***** Feature Articles *****

SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, ALTERNATIVE HISTORY: Lois Tilton Hosted by Carol Castellanos

EROTICA, MYSTERY, FANTASY, HORROR AND VAMPIRES: Nancy Kilpatrick/Amarantha KNIGHT Hosted by Carol Castellanos

MYSTERY, FANTASY, HORROR AND VAMPIRES: Elaine Bergstrom Hosted by Carol Castellanos

CHILDREN'S FICTION, ROMANCE, ADULT FICTION, SCIENCE FICTION, PARENTING TEXTBOOKS, HUMOR, AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND BUSINESS HOW-TO: Joan Bramsch, Hosted by Carol Castellanos

** Fund for Terrorist Attack Victims

NovelBooks, Inc. Announces Donation to Fund for Victims and Emergency Personnel Involved with the Terrorist Attacks Against the United States of September 11, 2001.

DOUGLAS, MA

NovelBooks, Inc. President & CEO, Penny Hussey, announced today that a significant portion of all sales income from the publisher's website will be donated to a fund to be set up to assist the survivors and emergency personnel involved in the terrorist attacks in New York; Washington, DC; and Pittsburgh.

"Tuesday was a day I will never forget. Our nation has suffered a tremendous blow. I was not directly involved in the attacks, but, like so many others I am shocked, horrified, and angered. NovelBooks, Inc. and its authors have quickly joined as one to support all those involved in the tragedy with a loss of a loved one, acquaintance, or as a member of a heroic team of rescue, security, medical, and airline personnel," says Mrs. Hussey.

"Like many others, I feel I need to do something to help in this war against global terrorism. This is something I can do. Although specific funds have yet to be announced for the victims of this tragedy, NovelBooks, Inc. commits itself to donating half of its net income from the sales of its ebook and print publications to such funds once established. To accomplish this goal, NBI will open its new website for sales on September 17th., two weeks prior to its scheduled grand opening, so that funds may start to be collected as soon as possible. Donations will continue through the remainder of 2001."

"I encourage and invite other publishers to join this cause, and help preserve the future of our children and grandchildren. If e-publishing is the future, the future is now, and the time to act is now."

Awe-Struck E-Books , Atlantic Bridge Publishing , Hard Shell Word Factory , Writers Exchange E-Publishing , SynergEbooks , Bookbooters.com , and DiskUs Publishing have all joined in this cause, and other publishers are expected to also join this coalition of on-line publishers in the next few days.

"Starting on Monday, September 17th, readers are encouraged to log on to NovelBooks, Inc. , select one or all of the books currently available for purchase at NBI, or purchase a book from one of the listed affiliate publishers, linked from the NBI site so that proceeds from the sales can be collected and sent to those in need as soon as possible. The more books sold by all participating publishers, means more help to those who need it at this time of great sorrow and pain."

"We are all stunned by these events. Even though not all the logistics are in place at this time, we must start the process now so that funds are available without delay," says Mrs. Hussey. NovelBooks, Inc. will keep all readers advised of the donations made to the selected funds via their website.

NovelBooks, Inc. is a publisher of books in electronic (ebooks) and print (POD) formats in all genres except young adult, and erotica. For a complete listing of all titles, visit NBI's website

For More Information Contact:

***** News *****

** Book Award

Second Annual Independent e-Book Awards Opens for Nominations

Designed to recognize and reward excellence in electronic books and digital storytelling, the Independent e-Book Awards program is now accepting nominations for electronic books published between December 1, 2000 and November 30, 2001.

The Awards Committee has established many genre categories. Two finalists and one winner will be chosen per qualifying genre for the e-book categories. This year there are $1,000 cash awards for the Best of Fiction, Best of Non-Fiction, and Best Use of the Medium plus three Achievement Awards for outstanding work in the field of electronic literature. Also new this year, the Reader¹s Choice Awards will recognize Favorite e-Book, Favorite e-Book Related Website, Favorite e-Reader Device, and Favorite e-Zine.

A portion of each entry fee submitted for the Independent e-Book Awards will be used to develop a scholarship fund for the recipient(s) to visit Dana Atchley Productions in San Francisco and attend workshops at the Center for Digital Storytelling. Sunny Ross is working with Mr. Atchley¹s widow, Denise, to define the parameters of the scholarship. Complete details will be announced October 1, 2001.

The Indie Awards are open to authors and artists published by independent publishing houses, self-published authors, or authors who use non-exclusive publishers. The primary goal of the Awards program is to help authors gain recognition for their work.

