* WESTERCON REPORT
* JEAN'S WORLDCON PLANS
* JEAN PUBLISHES INDIA/NEPAL JOURNAL
* NEWSLETTER NEWS
* SIME~GEN 10TH ANNIVERSARY
* WORLDCRAFTER'S GUILD BLOG
* Check our our new Amazon "Stores"
* NEW PROJECT FOR JACQUELINE
* COAL FOR CHRISTMAS
* BOOK REVIEWS
* PATRIC MICHAEL'S FIRST PUBLICATION
* JOIN THE REVIEWERS
* NEW ITEMS FROM ARTISTS AND AUTHORS AT CAFE PRESS
* HELP WANTED
* PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
* AVAILABLE RELEASES
* SITES TO REMEMBER
* SUBSCRIPTION AND CONTACT INFORMATION
**COPYRIGHT NOTICE**
*****WESTERCON REPORT
For the full report on Westercon, please go to:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/07/westercon-2009.html
here is a sneak peek:
Science Fiction conventions aren't like political conventions where large bodies of people send "delegates" to represent them. Cons are a 'y'all come' gathering of anyone and everyone interested in the array of topics and the professionals working in the various fields from books, e-books, and other text media all the way to feature films.
I posted my panel schedule here:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/06/snow-dogs-and-happily-ever-after.html
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******JEAN'S WORLDCON PLANS******
Jean is getting ready to leave for WorldCon in Montreal on August 4. She will fly to NY and stay with Anne Pinzow for a couple of days, and then they will drive up into Canada from there. Jean is on the program in six different places, and will also be manning the SFWA table in the dealer's room for a couple of hours on Saturday. The writing workshop for new writers has been revived, and Jean will be taking part in that as one of the pros reading and commenting on works by aspiring writers. Anne has been given a convention Press Pass, and will be covering the convention for the newspapers she works for.
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******JEAN PUBLISHES INDIA/NEPAL JOURNAL******
Jean has posted the first part of her India/Nepal journal for December 30, to her blog at http://houseofkeon.blogspot.com/ Lost in Agra. Revolt against the tour guide. More photos of India.
Jean took a tour of India and Nepal over the Christmas/New Year's 2008-2009 break. While there, she kept a daily journal of her experiences. Now she has begun to publish that journal on her blog, http://houseofkeon.blogspot.com/ Stop by to read her experiences, and if you would like to be notified each time she posts a new entry, scroll down to the bottom of her blog page and subscribe to receive notices.
Jean's recent blog posts (7/25/09) include:
On House of Keon, the second part of my India/Nepal journal entry from the busy day of Dec. 30, 2008--the Taj Mahal, soldiers in saris, photos and video. http://houseofkeon.blogspot.com/2009/07/december-30-2008-agra-part-two.html
On ListsForYou, Eight Ways to Find Time to Write, http://listsforyou.blogspot.com/2009/07/eight-ways-to-find-time-to-write.html
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******Advertisment******
TENTH ANNIVERSARY SALE! During 2009 we are offering any of the advertising packages at http://www.simegen.com/agreements/pricing.html for four months for the price of three, or eight months for the price of six. Ad packages must be reserved by December 15, 2009, for ads to begin any time up to June, 30, 2010. Lock in this low price by contacting advertising@simegen.com and putting down a 25% deposit, remainder due at the time the ad is posted. Limit of two ad packages per advertiser.Use code SGNL to claim your bargain ad package.
******Please Support Those Who Support Us******
******NEWSLETTER NEWS******
NEW NEWS: We have a new way of accessing WHAT'S NEW on simegen.com
It is a blog where you can read the monthly Newsletter and drop your own comments and news, tell us what you need done, or report problems with pages.
http://whatsnew.simegen.com/
Click in the right margin to follow this Newsletter, and the news will appear in your blogger.com account. Or you can use the RSS feed. If there's another follow-tool you would prefer, please e-mail simegen@simegen.com asking for it (give the URL) and we'll enable it. There are a few handy tools we haven't enabled yet, but they are available (such as feedburner).
Patric set this magical thing up on our server and Karen has posted the Newsletters from Jan 2009 to now, so you can access past news just by scrolling.
Please visit our top page, simegen.com, and note that my Twitter scroll is there for you -- plus a very nice Writing Tips Twitter scroll. Click and read the entire scroll on Twitter.
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******SIME~GEN 10TH ANNIVERSARY
It's the tenth anniversary of Sime~Gen Inc. and simegen.com. We will be celebrating all year long--and we need your contributions to the festivities. Please send your ideas for ways to celebrate to simegen@simegen.com. But please remember that our small staff is already overburdened, so we need easy to implement ideas, not projects for our staff to put in even more hours of work than they already do. If you would like to implement your idea for us--YAY!
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******Advertisment*****
When you enter the imagination of L. H. Young, you begin a fascinating ride, whether you are traveling the time stream with witches, finding love the stuff of legends with her wonderful vampires, traipsing across the universe with her Sci-fi, or going to school with four unusual teenagers born with the ability to heal by touch. Don’t forget that she even writes for the imagination of the very young as seen in The Christmas Kitten.
www.authorlhyoung.com
*****Please Support Those Who Support Us*****
******WORLDCRAFTER'S GUILD BLOG******
We have another new blog for the WorldCrafter's Guild students that is just taking shape.
