Lortuen (Story)

An "outtake" precursor to Unto Zeor, Forever. Source:  http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/lortuen.html
Here is the forward to that story:  Jean Lorrah has pointed out that those of you reading "Lortuen"before reading Unto Zeor, Forever may become confused over the Digen Farris characterization."Lortuen" was written as a short story (I think it's in the novella class by official Nebula rules, but I'm not sure) but it was always intended to be a piece from the middle of a novel. I've known Digen rather well: as a child, during changeover (there are a couple of vignette type pieces scattered throughout the AMBROV ZEOR fanzine somewhere), as a teenager, college student, and here, as an adult of sorts, as well as in "Operation High Time" as a grandfather. I suspect Digen will become to the Sime series what Regis Hastur has been to Darkover. Digen has evolved drastically during the last two years or so while I've been writing UNTO and studying under Marion Zimmer Bradley's exacting guidance.
His character undergoes swift growth even amongst the various drafts of UNTO. In "Lortuen," he's an overgrown 28 year-old teenager with a bad crush on Melody, a condition aggravated by the fact that a channel's body can make sex a life-or-death matter, especially for a Farris. Simple human emotions -- for Simes are nothing more than human beings with problems -- can make sex a very complex business. By the time UNTO was finished, Melody faded into nonexistence. I had learned how to tailor the secondary characters in a story to the main character's karma. I had also learned various techniques for conveying information to the reader without long conversations between characters. So I started over with a vastly matured Digen and generated a whole new world for him to live and learn in. I suggest that readers approach "Lortuen" as much as you would approach Kraith (http://www.simegen.com/fandom/startrek/kraith/) or any other STAR TREK fanzine story -- as alternate universe to the "official" universe.This Digen is not, repeat not, the same person you will meet in Unto Zeor, Forever.
Rather he is Digen as Digen might have been had certain events been different. Westfield, however,is virtually the same in each universe, though less specifically described in UNTO. How did "Lortuen" evolve to become Unto Zeor, Forever? By the time I had finished Star Trek Lives! and was looking around for something to do next, Debbie Goldstein, Carol Lynn,and Marion Zimmer Bradley had all read a faded, tattered carbon of "Lortuen" and had been terribly stricken with the changeover scene in it. That was the most powerful scene, one of my primary reasons for writing the story, and I was inordinately pleased that Debbie had said she "went through changeover" in the scene herself. Marion Zimmer Bradley and others had had similar experiences. I couldn't leave all my friends in need like that. I tackled "Lortuen." And I had about a six-inch stack of notes on what I wanted to do with the novel.
Steve Goldin had read it and commented that "there's a novel hidden in here somewhere" and I believed him. Turned out, he was right. By August, 1975, I had 12 inches of notes. Marion Zimmer Bradley stayed over one night on a flying trip to NYC -- an autograph party on the publication of Heritage of Hastur -- and, as I say in the intro to UNTO, she forced me to define the sharper edges of the book I had actually started drafting. The first draft was 260 pages, 4 chapters, and bogged down in bad plotting. I tossed it and began again. The working title was "Sime Surgeon" and ran to 50,000 words. "Sime Surgeon" went the round of my critics and came back in tatters.
Pondering, and working on Marion Zimmer Bradley's lessons, I finally understood what was wrong with "Sime Surgeon" -- many things were wrong with it -- and simply set the second draft aside and told the story again, without looking at the old manuscript, working with what you might call "second generation" characters -- the same people, but matured through the writing of the second draft. That is third draft, Unto Zeor, Forever. It is essentially the same story as the final draft, differing only in details and background implications, possibly in sharpness. I cut some 6,000 words from the final 4th draft of the book to 144,000 words total for published Unto Zeor, Forever. In the year and a half it took me to write that book, I feel I've grown 10 years worth -- something like First Year Syndrome. I hope this explanation helps your understanding and enjoyment of what is to follow. ---- Jacqueline Lichtenberg