responding to the information you gave in CZ#5. (Exerpts from the letter to Winston Howlett follows): Recently, I learned that you are considering making a tape of music for the Sime Universe of Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah. I wanted to write to tell you that I certainly hope you decided to make such a tape, and that I would surely buy one if it existed. I would be willing to pay between$5 and It 10 for such a tape, and based on tapes of filksongs I have in fact bought at conventions, would expect to pay about $7 for such a tape, especially if mailed. In addition, if music for the songs were reprinted and could be purchased (perhaps in a zine format), I would be happy to buy a set of this music, either for myself (arranged for piano) or for a friend of mine (arranged for guitar). Of course, I would expect to pay additionally for this, perhaps another fll to $5 or so, depending on the number of pages and mailing costs and printing requirements, etc. I really do hope you go ahead with the project, and I know there are other Simefen who feel the same way.

Fan Art

Some fanart has been posted here.

Marion Zimmer Bradley contributed fanart to an unknown Sime~Gen zine.

• 

  Comments from the artist: "One of the oddest fan groups I was involved with was the "Sime-Gen" crew, which flourished in the 1980s and 1990s, with some membership persisting into the next decades. "Sime-Gen," short for "Sime-biotes" and "Gen-erators," was an imaginary Earth future in which the human race had diverged into two forms. One was the Simes, whose forearms sprouted small tentacles which could grip and manipulate as well as transmit an esoteric energy called "selyn." The "Gens" were outwardly indistinguishable from the original human form, without tentacles, but they could generate "selyn" energy. The Simes, rather like vampires, could only exist with regular feeding on selyn from Gens. And sometimes, especially in the earlier stories, the feeding resulted in death for the Gen. After a while the Simes and Gens found a way to live with each other without killing their hosts. Simes had special abilities that Gens didn't have, such as brief bursts of super-strength or super-speed, and some special ones had psychic powers as well. I did a lot of fan illustrations for Sime-Gen publications including this one, in which an impoverished Gen runaway is caught stealing ears of corn to eat, by the farmer's daughter, who is a Sime. Naturally they fall in love, but how can they have a life together when she might have to feed on his energy and kill him in the process? They work something out because the story ends with the grown-up Gen telling the story to his and her son. Ink on illustration board, 7" x 8", December 2000."

• 

  Comments from the artist: "One of the more bizarre imaginary worlds I've illustrated is the "Sime-Gen" concept from the works of Jacqueline Lichtenberg.... Lichtenberg, who is still writing though advanced in years, maintains a little fan club for these works even after decades of obscurity. At Chessiecon I met a few of them who still remember and even cherish these tales of vampire-like tentacled mutants and psychic powers. This character, Ercy Farris, is a Sime - one of the tentacled morphology - who works with psychoactive flowers in the hope that the plants will contain essences which free the Simes and Gens from the difficulties of having to draw or provide energy from other sentient beings. She holds one of these magic flowers, a "Mahogany Trinrose," in her tentacles. "Mahogany Trinrose" is ink, colored pencil, and gouache on brown paper, 7" x 10", November 1996."

• 

  Illo for the story, Moonlight Sonata, comments by the artist: "During my association with Sime-Gen fandom I did a number of illustrations for fan-written stories. This is one of them and is also one of my rare attempts at an action scene. In the story the hero, who is homeless and hungry, is caught stealing an apple from one of the vendors at a marketplace. As he is alone and unprotected, a mob of children and teenagers attack him. Their only weapons are pieces of wood or rocks that they pick up. The leader of the children's' gang is a large red-headed girl, who you see in the center. In the Sime-Gen storyline, children are neither Sime nor Gen until they hit puberty and then they either sprout tentacles as a Sime, or become generators of the bioenergy that Simes live on. The young hero, who becomes a Gen, manages to escape. The Sime-Gen chronology is elaborate, though one group of fans has published a fairly detailed chart of it along with references to works by originator Jacqueline Lichtenberg and her collaborators and fans. As I am very fond of world-building I naturally want to know what happened in the first place to turn humanity into Simes and Gens. According to Lichtenberg, she will not provide an account of the originating events and no one else should, either. No matter what happened, it had to be an enormous catastrophe resulting in the deaths of billions. The world of the earlier chronology is a post-apocalyptic Earth population attempting to adapt into the new human forms, and using what they can salvage from a destroyed past. Interestingly, the later chronology becomes more science-fictional as well as introducing elements of psychic powers, which is one of my favorite fantasy/s.f. themes. This illustration as well as two others for a short story, were published in a Sime-Gen fan magazine. I still have it somewhere.... The author (not Lichtenberg, but a fan writer) bought the whole set for her collection. Black ink drawing, colored with watercolor on illustration board, 8 1/2" x 6 1/2", December 2000."