Here you can read a lesson, post homework, and get a response.
http://www.editingcircle.blogspot.com/
There will be a new lesson on Scene Structure posted soon.
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****** Check our our new Amazon "Stores"
Blatant commercial to keep simegen.com on the air. If you buy from Amazon using one of our search boxes at the bottoms of many of our pages, or find what you're looking for in our a-stores, we get a few cents to pay the bandwidth bills. Our Amazon stores (we recommend buying directly from Amazon itself, not one of their onboard retailers unless you know the retailer very well -- we get paid the same, but have found better customer service with amazon.com shipments).
http://www.simegen.com/marketplace/keybooks/
http://www.simegen.com/marketplace/keygifts/ -- NEW STORE created to hold gift items specially useful to writers, both in writing and in just finding the TIME to write.
Also we now have Google ads on our main entry pages -- and they pay nicely when someone finds what they want via one of those ads. But don't click just to click -- click something that looks like what you really want.
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******NEW PROJECT FOR JACQUELINE******
MY CURRENT MAIN EFFORTS:
http://www.simegen.com/marketplace/downloads/
That is a page that needs redesigning, just as the /marketplace/ top page will.
We are preparing to make available in e-book and on paper, a set of 7 textbooks on writing, 5 of which are on philosophy, the wellspring of ideas and the bulwark against writer's block.
The particular philosophy showcased is the structural framework behind Tarot, but you don't have to be interested in Tarot to use this information in writing or many other endeavors.
Novel and Screenwriting are both very much rooted in structure which becomes invisible when clothed in unique details. Learning to perceive the underlying structure behind seething masses of detail is somewhat like learning to spot starfish against an underwater boulder full of barnacles.
It's pattern-recognition, a brain function we all have and sometimes fail to buff up. These first 5 volumes help train the mental "eye" in a kind of abstract "pattern recognition" that will serve to sharpen results in everything you do.
The final 2 (or possibly more) volumes are directed at readers and writers who want to understand the application of the pattern recognition principles showcased in the first 5 volumes. These volumes are designed to be of use specifically by writers, but writers working in fiction, non-fiction, or screenwriting.
Currently, this project stands at the beginning of Volume #5, with several more weeks work to do on that volume, plus artwork and packaging efforts. This is a team effort that has absorbed Karen, Patric, Jean, me -- and others here -- for a year or more.
Some of these Tarot and Writing Lesson chapters have been posted to the blogs
http://www.editingcircle.blogspot.com/
And, on Tuesdays where I post on
http://www.aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/
The better entries on these two blogs will be compiled and presented in PDF (or other e-book formats) plus, on paper.
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******COAL FOR CHRISTMAS**********
COAL FOR CHRISTMAS by Lois Wickstrom and Jean Lorrah finished in the top ten family screenplays in the 2008 TheMovieDeal contest. http://www.themoviedeal.com/#/finalists/4532422034 Find the SCROLL icon at the lower left, and scroll down to see the top ten in each category.
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******BOOK REVIEWS******
Recommended Books is now posted, with all the books to be reviewed through December 2009 posted.
http://www.simegen.com/reviews/rereadablebooks/2009/
http://www.simegen.com/reviews/ is our review department. It's now recruiting staff. To apply, e-mail simegen @ simegen.com
http://www.simegen.com/reviews/rereadablebooks/ is an SF/Fantasy Review Column. The columns will be linked to this index page after they are published on paper in The Monthly Aspectarian which buys first serial rights.
Book Review columns through June have been posted:
http://www.simegen.com/reviews/rereadablebooks/2009/
You may navigate to previous columns back to 1993 using the COLUMNS BY YEAR feature on the left of the page or search for a particular author or title using the domain wide google search.
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****** Patric Michael (our Webmaster) is pleased to announce his first publications!******
Out since he was a freshman in high school, Nate meets Andy, who is gorgeous, and unfortunately, straight. They're best friends through thick and thin until a practical joke leads Nate to a surprise revelation: ...If I had known just how thoroughly it would turn my world upside down, I would never have kissed Andy in that damned banquet room. I would have kissed him a hell of a lot sooner...
"Timeless" from Dreamspinner Press (https://dreamspinnerpress.3dcartstores.com/search.asp?keyword=dd115&search=GO)
Now Available -- Patric Michael writes Romance, Guy to Guy
"Night Moves," in the Sindustry Vol. 2 anthology (http://dreamspinnerpress.com/currenttitles/Sindustry/sindustry2info.htm)
Check out http://www.patricmichael.com for the Start of Something Great.
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******JOIN THE REVIEWERS
I'm developing a new way to find books to review -- via Twitter! And with more people helping we could, perhaps, find more reviewers. I've been collecting people in writing, editing, publishing, and various parts of the film industry on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
I really could use some help with this. To connect with me on Twitter
http://twitter.com/jlichtenberg
To connect with me on Facebook -- http://facebook.com/jacqueline.lichtenberg
To connect with me on LinkedIn --
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinelichtenberg
Karen MacLeod and Patric are also available on LinkedIn. We are moving gradually into the networking space and evaluating the uses of cloud computing. We need a new coordinator for the Reviews department who can work with the social networking tools.
