Search SFE    Search EoF

  Omit cross-reference entries  

Lichtenberg, Jacqueline

Entry updated 10 July 2023. Tagged: Author.

Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com

pic

(1942-    ) US author who began publishing sf with "Operation High Time" for If in January 1969, but soon concentrated on fan fiction set in the Open Universe permitted by the owners of Star Trek; Star Trek Lives! (1975) with Sondra Marshak and Joan Winston is a famous nonfiction description of the early days of Star Trek fandom. Her first book was House of Zeor (1974), the initial volume of the Sime/Gen sequence, also an open-universe series, which continued with Unto Zeor, Forever (1978), First Channel (1980) with Jean Lorrah, Mahogany Trinrose (1981), Channel's Destiny (1982) with Lorrah, RenSime (1984) and Zelerod's Doom (1986) with Lorrah. The series is set 1000 years after a mutation has split the human race into Gens and Simes; the latter survive by sucking life force ("selyn") from the former, rather like Vampires, though they use tentacles fixed to their arms; however funnelled, the process is fatal unless effected through a specially mutated Sime called a Channel. First Channel and Channel's Destiny describe the first appearance of Channels in a society which has been reduced to near-barbarism by undeclared war between the two subspecies. House of Zeor and later volumes (in terms of internal chronology) follow the gradual evolution of a compromise, and move toward a sense that the two subspecies together may form a whole greater than the sum of the parts. The considerable success of the series may be partially due to the sexual connotations of the Sime/Gen relationship, particularly the Simes' use of remarkably phallic tentacles to (sometimes forcibly) acquire selyn.

A second sequence, the Kren/Molt Brothers series – Molt Brother (1982) and City of a Million Legends (1985) – deals with relationships between humans and members of a reptilian species (the Kren) who must choose special companions to guard them when they moult. The Dushau trilogy – Dushau (1985), Farfetch (1985) and Outreach (1986) – tells the story of a rebellion against a repressive galactic empire by the human heroine and a group of alien empaths who establish rapport with planetary ecologies. The Luren sequence, comprising Those of My Blood (1988) and Dreamspy (1989), reintroduces vampire-like beings, this time extraterrestrial. The Hero sequence of Military SF tales comprising Hero (1993) and Border Dispute (1994) are as by Daniel R Kerns.

Although Lichtenberg's prose is sometimes undistinguished and her backgrounds are routine, she has acquired many dedicated readers through writing about intensely emotional cross-species relationships based on mutual affection and need. [NT]

see also: Ecology.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

born New York: 25 March 1942

works

series

Sime/Gen

Kren/Molt Brothers

Dushau

  • Dushau (New York: Popular Library/Questar, 1985) [Dushau: pb/Ken Barr]
  • Farfetch (New York: Popular Library, 1985) [Dushau: pb/Ken Barr]
  • Outreach (New York: Popular Library, 1986) [Dushau: pb/Ken Barr]

Luren

Hero

  • Hero (New York: Ace Books, 1993) as by Daniel R Kerns [Hero: pb/Cliff Miller]
  • Border Dispute (New York: Ace Books, 1994) as by Daniel R Kerns [Hero: pb/Cliff Miller]

Sime/Gen: Clear Spring Chronicles

  • A Change of Tactics (Cabin John, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2017) with Jean Lorrah and Mary Lou Mendum [Sime/Gen: Clear Spring Chronicles: pb/]
  • A Shift of Means (Cabin John, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2019) with Jean Lorrah and Mary Lou Mendum [Sime/Gen: Clear Spring Chronicles: pb/]

collections

nonfiction

works as editor

links

previous versions of this entry



x
This website uses cookies.  More information here. Accept Cookies