VANTAGE POINT NEWS

April 1988

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

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

Mark Kadey, Registrar of Householdings, (street address removed), Oshawa, Ontario L1J-5X8, CANADA

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

Karen Litman, Companion In Zeor: (street address removed), Pleasantville, NJ 08232

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 52403

Carol Lynn, ST/Kraith sales, (street address removed), Grosse Pointe Park, MI 43230

Chandra Lea Morgan - Zeor Forum, POB 5641, Cleveland, OH 44101-0641

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.

I've sold a story to Andre Norton 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. My story is in the second anthology of Witch World stories due out in early '88 in hardcover.

THOSE OF MY BLOOD, my vampire/intrigue/espionage/love-story (that isn't horror) will be published by St. Martin's Press in hardcover on Halloween 1988. Cover price $19.95. I'm taking pre-publication orders for $22.00 expecting I can mail a two pound (416 printed pages) book for that even after the expected postal increase. See Endorsed Books order form. THOSE OF MY BLOOD paperback has not been scheduled but will probably not appear until fall of '89.

DREAMSPY: this is a "companion volume" to THOSE OF MY BLOOD, the story of the shooting war going on in the galaxy around Earth during and just after the events of THOSE OF MY BLOOD. The story revolves around different characters, but there is a "vampire" in it as well as a love story or two, and some nonhumans. DREAMSPY has been bought by St. Martin's Press for hard and soft cover and the contract calls for delivery of the manuscript by the end of December '88. For more details on the content of the story, and for a detailed description of the story of THOSE OF MY BLOOD see the newsletter, First Contact edited and published by Marge Robbins (add. above). For publishing schedule of THOSE OF MY BLOOD paperback or DREAMSPY, SASE me and label the envelope with what information you want.

Andrea Alton's S/G novel, ICY NAGER, which is about Genrunners and friendship has now been submitted to Doubleday in outline form. Doubleday has been restructured and is starting new lines. Andrea's manuscript is still in their unread stack. "Partners" in CZ #8 introduces the main characters of IN.

Meanwhile, Andrea has honed her craft skills to perfection and has sold a splendid novel in her own universe, a novel anyone who liked HOUSE OF ZEOR will love. It's called DEMON OF UNDOING and will be published as a Baen paperback in June '88. Get your bookstores to stock it! Andrea is my candidate for the Campbell Award for Best New Author and I've recommended DEMON for the Nebula. Anyone who does not know how the Hugo, the Nebula and the Campbell are voted, note. S/G Welcommittee puts out a Question & Answer 'zine and will answer both basic and complex questions about S/G or fandom in general.

Another S/G fan writer turned proffessional is Kerry Schaefer who has a S/G proffessional novel, ONLY GOOD SIME, which has not yet been submitted anywhere. Like Andrea Alton's ICY NAGER, ONLY GOOD SIME is built from the fanzine stories Kerry has written. You can get a taste of the main character, Frevven and Kerry's splendid writing in Ambrov Zeor #13, #14, #15, and in collaboration with Marge Robbins, AZ #16. Frevven is a nearsighted disjunct channel, one of the last to be trained by the Tecton.

In addition to ICY NAGER and ONLY GOOD SIME, we also have COMPANIONS by Jean Lorrah which exists only in outline. It is the sequel to CHANNEL'S DESTINY and the prequel to a novel I want to write, THE FARRIS CHANNEL, which likewise exists only in outline. Jean is still willing to write COMPANIONS the sequel to CHANNEL'S DESTINY as soon as any publisher expresses interest.

In the lifecycle of any series, there is always a mid-life hiatus. With luck, during this hiatus, the author will be able to retrieve the rights and licenses to the first books in the series so that in its second surge of popularity, the author will finally clear a profit. HOUSE OF ZEOR, the first S/G novel to be published, has now gone completely out of print and I have repossessed the rights from Doubleday. Endorsed Books still has a few copies in stock. The other books are rapidly going out of print, though German reprints are earning well. FIRST CHANNEL and MAHOGANY TRINROSE have been bought by Moewig Verlag. As the foreign editions go out of print, I hope to retrieve the rights to these titles too.

Meanwhile, in the career of any series writer, there is the period where the series must be set aside and the author must demonstrate versatility. If this is done successfully, it will spark new interest in the series and cause a revival (with terrific covers!).

So I've been having a ball working up new universes. With the sale of my vampire novel, THOSE OF MY BLOOD, I combined that universe with my interstellar spy novel, DREAMSPY, where astrogators use numerology, and telepaths are useful but distrusted, and now I've sold DREAMSPY also to St. Martin's. Remaining unsold as yet are 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; a fantasy about a female assassin, TWO WAY RIVER; an sf adventure about a human/non-human team that retrieves "blackbox" recorders from vehicle wrecks in space, called BOXMASTERS; a wry witted "urban fantasy" about an Elf who bootlegs magical devices across the veil dividing his world from ours, titled RENEGADE ELF; a collaboration with Roberta Klein-Mendelson in a near-future alternate fantasy universe centering on the Catholic Church electing a Pope called KINGDOM, POWER AND GLORY; and in that same universe, nearly four thousand years prior to that, an alternate universe historical fantasy of my own devising called PATH OF THE HEARTHFIRE which spans a period from 1700 B.C.E. to 1305 and travels from the Dead Sea to Delhi, India, to Granada Spain, speculating on the origin of the Tarot.