Role-Playing Games

a role-playing proposal, approved by Lichtenberg, printed in A Companion in Zeor #6, reprinted in #7 (1980/1981)

From a 2003 chat with Jacqueline Lichtenberg:

Today, many more than 50 fans are writing Sime~Gen fanfic, posting it to the web, and having a ball. They role-play online, and do all kinds of things. So Sime~Gen does indeed capture whatever quality it was that ST had that made people want to write ST fanfic. I'm very pleased with the way that has turned out. I was as far as I know, the first writer to allow people, to encourage and train people, to write in my universe.

Also see Borderlands SG RPG Index, a role-playing cooperative.

See SECTUIB HILO AMBROV ZEOR VISITS BENDER COVE for an undated role-play chat.

Zines

• a link to the Fanzine Fiction Publishing and Posting Agreement
• Ambrov Zeor! (1976-1996)

• A Companion in Zeor (1978-2006)
• First Transfer (1987-?)
• Householding Chanel Inquirer (1987-1988)
• My Life Is My Own (1996)
• Icy Nager (1982)
• Of Simes, Gens, Adepts, Kren... (1980)
• The Only Good Sime (1990s)
• Postsyndrome (1985)
• A Shift of Means (1996)
• The Sime/Gen Concordance (1991)
• Sime~Gen Cooperative Fiction (2005)
• The Sime~Gen Songbook (unknown date)
• The Tecton Star, an APA (1991-1999)
• Tecton Inquirer (1980s)
• Zeor Forum (1980s)
• The New York Simes (1990-1991)

Used in Crossovers

imagining Sime~Gen and The Avengers, from A Companion in Zeor #7 (1981), artist is Lori Tartaglio

Sime~Gen is occasionally used in crossovers.

• Orhuen Obbligato and Fighting for Duo are pass around novels (Starsky & Hutch/Sime~Gen, pre-1979)
• Unending Nightmare by Cami and Tasha (Blake's 7/Sime~Gen) (Liberator Dreams (1991)

Sime~Gen Fiction for Visually Impaired Fans

Around 1980, the Sime~Gen material was being recorded for Talking Books, a US government project. "Much of the S/G fanzine material has been taped for the blind and handicapped readers. But the project head has retired. If anyone wants to take over, contact Karen Litman."

A For-Profit Fanfic Anthology

In 2015, Fear and Courage: Fourteen Writers Explore Sime~Gen was published. It contains forewords by Lichtenberg and Lorrah, as well as a 19 fanworks.

Welcome to the first Sime~Gen Anthology written by the fans. This Anthology is a compilation of stories and poetry written by people who have been influenced by the published works of Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah, in such a powerful way that they felt compelled to explore this universe in their own writing.

A similar endeavor was DAW Darkover Anthologies.

Householdings and Fan Clubs

Fan clubs for Sime~Gen are called "Householdings."

Similar clubs are Weyrs (Dragonriders of Pern), Darkover Councils and Towers (Darkover), and Abbeys (Dernyi).

See: Sime~Gen - Householding Registery, ^{Archived version}.

• The Alternate Universes Welcommittee

Fan Gatherings and Costuming

See Faith Day Ceremony.

• 1987: the first Faith Day ceremony November 1987
• 1988: Faith Day: Darkover Grand Council
• 1998: Faith Day: Darkover Grand Council
• 1998: transcript of the IRC Chanel Pledge Party in the Ancient Tecton
• 1998: Faith Day at Bender Cove
• photos of Sime~Gen fans' costumes at the 13th Grand Council Darkove=r Meeting

Websites and Mailing Lists

a 1996 ad for the official website, printed in the zine, A Shift of Means

• Sime~Gen Wiki
• Sime~Gen.com and Sime~Gen - Fandom, ^{Archived version}
• The Secret Pens (fiction, role-playing)
• Rimon Farris Memorial Library
• Borderlands SG RPG Index (role-playing cooperative)
• Virtual Selyn (mailing list, focus is vampires, published novels, and more)
• Lifeforce-L (online newsletter)
• Vantage Point News (personal newsletter, sime~gen and more)
• SIMEGEN-L (discussion list for Sime~Gen fans)
• RATHOR-L (mysticism at Simegen.com)

Meta/Further Reading

• See Introduction to the Sime Series; archive link; WebCite by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, printed in A Companion in Zeor #1 (1978)
• the 1981 satirical zine, JACKIE!

The Pro Book Series

• House of Zeor (1974)
• Unto Zeor, Forever (1978)
• First Channel (1980) – with Jean Lorrah
• Mahogany Trinrose (1981)
• Channel's Destiny (1982) – with Jean Lorrah
• Rensime (1984)
• Ambrov Keon (1986) – written by Jean Lorrah
• Zelerod's Doom (1986) – with Jean Lorrah See Zelerod's Doom: AN OUTLINE FOR A NOVEL By Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah
• The Unity Trilogy (2003) – compendium of House of Zeor, Ambrov Keon (written by Jean Lorrah), and Zelerod's Doom.
• To Kiss or To Kill (2005) – compendium of To Kiss or To Kill (novel written by Jean Lorrah),
• Personal Recognizance (novel written by Jacqueline Lichtenberg).
• The Farris Channel (2011)