Ongoing Correspondence with Jacqueline Lichtenberg

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I find it very interesting that Jacqueline Lichtenberg has responded once more to a post of mine with respect to her Sime-Gen novels. I shouldn't be surprised, however. It actually is very much 'in character' for her to do so. She always has reached out to her readers and other potential writers alike, not so much in order to promote her own work but to inspire others to write and create, to JOIN her in her creative efforts.

I am copying her response below, but I will answer her question here. I believe in the power of the printed word and if anything, the internet and the technology of the personal computer (and related systems) has empowered writers in a way that hitherto was impossible to all but the rich or those with a source of funding.

Book publishing no longer is monopolised by a few firms who specialise in printing and distribution. ANY ONE can publish a printed book now. 'Printed book' in this context should not conjure forth visions of pages organised in an amateurish binder similar to that created for a thesis at University. I am speaking now of REAL books, with proper bindings, some of which are well-illustrated.

The 'Kindle' is an interesting toy, in my view. Like any other system of its nature, it will become outdated quickly. The owners either will be forced to update frequently or actually buy a new system within a year or two. I have considerable experience with gaming platforms and have seen how the GBA was replaced with the GBA SP, then the DS, the DS Lite and now, the DSI. Nintendo, who created ALL those systems, has had the grace and decency to make them 'backwards-compatible' until now. With the DSI, finally, they have broken with their own tradition, sad to say. Any one who buys the new system will not be able to play old games on it.

Individuals who are not involved with gaming may have had comparable experiences with their IPods or Zunes. Constant updates and 'improvements' force consumers to purchase new versions of these systems.

The Kindle is a transient platform. A book is as permanent a format as we have in our society, apart from carving words on stone or marble.

I worked in the field of book publishing in London and in the States, but writing game guides has taught me something else about contemporary publishing. We who use the internet constantly tend to exaggerate its sphere of influence. Having written over 100 game guides published by IGN (Fox) on the internet, I sometimes lose sight of the limited reach that these guides have. Yes, I have readers from every continent and received hundreds of emails daily from gamers, but these players only represent a percentage of the total number of gamers. That is why printed 'Official Strategy Guides' continue to sell. Furthermore, the printed guides will outlast all of the internet guides I have written unless some one converts my guides to print.

It is easy enough to tell some one to download and print a document from the internet, but that requires a printer, paper, ink AND time. Nonetheless, people tend to prefer printed words to the words displayed on a screen. Furthermore, at the end of the day, I believe that any one who wishes to have a permanent copy of a book would prefer to pay for that book to be bound properly.

That having been said, I know quite a few writers who have published their own books in professional format. Amazon and other outlets actually organise the printing and distribution. The writer simply sends the material in the format desired. I would urge Jacqueline Lichtenberg to consider something of this sort rather than relying upon the Kindle or any internet link that offers a download to prospective readers.

Yes, computers in the home are far more prevalent than they were a decade ago, but a large percentage of those who have computers at home use them only for email or for their accounting. They do not download books. Many of them wouldn't have a clue how to go about it.

As far as the 'next generation' of readers is concerned, computer literacy is taught in every school now, but all of the teenagers I know read printed books and use their computers for IMs or school research. They do not WANT to read books on a screen...

One need only recall the incredible success of the very lengthy Harry Potter novels with readers of ALL ages to realise that printed books STILL are a desirable commodity. Children, teens and adults queued up outside bookshops hours before a new Harry Potter novel was due for release in order to buy a copy on the very first day. They were hardcover, expensive novels and they SOLD. In similar fashion, the 'Twilight' series by Stephenie Meyer and Erin Hunter's 'Warriors' series have sold very well in hardcover form.

Use the internet by all means to promote the Sime-Gen series and network with other writers, but find a way to PRINT the books at a reasonable cost. If you do not wish to organise that aspect of it yourself, I would expect that there are countless writers' groups and small publishers who would be more than pleased to assist in this project if the behemoths of the book-publishing world are too short-sighted to involve themselves. The reputation of any small publishing venture would be enhanced greatly if it were to produce a new edition of these Classics as well as new novels in the series.

