Sime~Gen Perspectives Newsletter

MAY 2009

Contents:

* MEDIAWEST CON REPORT
* WESTERCON IS NOW FIESTACON
* WRITING WORKSHOP
* SIMECENTER NEWS
* REREADABLE BOOKS UPDATE
* SIME~GEN 10TH ANNIVERSARY
* Check our our new Amazon "Stores"
* COAL FOR CHRISTMAS
* BOOK REVIEWS
* PATRIC MICHAEL'S FIRST PUBLICATION
* BORDERLAND UPDATE
* NEW ITEMS FROM ARTISTS AND AUTHORS AT CAFE PRESS
* HELP WANTED
* PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
* AVAILABLE RELEASES
* SITES TO REMEMBER
* SUBSCRIPTION AND CONTACT INFORMATION
**COPYRIGHT NOTICE**

******MEDIAWEST CON REPORT******

Dudley and I had a great con. Dudley, the therapy cat, greets people at my dealer's table and soaks up as much petting as people care to give. Then after a good nap he is ready to go out for the evening, party hopping. At this con there are people who deal out of their rooms as well as lots of people who just open their doors to invite people in. Dudley understands that invitation: boxes and suitcases to sniff, and more people to pet him and exclaim over how well he walks on a leash.

MediaWest*Con is graying. It was smaller thisyear, fewer attendees, fewer dealers, fewer events. In fact my last panel, later this morning, is about why we older folk remain in fandom. Yet I have had steady sales at my dealer's table. I brought about 25 used Star Trek zines from the 1970's, and was surprised to have just two people wipe me out of that commodity on the first day. I've also sold a number of copies of the books I brought, Unity, Blood Will Tell, the Savage Empire compilations.

I was on panels about horse books and disaster preparedness (how I survived the ice storm), as well as one about how to write when your inspiration takes a leave of absence.

On Saturday I recorded a podcast with a man who has podcast his way into a small press picking up his books. He is a new author, but through podcasting made connections that made him a judge for a new "reality" TV series called The Write Stuff that will begin airing on the CW in June. Contestants are would-be authors vying for publication of their books by a small press plus a marketing campaign. As obviously the TV audience would not be interested in people talking about plot structure and character development, I fear that the show will be all about marketing strategies, with the cleverest marketer, not the best writer, winning. We'll see.

But it is still interesting that even a very small network would take on a show about writers!

Those are pretty much my adventures at this year's con.

Jean

******

******WESTERCON IS NOW FIESTACON

WESTERCON is now FIESTACON this year.

FiestaCon is scheduled for July 2-5, 2009 and will be held at the Tempe Mission Palms hotel in Tempe, Arizona. Westercon is a science fiction / fantasy convention held annually in the western half of North America or in Hawaii. Our panels cover a broad array of topics, both traditional and contemporary, with special emphasis on Literature, Science and Art. Please visit our website for more info.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg has accepted an invitation to be a speaker.

Note that the Artist Guest of Honor at FiestaCon is Todd Lockwood, who created the amazing cover art for The Unity Trilogy. By tradition, and honoring the presence of JL and Todd, there will be a Sime~Gen party at FiestaCon.

******

******WRITING WORKSHOP

New Writing Workshop Lesson Posted

Our Journalist In Residence, Anne Phyllis Pinzow, has given us another challenging writing lesson.

Read an article on Parole Laws that was published in a newspaper then do the homework assignment.

******

****** SIMECENTER NEWS ********

You will see that the same story and artwork are still posted. The Wiseman Foundation site disappeared, along with the donation page, soon after I posted the last SimeCenter. To be fair to our author, I must leave her page up until the donations page for this important organization has been available for 30 days.

Within the next week, the new SimeCenter will be up, and the information about our new story, artwork, and recipient will be posted to the main Sime~Gen list , and the SimeCenter list.

Apologies to those who tried to donate to The Wiseman Foundation earlier. The page is available now. The Center, Donna (our author), and SimeCenter thank you for your support.

