thuvia ptarth

I tried to reread those a couple of years ago and just couldn't get more than a few pages in-- which is a pity, because I have such fond memories of them. (I don't actually remember them as being good, mind you, just as deeply satisfying, in the way that vampire soulbonding tentacle slavefic is when one is fourteen.)--ellen_fremedon

The Sime/Gen series was created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and written by Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah. It's set in a future in which humanity has mutated into two subspecies, Simes and Gens. Gens produce a biological energy called "selyn" which Simes need to absorb at least once a month to live. Unfortunately, taking selyn can kill the Gen. Children become Sime or Gen at some point during adolescence. In the earliest books in the series, the world is divided into Sime Territories and Gen Territories. In Gen Territories, children who change over into Sime get shot on sight, often after killing friends or loved ones in their ravenous First Need. In Sime Territories, Gens are considered subhuman and raised in "Pens" in "Genfarms" or kidnapped from Gen Territory, and each Sime kills a Gen once a month to survive. Children of Simes who become Gen at adolescence are escorted by a loved one to the border of Gen Territory if they're lucky, and sold off to the Pens if they're not. Eventually, people discover a Sime submutation called "channels" who are able to take selyn from Gens without killing them and give it to other Simes. "Householdings" where Simes and Gens live together are set up and eventually become an organization called the "Tecton," which ensures that regular Simes live off selyn transfers from channels instead of directly drawing from (and endangering) Gens.

The most visible marker of change is that Simes have tentacles on their forearms -- four "handling" tentacles which are like extra, more flexible fingers, and two smaller tentacles just for selyn transfer which are usually retracted in their sheaths. Simes are efficient predators and are attracted by Gen fear or pain (leading to much angst when they attempt to give up the kill) and can read emotions in the selyn fields surrounding the human body. There need to be five contact points for selyn transfer--usually the four lateral tentacles and mouth-to-mouth connections. Transfer isn't like sex, the authors are at great pains to assure us. It's better than sex and way more intimate. And totally not gay even when transfer partners are of the same sex and even though strong sexual desire is one of the results of satisfactory transfer and opposite-sex transfer partners frequently fall in love in the books. Yeah. I personally mentally cross out all the explicit "But channels can't be gay!" lines the authors feel compelled to put in.

The publication history is pretty different from the internal chronology, so I am going with internal chronology. Most of the books stand alone pretty well.

( About the individual books )

In conclusion: You know you wanna.