Finally, if you could sell a concept for a film based on the Sime-Gen series, the world would be your oyster in terms of re-publishing existing novels as well as publishing new novels. The time really is right for a Sime-Gen film but you should be in charge of the screenplay. Of existing novels, I would recommend 'First Channel' as the book most likely to capture the interest of a general audience. Of course, in writing for the screen, you could combine aspects of more than one novel or even create something entirely new.

In a film, the scientific aspects of the mutation could be explored (as you probably would like them to be!) without becoming tedious to non-scientific minds and at this point in history, technological advances in computer-generated images as well as the ability to create almost ANYTHING in a realistic fashion would allow the mutation to be presented very elegantly on the screen. The Sime tentacles would look REAL and the entire selyn exchange could be intensely erotic and romantic... as well as utterly terrifying when the Gen is unwilling. In fact, the film could begin with a scene of that... quite shocking, attention-grabbing... and then, as the story unwinds, selyn exchange would be shown in its most powerful positive manifestations.
As with the book publishing industry, film no longer is the monopoly of a few. Although I believe you could sell a good screenplay to any of the 'big name' producers, there are a host of talented independent film makers who could do justice to your work as well.

And then, of course, there is the potential for a game based on the series...

Jacqueline Lichtenberg said...
Freyashawk:

Oh, YES we have MUCH new Sime~Gen to present - but where and from whom and in which formats, that's the question.

Freyashawk wrote:
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Had Jacqueline Lichtenberg asked me the question I wished she had posed, I would have answered that I would welcome new novels about the period prior to Zeor's founding, the period when the mutation still had not been studied scientifically, when Simes viewed Gens unconditionally as a source of sustenance and Gens lived in terror of the 'unnatural' Simes. This dynamic, I believe, would appeal strongly to a new generation of teens, the same readership that follows Stephanie Meyer's saga of Edward and Bella with almost obsessive interest.

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Jacqueline Lichtenberg: And that is exactly where 2 new novels and a screenplay are set - WAY before things get technically complex.

On the divided focus between Jean and me, Jean's degree is in English and mine is in Chemistry.

Sime~Gen is an example of the modern breed of "mixed genres" that is emerging, and it is a "universe." My ambition is to have a novel in the S~G Universe that can be identified as belonging to each genre. One unpublished by Jean is a Romance which would today be classed as a Futuristic Romance - maybe a bit on the Paranormal side.

I've completed the novel on the years before the founding of the House of Zeor (when they knew almost nothing and had no customs to speak of). It's got a lot of Paranormal in it at the insistence of the publisher who commissioned it (then went bankrupt owing us tons of money).

The unpublished material is sitting there. We have a number of options available, but would love to know what you and your readers would prefer - paper, ebook, downloadable, fictionwise, amazon Kindle, some other publisher. I hadn't considered CD delivery, so thanks for mentioning that.

Paper is possible, but expensive. What is your price-point for a paper copy?

Collectors drove the price of my Vampire Romance, THOSE OF MY BLOOD and it's companion volume DREAMSPY over $400 before a publisher picked it up for a new Trade paper edition. Collectors have had a copy of just one of the volumes the Mass Market trilogy DUSHAU over $70 - but now you can get it on Kindle. And read free chapters (see http://www.jacquelinelichtenberg.com

I've been watching the Amazon price of the Sime~Gen omnibus THE UNITY TRILOGY climb.

We ought to make a move on this soon, but in which direction? We need input.

And thanks for the flattering comparisons. I actually like TWILIGHT!!!

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://www.jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Sime-Gen Author's Query

Some time ago, I wrote an article about a series of books that impressed me deeply when I first read them. They were novels about the Sime-Gen universe, created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg who, with the collaboration of Jean Lorrah, then proceeded to weave an elaborate tapestry depicting an alternate future of the human race based on a strange mutation.