This month's story is a first for SimeCenter: a non-fiction article about the effect of Star Trek on a small town:

STAR TREK CONNECTION by Donna McCrohan Rosenthal
- memories are made of this

The accompanying artwork is:

TINGUINS, by G.B. Chew
- they move if you glance away

These works are submitted in support of a new recipient, one that is meaningful to many of us: Wiseman Cancer Research Foundation, world-renowned research, development and testing center for cell-line vaccines against cancer.

Send your comments, questions, etc.--about the site, the stories and art...whatever--to the address below. [Mention 'SimeCenter' in the subject so I'll know it isn't spam.]

In Service to Unity,
Kaires Tevesu

*****

******REREADABLE BOOKS

The March and April 2009 review columns in ReReadable Books are now posted.

You may navigate to previous columns back to 1993 using the COLUMNS BY YEAR feature on the left of the page or search for a particular author or title using the domain wide Google search.

******

******SIMEGEN 10TH ANNIVERSARY

It's the tenth anniversary of Sime~Gen Inc. and simegen.com. We will be celebrating all year long--and we need your contributions to the festivities.

Please send your ideas for ways to celebrate to simegen@simegen.com. But please remember that our small staff is already overburdened, so we need easy to implement ideas, not projects for our staff to put in even more hours of work than they already do. If you would like to implement your idea for us--YAY!

******

****** Check our our new Amazon "Stores"

Blatant commercial to keep simegen.com on the air.

If you buy from Amazon using one of our search boxes at the bottoms of many of our pages, or find what you're looking for in our a-stores, we get a few cents to pay the bandwidth bills.

Our Amazon stores (we recommend buying directly from Amazon itself, not one of their onboard retailers unless you know the retailer very well -- we get paid the same, but have found better customer service with amazon.com shipments).

-- NEW STORE created to hold gift items specially useful to writers, both in writing and in just finding the TIME to write.

Also we now have google ads on our main entry pages -- and they pay nicely when someone finds what they want via one of those ads. But don't click just to click -- click something that looks like what you really want.

******

******COAL FOR CHRISTMAS**********

COAL FOR CHRISTMAS by Lois Wickstrom and Jean Lorrah finished in the top ten family screenplays in the 2008 TheMovieDeal contest. Find the SCROLL icon at the lower left, and scroll down to see the top ten in each category.

******

******BOOK REVIEWS******

2009 Books to be Reviewed

Http://www.simegen.com/reviews/ is our review department. It's now recruiting staff. To apply, email simegen@simegen.com.

Http://www.simegen.com/reviews/rereadablebooks/ is an SF/Fantasy Review Column. Books to be reviewed through December 2009 in the column ReReadable books are now listed here.

The columns will be linked to this index page after they are published on paper in The Monthly Aspectarian which buys first serial rights.

Book Review columns for March & April Posted

The March and April 2009 review columns in ReReadable Books are now posted.

You may navigate to previous columns back to 1993 using the COLUMNS BY YEAR feature on the left of the page or search for a particular author or title using the domain wide google search.

******

****** Patric Michael (our Webmaster) is pleased to announce his first publication!

Out since he was a freshman in high school, Nate meets Andy, who is gorgeous, and unfortunately, straight. They're best friends through thick and thin until a practical joke leads Nate to a surprise revelation: ...If I had known just how thoroughly it would turn my world upside down, I would never have kissed Andy in that damned banquet room. I would have kissed him a hell of a lot sooner... "Timeless" from Dreamspinner Press. Coming in June!

We are also happy to report that another Patric work, "Night Moves," has been accepted for publication by Dreamspinner Press and will appear in the "Sindustry" anthology, to be released on July 6th, 2009.

*******

****** BORDERLANDS UPDATE ***********

Borderlands Part 31, "Till Death Do Us Part", has been posted at http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/fans/bev/boom/index.html#part.31. This is a very concentrated part, showing us different camera angles on Brenn and Pametta Pollovic's wedding reception (sorry, you don't get the actual ceremony) and wedding night (NOT what you might expect). Plenty of surprises here from beginning to end, culminating with a wedding horror story that makes Robert Altman's look like peanuts. Then there are a few episodes of followup over the next two weeks.