Works will be judged on quality of content, professional presentation of the work, and creative use of the medium. Finalists will be announced on the website March 31, 2002; and winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony, tentatively scheduled for early May 2002 in Santa Barbara, California.

Excerpts of the winning books will be shown on major websites again this year. All finalists and winners will receive annual memberships in the Mystic-Ink Community and may participate in promotional events during the year arranged in conjunction with the RoadWizards e-Tour. (Additional prizes may be announced.)

Nominations may be submitted online or snail mailed to the Independent e-Book Awards Committee. Submission procedures are outlined on the website

More information about the Independent e-Book Awards is available on the website: http://www.e-book-awards.com/indie-intro.shtml http://www.e-book-awards.com/indie2002/media/news.html

Media Contact:

** Jean Lorrah Web Site

Jean Lorrah's "Kiss of Death, Kiss of Life" website is now open . Read the first chapter of her novel, BLOOD WILL TELL, to be published by Awe-Struck E-books in October, 2001.

** Sime Center Stories and Art: Read a Good Story, Do a Good Deed

September's offerings

Jayge Carr has provided another delightful story, this one called "Plumduff Potato-Eye": exploring the world of a giant. If you liked "Shreck" you'll love this.

Lois June Wickstrom gave us a cautionary tale in "It's How You Play the Game": Computer games have their own set of values. What are yours?

Our artists this month are all faithful supporters of Sime Center:

Celia Ann Leaman sent two lovely, restful images of a shore in the Gulf Islands, British Columbia. (Do you know the Spanish word 'descanso'? It has no direct equivalent in English. I tend to define it loosely as: at peace with yourself, at peace with the universe...and the sun is out. Well, these pictures inspire 'descanso' in plenty.)

Michael Cox has created a multiple triptych of charming fantastic journeys. Visit his 'Universe of Sight and Sound' to enjoy: "Searching."

Tracey Palmer introduces a brand new set of art works set in a magical aquatic realm. And you can see one of these whimsical images, called "Moonlit."

Please visit the Sime Center to enjoy these offerings, and make donations to our recipients. (Our recipients send their thanks for your generosity, too... It does help.)

** Fraud charges filed against Romance Foretold

Fraud complaints have been filed against RomanceForetold, Inc; Dark Star Publications; Pulsar Books; and RFI West with the attorneys general in Washington, New Jersey, and Arizona; also with the Arizona Better Business Bureau, Tempe Police Dept., and the US Postal Service.

** New Markets

EXTREMES 5: FANTASY & HORROR FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Submission Guidelines

Looking for twenty original dark fantasy and horror stories set in locations other than the continental U. S. NO reprints. NO word limit. NO taboos. NO stories that don't have a reason for being set in the locale the writer has chosen.

The ideal EXTREMES story reflects the culture, mythology, and people ... yea, verily, the entire milieu of another world (so to speak). Take horror somewhere it hasn't been, write a good story with believable and engaging characters, a consistent plot, a logical resolution, and you're a shoe-in. The reading period for this anthology will begin on October 1, 2001 (though submissions will be accepted sooner) and close as soon as the editor has twenty stories he likes.

Proposed publication date is January 2003. As with the Stoker-nominated first volume in the series, EXTREMES 5 will be published as a signed, limited-edition CD-Rom featuring multimedia extras (digital audio, digital video, photographs, supporting essays, etc.). Contributors will be paid an equal share of all profit earned through sales of the anthology.

Manuscripts may be submitted by snail mail (send to above address) or electronically by e-mail, attached (any format) or embedded, to the above e-mail address ONLY. Be sure your e-mail address is included on the cover of your manuscript, as your original e-mail will not be saved. Do not attach more than one file to the same e-mail. Submissions sent to the editor's other e-mail addresses will be deleted unread. All submissions will be acknowledged and assigned a queue number within 48 hours (unless the editor is off somewhere sailing, in which case he'll get to it at first landfall). Once assigned a queue number, you may check the status of your submission at any time by visiting the submission queue at the Lone Wolf web site (URL above).

Response time will average four to six weeks (from the start of the reading period).

------------

Call for Submissions

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF ROAD STORIES

Maxim Jakubowski & M. Christian are currently soliciting stories for THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF ROAD STORIES, to be published by Carroll & Graf /Robinson.

The road is an enduring, enthralling symbol of transition, adventure and discovery. From Jason and the Argonauts to Jack Kerouac, the Road has represented journeys more exciting than the destination, and transition from one place and state of mind to another. The journey, the quest, the road tale/movie has for ages immemorial fascinated writers and film makers and been the consistent backbone of the art of the narrative, from Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES to modern exponents such as Alex Garland's THE BEACH.

