VANTAGE POINT NEWS

February 1987

PERTINENT ADDRESSES: Jacqueline Lichtenberg & Endorsed Books, PO Box 290, Monsey, NY 10952

Katie Filipowicz, Zeor Forum: (street address removed), Spring Valley, NY 10977

Pat Munson-Siter, Registrar of Householdings, (street address removed), Ellsworth AFB, SD 57706.

Kerry Schaefer, Ambrov Zeor, POB 39, South Yarmouth MA 02664

Karen Litman, Companion In Zeor: (street address removed), Somers Pt., NJ 08244

Jean Lorrah, Empire Books, ST zines and prof books: PO Box 625, Murray, KY 42071

Marge Robbins, S/G Welcommittee, (street address removed), Cedar Rapids, IA 52404

Carol Lynn, ST/Kraith sales, (street address removed), Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230

Chandra Lea Morgan - (street address removed), Cleveland Hts., OH 44121 will be publishing the next Zeor Forum. Her address changes frequently.

SASE means SEND A SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED LEGAL SIZE ENVELOPE. If you can't get USA stamps, buy postal reply coupons at your post office and send TWO. VANTAGE POINT NEWS (VPN) is written by Jacqueline Lichtenberg about proffessional and fan activities. TO GET THE NEXT VPN SASE Endorsed Books and put VPN on the outside of the SASE. Mention date of this issue. Mark any SASE with what you want returned in it.

S/G is the abbreviation for the Sime/Gen Universe novels, a creation of Jacqueline Lichtenberg. The Simes and Gens are two mutant strains of humanity, and the stories are set in a hypothetical future Earth where the characters must learn to find the strengths hidden within their weaknesses.

Titles of short stories are in quotation marks, novels in caps.

"Aventura" is a short story in a magical universe I won't develop further. It's in Feb. '87 issue of WORLDS OF IF MAGAZINE, (6 issues for $6.50 from Worlds of If, POB 93, Hicksville, NY 11802.) Kerry Schaefer has sold 2 short stories to WORLDS OF IF, her first proffessional sale! "Cloudscape" is in issue #1 which was given away at the World SF Con in Atlanta this year and is available as above.

FLASH!!!! Nov 16th '86 issue of New York Times Book Review has a cover feature story, SPOCK AMONG THE WOMEN, on Jean Lorrah's NTM ST fan stories and my Kraith ST fan stories. (see below to order Kraith.)

I have sold a story to Andre Morton for her Witch World anthologies. "THROUGH THE MOON GATE" introduces a vampire (good variety) to the Witch World, and we see how some of the laws are different there than here.

I have no news of new book sales. I'll run a VPN addendum when I have news, so SASE Endorsed Books.

DAW is not currently interested in doing any more S/G novels. Write them about it, not me.

Andrea Alton's new S/G novel, ICY NAGER, which is about Genrunners and friendship has now been submitted to Doubleday in outline form. Doubleday is not currently buying because their sf line was cut in half and they are still overstocked, so the IN manuscript is sitting in an unread stack.

YOUR PREFERENCE: The clearest consensus is that horse-and-buggy era books are preferred, so we have submitted Andrea Alton's ICY NAGER. Next will be Kerry Schaefer's ONLY GOOD SIME ..., and then we'll see what's next. THE FARRIS CHANNEL, the fourth book in the FIRST CHANNEL sequence, about the founding of the House of Zeor, is in outline. For the premise of ICY NAGER see "Partners" in CZ #8 which introduces the main characters. For ONLY GOOD SIME ... see Kerry's story in AZ #13 which introduces Frevven, a nearsighted disjunct channel, one of the last to be trained by the Tecton. Along with these, Jean is still willing to write COMPANIONS the sequel to CHANNEL'S DESTINY as soon as DAW expresses interest. I still want to hear from you about what you want to see next.

NEW POLL: To develop new universes, I need information about you. What is your favorite reading matter? List authors, genres, magazines or subjects. List hobbies, vacation choices, or professional reading. I want to know what sorts of things you already know well, and what you don't know about.