Rather to my astonishment, Jacqueline Lichtenberg read my article and responded with a comment a few days ago. She wrote:

'Thank you for the nice words about the Sime~Gen Universe novels.
Please let us know what format you'd like to see these novels in next.'

Initially, in my excitement at receiving a communication from her, I misconstrued her question, and conceived a hope that she was interested in continuing the series. Now I realise she probably was asking about preferences between printed books and 'e-books' or Kindle publications.

I re-read the entire collection of Sime-Gen novels and stories last year, after recommending them to some one else who, like most of her peers, was infatuated with the 'Twilight' series. To me, the Sime-Gen universe depicted the same sort of social conflict that occurred between vampire and human, with concepts of prey and predator being turned upside down by love. Re-reading the books, however, I began to see that Lichtenberg and Lorrah each had their own focus. Jacqueline Lichtenberg appeared to be fascinated by the scientific workings of the Sime-Gen mutations, and each successive book delved more deeply into this aspect of the alternate future of humanity. Jean Lorrah, on the other hand, appeared to share my own focus on personal relationships and the power of emotion and faith in changing philosophies and society's prejudices. To define the two writers in this fashion is overly simplistic, of course, because Jacqueline Lichtenberg based her own exploration of the Sime-Gen Universe fundamentally on the stories of individuals and their own relationships and struggles. Even so, I noted her painstaking creation of complex scientific foundations for each aspect of the mutations.

Had Jacqueline Lichtenberg asked me the question I wished she had posed, I would have answered that I would welcome new novels about the period prior to Zeor's founding, the period when the mutation still had not been studied scientifically, when Simes viewed Gens unconditionally as a source of sustenance and Gens lived in terror of the 'unnatural' Simes. This dynamic, I believe, would appeal strongly to a new generation of teens, the same readership that follows Stephanie Meyer's saga of Edward and Bella with almost obsessive interest.

I believe that vampires have attained a new level of popularity partly because they represent the individual who cannot be assimilated into society's ruthless quest for universal conformity. They are the ultimate 'outsiders', fueled by a substance that is taboo to the rest of humanity. 'True Blood' is another enormously popular series and one that endeavours to show a vampire society that CAN assimilate with 'ordinary' human society and how, even when doing so, fear and prejudice undermine the attempt. What both the Sime-Gen novels and 'TrueBlood' demonstrate is the fact that we divide ourselves into predator and prey. Those who have extraordinary special talents or needs are not necessarily a threat, as with that special power is an in-built weakness. The Vampyre requires blood; the Sime requires selyn.

Note that 'True Blood' is a television series based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels. Which brings me rather indirectly to Jacqueline Lichtenberg's question. 'In what format would I like to see the Sime-Gen Universe next published?'

I actually have answered this question in general terms previously in articles I have written for this site. I am a great believer in the power of the printed book. It outlasted the rise and fall of Empires throughout the thousands of years that humanity has committed its thoughts and history to some form of 'paper', 'scroll' or 'tablet' and it will outlast the ever-changing, transient world of cyberspace. Furthermore, the printed book can be passed from person to person, generation to generation. It can be lent, sold, or inherited. It can be copied and reprinted. It can be taken ANYWHERE.

The Kindle may have revolutionalised life for many readers but I personally do not like reading literature on a screen. I like the tactile pleasure that a book provides as well as the fact that it can be read almost anywhere. Having extensive experience with hand-held systems such as the GBA and DS, I have discovered again and again that certain types of lighting can be almost fatal to the ability to see the screen, however well-lit. Books do not give me the headaches that a computer screen can give... nor do they have to be held at a certain angle.

I prefer CDs and DVDs to downloads. I prefer permanent records to transient files. If I care enough about a book to want to read it again, I would like to have it in printed form.

Having stated this, I nonetheless applaud the efforts of various organsiations and individuals to make classics available on the internet. Those of us with access to the internet often can find an obscure ancient text somewhere in cyberspace where it would require herculean efforts and a great deal of money to obtain the same text in printed form. It is a wonderful, invaluable on-going project for humanity but it should not persuade any one to render printed books obsolete.