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF ROAD TALES is open to many different styles and genres but all stories must be about the love of the open road, of rolling down the window to feel the miles breeze by. Suggested themes include: cops and crooks barreling down midnight boulevards; summer vacations gone wildly wrong; sentimental journeys made in hope and despair; ancient travels of wandering wise men; post apocalyptic road warriors and high-octane nightmares; tales of truck stops and gas stations; parodies and variations on such classic road pictures as THELMA AND LOUISE and VANISHING POINT or even the "Road" films of Hope and Crosby; stories of fast driving and reckless cornering; explorations of the seduction of the open road and modern wanderlust; stories of the lives of traveling salesmen and hard driving, hard living truckers; and many, many more.

Participants in this anthology will have the honor of being published alongside such notables as Jack Kerouac (ON THE ROAD), John Steinbeck (THE GRAPES OF WRATH), and Hunter S. Thompson (THE RUM DIARY) and many others.

United States Submissions should be sent to:

European and United Kingdom submissions should be sent to:

Questions should be sent to M. Christian at zobop@aol.com

---------

Call for Submissions

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF FUTURE CRIME/COPS

Edited by Maxim Jakubowski & M. Christian

Maxim Jakubowski & M. Christian are currently soliciting stories for THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF FUTURE CRIME/COPS, to be published by Carroll & Graf /Robinson.

The future will not be rocket ships and aliens, "To boldly go where no-one has gone before", or pure hearted heroes fighting black hearted villains. The future in The Mammoth Book of Future Crime/Cops is dark -- a world of ambiguity, of good men gone bad and bad men doing good. The world of this book is our world of today, turned sideways. This is the future of Blade Runner and Akira, the world of cops and crooks written across a bleak, end times landscape of urban decay, pollution, corruption, of multinational organization pulling the strings of governments and controlling the world and our daily lives in occult manner and cyber big brothering. A world on its last legs, barely holding together. It's a world where hardcore noir crime fiction has expanded into nightmarish proportions.

The Mammoth Book of Road Tales is open to many different styles, and genres but all stories must be about crime and criminals set in a very near, familiar future environment - think noir rather than science fiction. Suggested themes include: last good cops stalk murderers across corrupt cities torn apart by violence, sagging with decay; two-bit hoods and gangstahs scavenge for that one score that will finally lift them out of their death-trap lives; bizarre drugs and even more bizarre criminals lurk in the pitch-black warrens of continent sized urban battle zones; men and women equipped with frightening weapons and grotesque body modifications try to hold back the new waves of evil and crime.

Possible participants include William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Michael Marshall-Smith, Rudy Rucker, K.W. Jeter, Philip K. Dick, Jon Courtenay-Grimwood, Richard Calder, Paul J. MacAuley, Iain Banks, Kim Newman, Pat Cadigan, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip Kerr, George Alec Effinger, John D. Spencer, J.D. Robb, Walter Mosley, Joe R. Lansdale, Steven Saylor, Paul Johnston and others.

United States Submissions should be sent to:

European and United Kingdom submissions should be sent to:

Questions should be sent to M. Christian at zobop@aol.com

See www.mchristian.com for more information

** New CZ Material!

Katherine Rylien announces the adoption of Nova's Sime~Gen web pages by A COMPANION IN ZEOR. Some of you may have seen Nova's "Sime 101" web page and convention photo page in their old home. They have now been posted in issue #15 of CZ.

CZ also plans to launch a new letter column in the near future. But we must have letters first! Much of the material of the type that ended up in the letter columns of the paper 'zines is now discussed on this list, but we don't feel a letter-col is redundant.

We hope that the "Sime 101" page will give rise to some good-natured controversy. For those who are not familiar with it, the page is filled with Gen slogans along the lines of:

"My Sime's village called; their idiot is missing."

And "I only toy with Simes on days that end in Y."

to give just a couple of examples. We would love to get some one-line rejoinders expressing the Sime point of view... counter-rejoinders are also welcome. Ideally, in addition to the letter column, CZ would like to supplement Nova's page with a page of one-liners from various points of view possible within the Sime~Gen universe.

In addition, I am informed that installment #6 of D. DaBinett's wonderful series, A NEW BEGINNING, is on the way. CZ looks forward to receiving correspondence on that as well once it is posted.

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

Chats

Romance articles

Reviews

Shopping: books gifts

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, 2001.

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