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Sime~Gen Perspectives Newsletter
August 2000
< http://www.awe-struck.net> *Stock up for Summer Reading* with new romances, scifi, and everything in between! Many at half-price! Our 1st SERIAL: FREE! That Miracle Man, a sensual summer read (1st weekly instalment: May 22)
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Contents:
FEATURE ARTICLES
NEWS
SITES TO REMEMBER
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
UNSUBSCRIBE INSTRUCTIONS
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***** Feature Articles *****
** Editing Circle
Jacqueline announces that the Editing Circle has launched and is open for posting stories.
"With many personnel changes, activity is picking up at this school.
"We are now ready to invite students to post work in the first of three Editing Circle critique groups to be opened.
"This has taken a lot longer than I could ever have expected; because our new webmaster, Patric Michael, had to build some new tech for us -- the kind of thing that is totally invisible to the end-users like us, but which makes all the difference in the speed and convenience to us end-users.
"Now, the Circle is ready to launch, with all the directions posted.
"And in addition, we must welcome Linda Whitten to the webmaster department. She will be your invisible hands-behind-the-scene at Editing Circle. If you have a problem posting your work, you merely email webmaster@simegen.com with all the details, and you'll be helped.
"To read the directions and get an idea of how the circles will work, go to http://www.simegen.com/school/studentshowcase/circle/ .
"You don't need a password to read that page.
"The actual work that you post will be password-protected so no publisher can subsequently claim you're trying to sell them a reprint of something that's been "published" in rough draft. This is as private as reading your story in someone's living room to get feedback on it.
"To get your password for posting your own work, reading other people's work and posting editorial comments, go to <http://www.simegen.com/school/studentshowcase/circle/> and click the word "here" that is a link. It will take you to a simple form to fill out, and your password will come back by email."
** Personnel
Claire Gadzikowski, who did a lot of the presentation art for the Arensti Art Gallery's Hannah Shapero collection, has taken over the cards operation and is now working hard with Patric on a new design for the area. Patric has dug into the tech offerings of the provider of the e-card software and is exploring possibilities for expanding the e-cards operation so that we will be able to offer an additional venue to advertisers, especially authors
Bruce Gray has added volumes of URLs to the /fandom/ web site, and it's coming along nicely. He, too, is struggling to learn tech faster than he ever wanted to. Frames are enough to defeat anyone, but he's handing in there nicely. Take a look at what he's accomplished -- <http://www.simegen.com/fandom/>. I just sent him a few flyers I picked up at Shore Leave to add more URLs to the site and he's found a bunch more himself. The /fandom/ site is going to become a vital resource for our writers. There is also a very active associated message board with ongoing discussions about new postings and other topics.
** Call for Poems
Jean Lorrah has a friend who is publishing an anthology of poetry by teachers.
If you are a teacher or know a teacher who writes or would be interested in writing poetry, please read the following.
Do you have any poems you've written about teaching and learning, about students, or about the inner life of teachers? Do you have any poetry about the life of a teacher that is crying to be written? Would you like to have one of your poems published? Do you know a teacher who is also a poet?
If so, Peggy Raines (a former Colorado teacher and administrator, now an associate professor at Northern Arizona University) is compiling a collection of poetry by teachers about teaching. Allyn and Bacon have agreed to publish this book. If you want more information or if you want to submit a poem, you can either e-mail Peggy (peggy.raines@nau.edu) or "snail mail" her at 2866 N. Carefree Circle, Flagstaff, AZ 86004.
** Using Tarot to Break Writer's Block
Jacqueline reports "We have just posted an article on using Tarot to break writer's block by M. Kathleen Crouch. Her approach is very different from mine, but worth paying attention to. You'll find the link on: http://www.simegen.com/school/philosophy/esoteric/tarot/."
** News from Sylvia Engdahl
I'm happy to announce that a new hardcover edition of ENCHANTRESS FROM THE STARS, with reset type and new art, will be published in the spring of 2001 by Walker & Company. A paperback will follow later. Walker has a large children's book department and has brought a number of other Newbery Honor Books back into print. I'm delighted that ENCHANTRESS will be added to this series.