Finally, the new trend towards self-publishing is to be encouraged. The fact that ANY writer can place his/her work on Amazon.com for the general public to see is incredible. It is tantamount to the freedom that the weblog has given to writers of every kind. Publication now is not the province of an elite business, jealously guarded. It is open to any one with energy and determination.

On the subject of Jacqueline Lichtenberg and writing in general, the Official Sime-Gen site encourages writers and aspiring writers to follow their dreams. Like Marion Zimmer Bradley, who created the marvelous universe centred on Darkover and then encouraged fans to write about it, Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah promoted fanzines about the Sime-Gen Universe.

'Everything on simegen.com is about storycraft and its function in the world.'
-- Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Here is a link to the site:

Official Sime-Gen Site

Contemporary 'Classics' in Literature

As the novel became commonplace only as late as the 19th Century in the English language, 19th century novels predominated in any official collection of 'Classics' throughout most of the 20th century.

It is only now, in the 21st century that many 20th Century novels have supplanted their 19th century counterparts as scholars and ordinary readers alike have judged some of the earlier 'Classics' as less worthy of the title than later works.

As a voracious reader, I consumed every 19th century and early 20th century novel before I reached my teens. I then went on to read every novel I could obtain by any means whatsoever, despite my mother's opinion that anything not designated as a 'Classic' was 'rubbish' or 'junk'. (Incidentally, my mother is NOT a reader and rather proud of the fact. She considers fiction for the most part to be a waste of time.)

I have seen some 21st century lists of 'required reading' in schools at pre-University levels and am rather shocked by some of the books that are included and some that are ignored. It appears to me that the lists are politically based rather than being based on excellence of style or non-political content. I find this deplorable but I suppose one should not be surprised. Schooling always has contained a shameful amount of propagandising in any culture and any period of history. The Jesuits always declared that, if they could supervise the schooling of any child from the age of six, he/she would be theirs 'for life'.

School lists of 'required reading' include an extraordinary number of books with themes of 'slavery' and 'the holocaust'. In my own view, the motivation here is political rather than any attempt to persuade students to become more 'sensitive' or to become 'superior beings'. After all, it is this same culture that invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq recently, utterly demolishing its society, and this same culture that allows the Palestinian people to be massacred regularly and supports the entity that bases its actual existence on the eradication of any Palestinian presence in its own homeland.

Putting politics to one side, what novels would I include on any list of 'Classics'?
Would one of the tests be whether or not I would be interested in reading a book a second time... or a third? That might be an indication of worthiness in one sense, but I do accept that there are undisputed 'Classics' that one wouldn't wish to read more than once perhaps.

As a child, I often felt that many of the Classics were books that one had to force oneself to read. Although I enjoyed some of them, there were others that I read as a sort of self-imposed duty. Sir Walter Scott, for example, elicited both a sense of dread and excitement. As a child, I did not realise how politicised and bias his view of history was but much of my early love of history was engendered by historical novels. Wading through 'dialect' always is a chore for me. I don't enjoy heavy dialect of any kind but I have to admit that I grimly do my best to prevent any considerations relating to dialect from deterring me from reading any book.

Labels are to be deprecated in any aspect of life, including literature. Even to categorise books as 'Classics' to some extent goes against my personal philosophy. There are too many people who would avoid a book by virtue of its official classification alone. For example, there are those who steer clear of 'fantasy' or 'science fiction' even when the actual book is one that would appeal to any intelligent audience if that audience were to come to it without any preconceptions.

Tolkien is one of my favourite writers. I believe him to be one of the greatest novelists of our culture for many different reasons. His work encapsulates our entire Northern heritage in terms of its detailed philological, mythological, historical and literary aspects but beyond that, as an extraordinary epic of good and evil, it must be considered a 'Classic' in every sense of the word. If a 'Classic' must deal with a subject of critical importance, certainly 'Lord of the Rings' qualifies.