I've been having a ball working up new universes: my vampire novel, THOSE OF MY BLOOD, set on the moon; my interstellar spy novel, DREAMSPY, where astrogators use numerology, and telepaths are useful but distrusted; my quasi-Arthurian fantasy, COURT MAGICIAN, where a few humans have been interdimensionally kidnapped by aliens for breeding, but the humans rebelled; my contemporary occult murder mystery, CHARACTER ASSASSIN, ASSIMILATION, a ghost story set in modern Louisiana, and BLACKHORN a fantasy about a tribe cursed to grow black horns and to succumb to lust under the full moon. I read this at Earthcon Cleveland this year when I substituted for C. J. Cherryh. I've submitted another Treknovel idea to Pocket, and developed a fantasy about a female assassin, TWO WAY RIVER. Also BOXMASTER, an sf adventure.

Jean Lorrah's solo S/G novel, AMBROV KEON, is AVAILABLE from Empire Books. SASE Jean for order from. AK has typos, AND our POB 290 is listed as POB 190.

ZELEROD'S DOOM by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah is available. It has a wonderful map of the Territories done by Gail Bennett. DAW is interested in where their books are NOT AVAILABLE. Send DAW (not me) the name and address of the store, name of the manager, and what titles were unavailable. ZD picks up 16 years after HOUSE OF ZEOR. Look in the back for character list and glossary.

Volume II of the Book of the First Lifewave, CITY OF A MILLION LEGENDS. (non-S/G) Sequel to MOLT BROTHER has just been declared out of print, as has MB itself. Vol. III, is under contract.

Berkley has reprinted their 4 S/G books, HoZ in June '85, Unto ($2.95) in Oct. '85, FCh Feb. '86, and Trinrose summer '86. Same cover art. Now they are letting them go out of print.

THE DUSHAU TRILOGY: DUSHAU, FARFETCH, and OUTREACH are available from Questar and from Endorsed Books. It's a love story between a nearly immortal nonhuman male and a human woman as they struggle to found a multi-species colony. It was inspired by Dr. Who (Tom Baker), and by Andre Norton's STAR RANGERS.

AWARD: I was named "Best SF Writer" of 1985 for DUSHAU by the Romantic Times Newsletter. There has been some interest in doing a German translation, and there may be more German editions of S/G.

The S/G short story "Channel's Exemption," set far upwhen, during the interstellar period of the Tecton, is in Galileo Magazine #4. The two issues, Galileo #2 and #4, can be ordered directly from the Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop, 339 Newbury St., Boston, MA 02115, for $5 each. Endorsed books also has copies for $6.50 each (we have to buy from them.)

RECOMMENDED BOOKS: Katherine Kurtz's DERYNI; C. J. Cherryh's CHANUR!! I've other books to mention on RECOMMENDED BOOKS, a newsheet which I print out on my computer so it's a rapidly changing item. Anyone interested, either keep in touch with me, or SASE.

SIME/GEN WELCOMMITTEE. Contact Marge Robbins, (address above) to find new friends who like S/G or who are active in various sf fandoms. If you're new to sf fandom, Marj can help you de-code our jargon and find 'zines, cons and other people with your same interests.

AMBROV ZEOR lettercolumn editor is now: Ruth Sacksteder, (street address removed), Berkeley, CA 94704

ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM KERRY SCHAEFER: SASE KERRY (ADDRESS ABOVE) for info on the S/G Songbook, POSTSYNDROME (a fanzine about S/G sexuality), AZ #14, all back issues of Ambrov Zeor, plus out-of-print issues of AZ, CZ, and ZF. AZ #15 is due out in March, 1987. Kerry has a new S/G (and other JL universe) Q&A department. Send questions to Kerry, typed double spaced on individual pages. Anything she can't answer will be forwarded to me. Interesting new questions will be used in a Q&A column in AZ. Kerry is also the S/G copyright coordinator, so if you are planning to publish a newsletter or fanzine involving any of my universes, please contact her.

ALSO ON TAPE: Much of the S/G fanzine material has been taped for the blind and handicapped readers. But the project head has retired. If anyone wants to take over, contact Karen Litman.

REGISTRAR OF HOUSEHOLDINGS keeps a listing of fan-invented householdings (used by fans in stories or as a group name) using as much authentic S/G heraldry as possible. If you suddenly can't reach Pat at above address, send for another Vantage Point News to get her new address. Write her to reserve your House colors.