Moreover, I am glad that ENCHANTRESS and my novels for older readers are being issued by separate publishers, since I have always felt that placing them side by side in catalogues and on library shelves kept the latter from being found by the readers most apt to enjoy them. Because ENCHANTRESS is well known in the children's literature field I am often thought of as a "children's author," yet the others are not for children (unless you consider high school students "children," which personally, I don't). The marketing of my trilogy by Meisha Merlin, a publisher of adult science fiction, permits it to reach more mature teen readers than it did when distributed in a YA line, as well as adult readers. Walker, on the other hand, will publicize ENCHANTRESS to buyers of children's books outside the science fiction field.
What about THE FAR SIDE OF EVIL? I've long regretted making it a sequel to ENCHANTRESS FROM THE STARS instead of using a another protagonist, since it's a different kind of book and the primary audiences of the two are not the same. I do not want FAR SIDE to appear in a children's line again. It's not appropriate for readers as young as some who like ENCHANTRESS, and it often disappoints them; if it were a movie I would rate it PG-13. But it is of interest to the same readers as CHILDREN OF THE STAR and perhaps in the future it may be reprinted, with some minor updating, by Meisha Merlin. Walker has not acquired any rights to it.
I know that many of you have been hoping that ENCHANTRESS would be reprinted. I'll keep you posted about the date when I will start accepting orders for signed copies. (Unlike the CHILDREN OF THE STAR hardcover, which was a limited print-to-order edition, the ENCHANTRESS hardcover will remain available and orders won't have to be prepaid.)
Other news:
1) I now have free signed bookplates available for you to put in any unsigned copies of my books that you already own. All the details are on my home page; you can look there or send e-mail (sle@sylviaengdahl.com) if you'd like to know how to obtain them.
2) My Web site can now be reached at <http://www.sylviaengdahl.com>. The old URL also works, but it may not do so indefinitely since Teleport has been sold and may change its domain name--so it would be a good idea to update any bookmarks and links you may have.
3) I've made some improvements to my site, and I will be adding new features during the next few months. You can now sign up there to be automatically notified by Mind-it when significant changes are made to my home page.
4) Of course, I'm still offering signed soft cover copies of my CHILDREN OF THE STAR trilogy at the cover price of $20 plus $4 shipping. There are links at my site for credit card payment through both PayPal (which will apply a $5 discount to your first purchase there) and my Amazon seller page.
** New Market
Jean Lorrah brought this to our attention.
STRANGE HORIZONS, a weekly professional online magazine devoted to quality speculative fiction, poetry, artwork, and related non-fiction, is scheduled to be launched September 1, 2000.
Strange Horizons will publish science fiction, dark fantasy, magic realism, slipstream, and other "speculative fiction."
Stories under 5000 words are preferred, but longer submissions will be considered. Longer works, however, may be published in instalments. Payment is professional level: 3 cents/word up to 5000 words, plus 2 cents/word for each word over 5000. Send email to fiction@strangehorizons.com, with "FICTION SUB: Your story title" in the subject line. Submissions are accepted by email only.
Poetry should be 100 or fewer lines. Reprints are accepted. Pay rates for new poetry will vary from $10 to $20 per poem. Send email to poetry@strangehorizons.com, with "POETRY SUB: Your poem title" in the subject line.
Art: We love art that is stylistically distinct while maintaining the essence of speculative fiction. Just about any approach, from abstract expressionism, to impressionistic, to photorealistic, will be considered, provided that speculative fiction is the core theme. Note: No media-tie in art, please. Selected artists will have a negotiated number of works displayed in an online gallery that may contain biographical information, contact info, links to the artist’s web site, and/or a brief promotional statement about current exhibits or projects. Some art may also be used as illustrations; these will be negotiated separately. No pay currently. E-mail three pieces as separate attachments, in *.gif or
*.jpg format, to gallery@strangehorizons.com, with "ART SUB: Your name Piece #", etc. in the subject line.
Articles: Our goal is to publish a regular rotation of non-fiction articles, including interviews with authors of speculative fiction, articles on aspects of science (such as astronomy, ballistics, or artificial intelligence) or historical technologies (such as metalsmithing, leatherworking, or hunting). We also plan to publish criticism of books, movies, games, and any other media relating to speculative fiction. We currently don't offer payment for these articles. We're looking for articles of 1000-5000 words. E-mail to articles@strangehorizons.com, with "ARTICLE SUB: Your article title" in the subject line.
Reviews: We're looking for reviews of recently released or re-released works of speculative art and entertainment: books, movies, games, etc. A review should introduce its readers to the work it describes and assess its quality without giving away important plot elements. More detailed criticism should be submitted to our Articles Department. We're looking for reviews of 750-2000 words. We currently do not offer payment for these reviews. E-mail to reviews@strangehorizons.com, with "REVIEW SUB: Your review title" in the subject line.