This post was not prompted by any thoughts of Tolkien, however, but by the work of a contemporary writer whose novels are classified as 'fantasy' but who may go beyond that in his achievements in literary terms. Tad Williams is an extremely prolifice writer whose first novel, 'Tailchaser' won him renown in the late 1980s. This was followed almost immediately by the first book in a trilogy that almost rivals Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings'. In 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn', Tad Williams displays much of the depth and versatility of Tolkien in his use of philology, mythology, comparative religion and Northern European history. When I first read 'The Dragonbone Chair', I was impressed but would not have compared him to the 'Master' by any means. Rereading it now, I begin to see how truly amazing this book is, both in its depth of exploration of comparative mythology and its sheer poetry. There is a lyrical quality in Tad Williams' prose that is extraordinary. He is a master of the 'prose poem' and yet, his books are plot-driven and show an attention to detail in terms of action and characterisation that ensure greatness for his novels apart from their lyricism.

As with any writer, some books are far better than others. I would place the trilogy of 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' at the top of the list but I would need to read 'Tailchaser's Song' again.

It is interesting to note that Tad Williams struggled with the completion of his great trilogy much in the same way that Tolkien struggled with the last book of 'Lord of the Rings'. He almost despaired at one point of ever finishing it. Fiction of great length generates a certain amazement even when the book is devoid of any intrinsic value. The fact that some one actually can commit such a quantity of words to paper and weave them into some sort of cohesive tapestry is an achievement of sorts irrespective of the success or failure of the book as a novel.

I really should not write about the trilogy, however, until I have finished reading all three books again.

Recently, I was reminded of another 'fantasy' favourite of mine in the form of the Sime-Gen series by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah. Here, however, it was the concept of that universe rather than the actual literary style of the novels that impressed me most. Once in awhile, an artist creates something unforgettable, a concept or a vision that actually can change the audience's psyche. The Sime-Gen novels changed mine.

The concept of the Sime-Gen universe was created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, evidently while she was in her teens. The novels were written later. I think that the power of this universe for me was the fact that it explored a very basic element in human interactions, in terms of the dominant-submissive relationship.

Christianity is a religion that is founded upon the idea that total submission in terms of Sacrifice was the key to the salvation of the human race. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the dominant-submissive theme has powerful echoes throughout Western culture in different forms.

Ann Rice's Vampire novels explored the erotic components of dangerous dominance and the idea that Death can be clothed in an almost irresistably erotic form. She actually wrote some overtly dominant-submissive novels without any supernatural components under a nom-de-plume, making it clear that this was a part of the human psyche that held some fascination for her as an artist.

To me, dominant-submissive interactions are diminished by being associated with eroticism and sex. After all, these interactions are at the heart of most great spiritual myths and traditions.

In recent decades, the Vampire has become the centre of what could be considered a religion. Whether as the embodiment of Death or as the ultimate erotic role, Vampire novels and films proliferate. A host of teen Vampire novels and films have made it clear that adolescent fantasies have embraced the concept as enthusiastically as older audiences.

The Sime-Gen books are NOT Vampire novels, but there is some similarity between the Simes and traditional Vampires. The Sime-Gen mutations of the human race essentially divided humanity into two components: Dominant and Submissive but in the starkest, most fundamental sense, making one Predator and the other Prey. The Simes required the energy of the Gens to survive. In draining a Gen of energy, the Sime put an end to his/her life. Gens were considered sub-human, moreover and were raised as herds solely for their role in satisfying Sime needs.

This, however, is not the basis of the novels. The basic theme of the Sime-Gen novels is that voluntary sacrifice and submission leads to salvation and survival BOTH for the Sime and for the Gen. In making the ultimate gesture of sacrifice voluntarily, a Gen learned how to give energy without dying in the process. This made the Gen simultaneously both Submissive and Master/Mistress of the fate of the 'Dominant' Sime.