MOLT BROTHER and CITY OF A MILLION LEGENDS have now gone out of print and the LAST PERSUADERS exists only in outline. The rights to all three books have reverted to me and my agent has the titles on the market again.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS, a newsheet which I print out on my computer, will be suspended because I am now doing reviews for a new magazine called SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY FORUM which has a 10,000 copy print run. Subscriptions as cheap as $3 per year, bimonthly. I've done 2 review columns plus an article on the new STAR TREK. SF&F Forum, c/o John Colton, POB 138, Woodbury, NY 11797-0138.

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, Marge can help you de-code our jargon and find 'zines, cons and other people with your same interests. The Wel runs a S/G question bureau, so send Marge your questions. Not only will she provide answers, but if your question is used in the Householding Chanel Inquirer, a Q&A zine, you will receive a copy.

S/G ZINES: New issues of all the S/G zines have come out in 87/88. Ambrov Zeor #16, Companion in Zeor #9, and Zeor Forum #6 are all available, as is the first issue of Householding Chanel Inquirer (edited by Marge Robbins). Contact the editors (addresses above) for info on these issues, or past issues. All back issues of S/G zines are currently available, although those which are officially out of print must be individually photocopied. Contact Kerry for out of print zines. All the zines need material: stories, articles, artwork, poetry, letters, etc. If your contribution is used, you get a free copy.

ON TAPE: Much of the S/G fanzine material and a number of Jacqueline's books have been taped for blind and handicapped readers. Karen Litman (address above) is head of this department, but she needs your help. If you are willing to record zines or books, contact her.

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. Contact Mark Kadey (address above) if you wish to register a House. Mark is also starting a S/G apa and needs more members. He has an information sheet available to interested fans.

KRAITH COLLECTED: (Kraith is my fanzine STAR TREK series) Carol Lynn's ADDRESS FOR ALL KRAITH MAIL is (street address removed), Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230. SASE her for current availability of Kraith Collected. Mary Ann Drach is still working on the next major Kraith story. Carol is re-issuing Claire Gabriel's "Quartet Plus One", plus a full length non-K/S, non-Kraith ST novel to be pub'd in 88. UNDERSTANDING KRAITH: this dictionary of Kraith terms is a good introduction to the Kraith Series. $1.00 plus postage from Judy Segal, (stree 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 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.

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, Sydney 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.

Anne Pinzow and Roberta Klein-Mendelson are thinking of putting together a new kind of esoteric arts symposium. SASE Pinzow, POB 290, Dept. LEV, Monsey, NY 10952 for info.

June '88, I'll spend 5 days in Louisiana and Texas.

July 8, 9 & 10, SHORE LEAVE X, a STAR TREK convention at the Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn, 245 Sawan Road, Hunt Valley, Md. 21031-1099 (301-785-7000). I plan to be there if I can find room mates. Registration is $30 at the door.

July 29-31, '88, ECUMENICON I, Quality Inn, Center City, Arlington, VA. Phone: (703) 524-4000 pre-reg. $25. I'll be teaching Tarot/Qabalah and on Thurs. nite, a writing wkshp at this magical/mystical con. Ask the concom for prog. items you want. Con info: (street address removed), Washington, DC 20001 (202) 393-4144 or (301)-445-0388. Registration by mail is $35. At the door, $45.

Nolacon II, 46th World SF Con, Sept. 1-5, '88, New Orleans, LA; Info. Nolacon II, (street address removed), New Orleans, LA 70112. Worldcon members vote for the Hugo.

EARLY NOVEMBER: it seems there will be a third annual Writing Workshop in Harrisburg, PA. I have no idea right now if I'll be involved in that one. Info. SASE Douglas Rosentrater, Rose Llehrman Arts Center, Harrisburg Area Comm. College, (street address removed), Harrisburg, PA 17110-2999. It's inexpensive.

Thanksgiving Weekend, Nov 23-27, I plan to be at DARKOVER GRAND COUNCIL XI. NOTE CHANGE OF LOCATION: it will now be at the Marriott HUNT VALLEY INN (address and phone # above.)

Noreascon Three, 47th World SF Con, 8/31-9/4, 1989. Sheraton-Boston MA. 'till 9/7/87 attending memberships $50. Info and memb: Noreascon Three, POB 46, MIT Branch PO, Cambridge, MA 02139.

For fresh updates on cons, see LOCUS the Newspaper of the SF field. To subscribe, write Locus Publications, POB 13305, Oakland CA 94661. That way you won't miss any good books or good cons.

Live Long and Prosper,