Submissions should be in plain text (ASCII) format in the body of your e-mail message, not as an attachment (except for art). Single-space your work, and double space between paragraphs or stanzas. Indicate italics, boldface, and other special formatting with underscores, asterisks, square brackets, and so on. Please note that submissions that are not properly formatted may not be read.
Accepted submissions may be edited for clarity. Submissions that do not meet minimum standards for correct spelling and grammar will be rejected, except in cases of obvious artistic license. Sorry, no simultaneous submissions. We strongly prefer unpublished material; inquire before submitting reprints.
Legal Details: STRANGE HORIZONS retains first-printing world exclusive rights for two months. After that period, you are free to republish the story elsewhere. Archiving rights are at the author's option.
Please see the site (<http://www.strangehorizons.com>) for more detailed guidelines.
CONTACT: Strange Horizons
Mary Anne Mohanraj, Editor-in-Chief
** Request for Information
Jean Lorrah brought to our attention a research question from a writer.
I hope you can help me. I need one Tibetan or East Indian term or phrase. My hero is British. He spent years "going native" in Tibet looking for a dog like the one he lost as a child. Now he's back in England and has fallen in love with an independent, redhead, named Rose. …. Do you know of a term or know someone who might know a Tibetan or Indian term of endearment he might use for the heroine? (I. e My Rose, My flower, Little flower)
Christine B. (CYBORDRU@aol.com)
** Fake Author Comments on Amazon.com
Jean also reports, "If you have read reviews of books on amazon.com, you may have noticed that you can post a review if you wish, and that there is also a place to check that says, "I am the author of this book." To be honest, I never thought much about it--but I would have assumed that Amazon made _some_ kind of effort to be sure that whoever posted in that area was actually the author.
Turns out that isn't so. See the article at http://www.zdnet.com/devhead/stories/articles/0,4413,2608296,00.html.
***** News *****
* ROMANCE: Carol Castellanos announces that the new author spotlights are up. If you follow this link (http://www.simegen.com/romance/spotlights/spotlight.html), you will be taken to the spotlights main page. She has recently added Christine Feehan and Madeline Baker/Amanda Ashley's spotlights.
* HOUSE OF ZEOR ART: Phyllis and Alex Eisenstein are mounting a big retrospective exhibit at WorldCon in Chicago this year. Among the paintings will be the book cover of HOUSE OF ZEOR, in the Berkeley Edition.
* COMPANION IN ZEOR: Jacqueline has posted the first part of a long story "A New Beginning" by Doreen Dabinett (some of you may remember that name from a long, long time ago) to COMPANION IN ZEOR. It's in issue #13 <http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/cz/>), and it's VERY VERY VERY good. She has turned out to be not only talented but also supremely skilled as a writer.
* HITS ON OUR SITE (reported by Jacqueline):
From our hit-rate counter -- the left column is the URL that is requesting files, the middle is the number of accesses, and the right hand number is the number of bytes transferred.
Period covered by these statistics: 8 days (16 Jul 2000 - 23 Jul 2000
207.111.96.116 : 1,244 : 1,114,929
158.252.230.166 : 835 : 374,736
158.252.230.246 : 649 : 1,086,389
216.79.112.112 : 519 : 502,568
phl2a030-0137.splitrock.net : 439 : 1,407,634
proxy-server.rdc-kc.rr.com : 411 : 3,752,496
nycc2-119.nyc.fcc.net : 395 : 579,525
hgce2.156ce.singa.pore.net : 360 : 2,447,253
216.79.112.116 : 337 : 608,232
marvin.northernlight.com : 328 : 0
Northernlights at the bottom is probably a "bot" from the search engine -- they ream us fairly frequently looking for new or changed pages.
nycc2-119.nyc.fcc.net -- that's probably mostly me [Jacqueline] -- that's my ISP, but it covers a huge swath of metro NYC, so there might be someone else in that number.
NOTICE -- hgce2.156ce.singa.pore.net -- We have someone in Singapore reading intensively!
***** Sites to Remember *****
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.
*Please Note all material posted on Official Virtual Tecton is copyright (c) 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, contact simegen@simegen.com. Sime~Gen (tm) is the trademark of a fictional universe) copyright (c) by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986 and Sime~Gen Inc. 1999, 2000.
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