Sime~Gen

Sime~Gen aka Sime/Gen and Sime-Gen is a Science Fiction shared universe created by Jean Lorrah and Jacqueline Lichtenberg.
"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." Info, Lifeforce-L newsletter 
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": 
Description from another fan: 
From A Companion in Zeor #11 (1994): 
===Official Descriptions===
From a 2015 for-profit book of Sime~Gen fanfic: 
 
From an 2012 interview with Jacqueline Lichtenberg 
From the Sime~Gen website: 
==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: 
From a 2003 chat with Jacqueline Lichtenberg: 
==The Logo==
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: 
==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. 
File:Ciz6-5.jpg|from A Companion in Zeor #6 (1980)
Image:ciz5-1.jpg| 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)
File:Ciz10-3.jpg|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====
====1985====
 
====1989====
===1994===
===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...") from touched #7 
* 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: 
== 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): 
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: 
Another fan in 1978 speculated on Sime~Gen and Star Trek, specifically Kraith: 
In 1981, a fan questioned, among other things, the Star Trek connection:
From a 2012 interview with Lichtenberg regarding Star Trek, and meeting Jean Lorrah:
==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)
====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: 
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: 
===Fan Art===
Some fanart has been posted here.
Marion Zimmer Bradley contributed fanart to an unknown Sime~Gen zine."...her anatomical sketch of a tentacled arm appears in one of the S~G fanzines." -- Marion Zimmer Bradley's Influence on the Sime~Gen Universe
Image:simegenart-1.jpg|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." Tentacle Encounter by Pyracantha (June 11, 2014) 
 
Image:simegenart-2.jpg|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." Sime Character and Magic Rose by Pyracantha (December 21, 2014) 
Image:simegenart.jpg| 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." Sime~Gen Street Violence by Pyracantha (December 29, 2014) 
===Role-Playing Games===
 
From a 2003 chat with Jacqueline Lichtenberg: 
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===
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." Sime~Gen.com, undated comment, likely early 2000s 
===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. 
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: .
* 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===
* Sime~Gen Wiki
* Sime~Gen.com and 
* 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)
==References==
Category:Fiction Writing
Category:Sime~Gen
Category:Shared Universes