KRAITH COLLECTED: (Kraith is my fanzine series of STAR TREK stories) Carol Lynn's ADDRESS FOR ALL KRAITH MAIL is (street address removed), Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230, SASE there for current availability of Kraith Collected (they are still being reprinted regularly as demand indicates). Carol has a new baby girl, so be patient if mail is slow for awhile. Mary Ann Drach is still working on the next major Kraith story -- (if I do a proffessional ST novel, it won't resemble Kraith.)

UNDERSTANDING KRAITH: this dictionary of Kraith terms is a good introduction to the Kraith Series. $1.00 plus postage from Judy Segal, (street address removed), Pawling, NY 12564. SASE her for info. She's also written a STW booklet for new writers called PROTOCOLS. Excellent for the new writer.

SIME/GEN CONCORDANCE: Katie Filipowicz has made little progress on this due to lack of fannish interest. If you really a want a S/G concordance write her and enthuse a little.

DATABASE: Katie now owns a Radio Shack portable plus modem, and has set up my modem. She has put on database, a listing of what sorts of computers are owned among us all. If you own a computer, list with her. SASE Katie for a copy of the list when you list your computer system.

ZEOR FORUM #5 is now available (100pp! $3.75). SASE Katie, address above, for order form. ZEOR FORUM has now found a new editor for #6. Chandra Lea Morgan has the fully edited master copy and is searching for typing help. Order forms for #6 now available, SASE Chandra or Endorsed Books.

RATHOR RESEARCH: This is our Astrology project. Katie has retired from doing this, and we're looking for someone else to take it over. Anyone interested let me know.

KAREN LITMAN (add. above) plans to have COMPANION IN ZEOR #9 available by mid-1987. Karen's now accepting contributions for CZ #10. PUBLISHED letter or other item earns free copy, as with all 'zines.

ACADEMICS: two scholars have decided women sf writers don't get enough critical attention and are writing a book on 3 women writers, Barbara Paul, Ann Maxwell, Syndey Van Scyoc. They were going to include me, but ran out of space. They still intend to get me into another volume which will be part of the Starmont Press SF Writers Series. Please send them anything you think might help: Dr. Jane Weedman, Texas Tech University Dept. of Eng., Box 4530, Lubbock, TX 79409-4530.

WRITERS!!! "Sf and Fantasy Workshop" runs a workshop by mail with a newsletter and a magazine that publishes stories (original universes only) with prof. writers critiques. I've been invited to do critiques. Very inexpensive to join and subscribe. Info: Kathleen D. Woodbury, (street address removed), Salt Lake City, UT 84108.

ESOTERICON V, Jan. 1988. SASE me for information on next year's Esotericon.

CONSPIRACY, 45th Worldcon, Aug. 27-Sept. 2, '87. I currently do not plan to go to this one.

ISISCON, ST Con, Aug 28-30, '87, Washington (D.C.) Hilton. $25 to 4/30/87, $30 after. e.C.A.T./ISISCON, POB 15677, Chevy Chase, MD 20815. I'll be on the program.

CACTUSCON, (Nasfic '87), Sept 3-6, Phoenix AZ Hilton. I have tentative plans to go to this one; SASE me if you must know. Info. CACTUSCON, Box 27201, Tempe, AZ 85282: 602-968-5673.

WRITING WORKSHOP, Harrisburg PA. Nov. 8 & 9 (or 15 & 16) '87, I expect to be teaching a 2 day wrkshp with other writers well worth studying with. Info. SASE Douglas Rosentrater, Rose Llehrman Arts Center, Harrisburg Area Comm. College, 3300 Cameron Street Road, Harrisburg, PA 17110-2999. It's inexpensive.

DARKOVER GRAND COUNCIL #10, Thanksgiving weekend at the Radisson in Wilmington, Delaware. I usually make this one.

NOREASCON THREE, 47th World SF Con, Sheraton-Boston, Boston MA. 'till 9/7/87 attending memberships $50. Info and memb: Noreascon Three, POB 46, MIT Branch P.O., Cambridge, MA 02139.

FOR OTHER CONS I plan to attend, a VPN addendum (off the computer) will be sent for SASE.

Live Long and Prosper,

Jacqueline Lichtenberg