Fear is the enemy of survival for the Gen in the Sime-Gen Universe. Furthermore, a negative philosophy that defined the Gen as Prey and the Sime as Predator would lead inexorably to the annihilation of the human race in both of its mutations. The Simes effectively would exhaust their energy supply if the 'traditional' mode prevailed. As often in these situations, the traditional mode of existence was incorporated into a religion and thus any attempt to deviate and explore other avenues of existence was defined as heresy.

It is this heresy that is the basis of the Sime-Gen novels. I found the concept of this Universe as well as the novels themselves to be very powerful and indeed was so influenced by them as to adopt some of their colourful swear words and phrases into my own vocabulary.

The idea that voluntary sacrifice redirects power into the hands of the Sacrificed is extremely potent philosophically. It is the Sacrificial Victim ultimately in many myths who becomes a God, not the Executioner. The Executioner often is nothing more than the tool or means to an exalted end.

I believe that Dominant/Submissive interactions at their best contain the same elements. Rather than being a selfish form of personal sexual self-gratification as depicted by the media and indeed most of those who dabble in exotic sexuality, the core of the interaction is defined by nobility and sacrifice.

Perhaps the words 'Dominant' and 'Submissive' are not useful at all in this context. What is essential here is an assumption of a role where one individual places himself/herself completely at the mercy of another, with total trust and faith that the other will not abuse that power. That was one of the elements that was at the heart of the Sime-Gen 'heresy'. By trusting the 'Dominant' and accepting the role of victim, the Gen was able to give his/her life force and survive.

In mythological terms, the Victim usually is required to expend his/her entire life force and to perish but it is the voluntary aspect of the Sacrifice as well as essential trust and faith in the efficacy of the Ritual that ensures immortality.

Unfortunately, as is the case with many 'fantasy' novels, the Sime-Gen novels quickly became 'out-of-print' books. I only recently discovered that a small independent publisher had brought some of the novels back into circulation in the form of a single-volume trilogy.

This brings me back to my original theme, which was an attempt to define a 'Classic' in literature. 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker may not be the best-written book of its time but the themes it explored guaranteed that it would outlast its generation. In fact, it is the progenitor of almost everything that is associated with Vampires in contemporary culture. Likewise, 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley cannot be considered an example of the most finely-crafted writing, although it is not poorly written by any means. It is rather its exploration of social concepts and philosophy that gave it the power to influence over a century of literature and art. Are 'Dracula' and 'Frankenstein' true 'Classics'? Does a book become a Classic because of its power to change human psyche or because of its intrinsic value in literary terms? Or, must it contain both components in order to be judged a true Classic?

Returning to an old preoccupation of mine, one wonders how many myths and religions actually are founded upon popular literature or concepts created more for entertainment than as serious spiritual works. Oral poems recited in ancient times probably were not defined by labels and served more than one purpose without ever being judged by any panel of critics. The great ancient epics combined philosophy, religion, history and literature and were passed from generation to generation. Yet, who knows if this indeed was the case or if they mutated and changed with each generation?

What is fantasy and what is fact? What is history and what is fiction? Tolkien's creations are as much part of the fabric of our vision of existence now as any dry recitation of battles or political upheavals in so-called 'history'. The 'Vampire' is as much a part of our psychic and emotional landscape as any hero or anti-hero from 'history' or any widely accepted 'God' or semi-divine creature such as an 'Angel'.

What defines 'reality'? If an individual acts upon a vision created of fiction, his/her acts may have real effects in more lives than his/her own. Wars have been fought for 'religious' dogma and anything that exists in the realm of the spiritual neither can be proven nor disproven.

In any case, the Sime-Gen Universe of Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah definitely enriched the landscape of my own existence. Whether or not the books in the series can be considered 'Classics', I recommend them highly to readers of any age as I would recommend Tad Williams' trilogy of 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn.'

Finally, if a 'Classic' can be defined by the number of individuals it influences and the duration of that influence in terms of decades of new readers, both 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' and the Sime-Gen books can be considered Classics in that sense.
The fact that both have a dedicated, long-term fan base is eloquent of their power.