After that, you'll just have to send us your comments (go ahead, do it!) and wait for the not-yet-posted Part 32, tentatively titled "On The Run."

******

******NEW ITEMS FROM ARTISTS AND AUTHORS AT CAFE PRESS

A SIME~GEN postage stamp is now available to order on cafe press. It can be used just as you would use a regular postage stamp. Be the first on YOUR block to have them! We've got a new page for Cafe Press items from our artists and authors. Now you can get t-shirts, greeting cards, clocks, mugs, and other great stuff with work from your favorite artists. You can even buy books about Nessie, the Orange Forest Rabbit and The Reluctant Spy that aren't available anywhere else.

http://simegen.com/marketplace/cafepress/ is a direct link to all our items and merchandise stores. Use of this page will give the domain extra income. If there is an item that you wish to see that isn't offered, just write Lois and she'll get it ready for you to order.

******

******HELP WANTED

The spotlights section of Simegen.com currently needs interviewers, spotlight posting personnel, an assistant spotlights gatemaster, and a keygifts store manager. We are also requesting an Assistant Reviews Co-coordinator - duties include covering when other staff are unable to perform tasks. We are almost finished revamping our reviews section and expect activity to be at a constant high level. We're looking for a versatile quick learner able to put in some time daily. Pluses are: A good command of the English language (syntax, grammar, punctuation, in that order), some computer experience or ability to learn, and an interest in books. Direct all inquiries to simegen@simegen.com.

Individuals to take over, or assist with the SIMECENTER Site -- It isn't at all hard, but a bit time-consuming...and very rewarding ("meeting" these marvelous authors and artists, if only via EMail and their websites). Please write me, Kaires Tevesu, if you are interested.

--- People who talked to me earlier about helping: I've lost track of your communications in the throes of several changes of computer. PLEASE contact me again. The time is right, the templates are much more robust, I have a small backlog of stories (the hardest part of operating SimeCenter), and I've even documented some of the processes. I'd like to talk to you again.

******

******PUBLICATION SCHEDULE********

We have had to withdraw the entire Sime~Gen project from Meisha Merlin for a wide range of reasons. They missed several deadlines for publication of TO KISS OR TO KILL and showed no signs of intention to get it out any time in the foreseeable future. That stalled everything else. It was very disappointing.

So we are now actively in search of another publisher.

THE UNITY TRILOGY should continue to be available for some time -- they have the right to dispose of all stock in the Meisha Merlin warehouse.

******

******AVAILABLE RELEASES***********

~ the Omnibus reprint of Jean Lorrah's SAVAGE EMPIRE: DARK MOON RISING -- is #1 in the reprint program.

~ Trade Paperback edition of DREAMSPY from BenBella Books and you can order on Amazon and some other places. Read the comments here: http://www.simegen.com/writers/luren/dreamspy/dreamspyreviews.html.

~ SAVAGE EMPIRE: PROPHECIES is #2 in Jean Lorrah's and Winston Howlett's omnibus reprint of the Savage Empire series.

Still Available in Trade Paperback, SIME~GEN: THE UNITY TRILOGY.

******

***** Sites to Remember *****

Author spotlights

Chats

Romance articles

Reviews of books by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Reviews

Shopping

Sound files of Jacqueline Lichtenberg pronouncing Sime~Gen vocabulary words can be found at http://www.simegen.com/jl/nivetsoundfiles/index.html.

To sign up for classes, go to http://www.simegen.com/school/SchoolForms.html.

To volunteer, go to http://www.simegen.com/agreements/helpwanted.html for the latest openings.

To unsubscribe from this list, send an e-mail to listserv@simegen.com with no subject and the text "unsubscribe NEWSLETTER-L".

To contact editor for any reason, please e-mail Lisa Saunders at simegen@simegen.com.

*Please Note all material posted on Official Virtual Tecton is copyright © by Sime~Gen Inc. and all rights are reserved. To get your Sime~Gen(tm) material sanctioned for web posting or to get permission to repost from official materials, e-mail ambrovzeor@aol.com or contact simegen@simegen.com. Sime~Gen (tm) is the trademark of a fictional universe copyright © by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986 and Sime~Gen Inc. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.