Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Digen Farris is an exquisitely overtrained channel with a crippling injury that makes it impossible to perform the high-volume work for which he was trained, transferring/channeling selyn between Gens and Simes. (Simes and Gens are complementary human mutations; in adolescence, one either becomes Sime or Gen, consuming or producing selyn.) So he decides to become the first, and only, Sime surgeon (psychic sensitivity making it too difficult for ordinary Simes to perform surgery). But, show more because of the death of every other Sime in his immediate family, he’s also the leader of Zeor, a key House in the Tecton (which manages channels), and he still has the needs of a high-functioning channel, in a system that is rapidly losing the ability to fulfill the needs of such channels. In his medical training, he faces discrimination from the Gens who fear losing an area of expertise to Simes (since Simes are faster, stronger, and don’t need as much sleep), on top of the basic Gen fear that Simes will kill them for their selyn. In essence, Digen is the woobiest woobie ever, and he meets a woman who’s his perfect match for producing selyn, which means they're destined to be mates—except that she’s the leader of a rebel House that doesn’t believe in putting channels in between Simes and Gens, and thus if he takes transfer from her he'll be condemned to die by attrition. It’s complicated, and epic, and I remember how fun it was when I was a teenager even though I feel it less now. If you miss the kind of books that have glossaries and appendices at the end explaining various technical aspects of selyn production and transfer that were too arcane even for an infodump, then go for it! Or, you know, if you like superwoobies. show less

There is something for every Sci-Fi fan in this collection of short stories and poems. Even if you have no knowledge of the Sime-Gen books, writings and world, the foreword to the book provides sufficient background information for you to dive right in. The works in this compendium range from the touching to the kind-of-creepy. Engaging and well-written, with the quality of writing consistent across the pieces.
Please note: I personally know two of the authors in this compendium. I was not show more asked to complete a review and I purchased the book myself. This is an honest review – Had I thought that the book was rubbish I would not have insulted either of them by pretending that it wasn’t. show less

An interesting examination of the Star Trek fan phenomenon in a time period before the series' survival was assured. The writers offer interesting theories regarding the series' lasting impact in syndication, and, while from the perspective of fans rather than students of film, they are quite astute. The anecdote of the filming of Star Trek's final episode captures the dedication of those involved in making the series and compliments Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry's The Making of show more Star Trek. The only detractor is the overuse of Ayn Rand's philosophy, which pervades one of the longer chapters, but the anecdote of visiting the set during the final week of filming helps to move past this. Tailored by and specifically for fans, Star Trek Lives! makes a nice companion piece to The Making of Star Trek. show less

One of Mely’s commenters, I think, described this postapocalyptic vampire tentacle slavefic as the dilating eyedrops before the slash goggles were applied, and that’s not a bad description. Hugh Valleroy, a Gen, enters Sime territory to find the woman he loves. Aisha’s kidnapping might just be the usual Sime raid seeking Gens, but because Aisha is important to the Gen government it might also be a move to destabilize Gen Territory entirely and drive all Gens into the pens. (Never very show more clear why one person would be enough to cause a breakdown given that pens = certain death given that most Simes need to kill a Gen every month to survive, but okay.) Hugh makes common cause with Klyd Farris, the most special channel of all, channels being Simes who can take energy from Gens without killing them and then transfer it to other Simes so that those Simes don’t need to kill. Prose: a little purple, slashiness: very very high, satisfaction to my fourteen-year-old self: almost infinite. We should have a reading club where we all read/reread the books and then write Sime/Gen for Yuletide. (Caution: Weird stuff where apparently everyone is mixed-race modulo white until they’re not; also predatory sexuality where the dominant social mores, against which our protagonists struggle, oppose Sime/Gen mixing more than coercion. And everybody is cool with the concept of buying a wife to keep a talented Gen happy.) show less