For the moment, we have only a few reviewers responding to the e-mail List, and I suspect that's the drift away from e-mail because of the spam load.
We need to launch a blogspot blog for our Reviewers instead of a List, or perhaps establish a Group on Facebook.
I will continue to post books to be reviewed to the reviewers List as I discover them. As Coordinator of our Reviews Department, I ask for your help. With the current upsurge in e-book publishing that is sweeping the Internet, we daily receive an increasing number of books to review. Yet, in counterpoint, we have a shortage of reviewers, and many of our reviews staff are several books behind. We are eagerly and actively seeking new people to review for us. As with all of Sime~Gen, our reviewers are volunteers. When they write a review, it is posted
with their byline, and they get to keep the review copy of the books they have read and reviewed.
For more information on our Reviewers Agreement, visit:
http://www.simegen.com/agreements/revagr.html
Please help us by passing this information along to anyone you know who might want to join our happy band. If interested, they can send a note expressing their interest to Jean Lorrah at simegen@simegen.com
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Anyone shopping Amazon who wants to contribute to simegen.com without it costing them a cent, please start by using any of the Amazon Search boxes on our pages. Our top page has three really handy ones near the bottom. http://www.simegen.com
******Please Support Those Advertisers Who Support Us *****
******NEW ITEMS FROM ARTISTS AND AUTHORS AT CAFE PRESS
A SIME~GEN postage stamp is now available to order on cafe press. It can be used just as you would use a regular postage stamp. Be the first on YOUR block to have them!
We've got a new page for Cafe Press items from our artists and authors. Now you can get t-shirts, greeting cards, clocks, mugs, and other great stuff with work from your favorite artists. You can even buy books about Nessie, the Orange Forest Rabbit and The Reluctant Spy that aren't available anywhere else.
http://simegen.com/marketplace/cafepress/ is a direct link to all our items and merchandise stores. Use of this page will give the domain extra income. If there is an item that you wish to see that isn't offered, just write Lois at lois@lochness-monster.com and she'll get it ready for you to order.
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******HELP WANTED*****
The spotlights section of Simegen.com currently needs interviewers, spotlight posting personnel, an assistant spotlights gatemaster, and a keygifts store manager. We are also requesting an Assistant Reviews Co-coordinator - duties include covering when other staff are unable to perform tasks. We are almost finished revamping our reviews section and expect activity to be at a constant high level. We're looking for a versatile quick learner able to put in some time
daily. Pluses are: A good command of the English language (syntax, grammar, punctuation, in that order), some computer experience or ability to learn, and an interest in books. Direct all inquiries to simegen@simegen.com.
Individuals to take over, or assist with the SIMECENTER Site -- It isn't at all hard, but a bit time-consuming...and very rewarding ("meeting" these marvelous authors and artists, if only via E-Mail and their websites.) Please write me, Kaires Tevesu,
****** Please Support Those Advertisers Who Support Us *****
******PUBLICATION SCHEDULE********
We have had to withdraw the entire Sime~Gen project from Meisha Merlin for a wide range of reasons. They missed several deadlines for publication of TO KISS OR TO KILL and showed no signs of intention to get it out any time in the foreseeable future. That stalled everything else. It was very disappointing. So we are now actively in search of another publisher.
THE UNITY TRILOGY should continue to be available for some time -- they have the right to dispose of all stock in the Meisha Merlin warehouse.
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******AVAILABLE RELEASES***********
~ the Omnibus reprint of Jean Lorrah's SAVAGE EMPIRE: DARK MOON RISING --
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/193210013X/rereadablebooksr/ is #1 in the reprint program.
~ Trade Paperback edition of DREAMSPY from BenBella Books and you can order on Amazon and some other places
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932100253/rereadablebooksr/
Read the comments here:
http://www.simegen.com/writers/luren/dreamspy/dreamspyreviews.html
~ SAVAGE EMPIRE: PROPHECIES
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/193210030X/rereadablebooksr/ is #2 in Jean Lorrah's and Winston Howlett's omnibus reprint of the Savage Empire series.
Still Available in Trade Paperback, SIME~GEN: THE UNITY TRILOGY
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592220037/rereadablebooksr/
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***** Sites to Remember *****
Author spotlights: http://www.simegen.com/writers/spotlights/
Chats: http://www.simegen.com/writers/spotlights/chat.html
Romance articles: http://www.simegen.com/romance/articles.html
Reviews of books by Jacqueline Lichtenberg:
http://www.simegen.com/reviews/rereadablebooks/
Reviews: http://www.simegen.com/reviews/
Shopping: http://www.simegen.com/marketplace/
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.
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To contact editor for any reason, please e-mail Lisa Saunders at simegen@simegen.com
*Please Note all material posted on Official Virtual Tecton is copyright © 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 © by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, 1969, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986 and Sime~Gen Inc. 1999-2009.
