Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Jacqueline Lichtenberg (born 25 March 1942 in Flushing, New York) is an American science fiction author.

Many of her early novels are set in the Sime - Gen Universe, which she first described in a short story in 1969. Writing the series satisfied her preference for "'Intimacy' – the kind of relationship between the character and other characters, between the character and the universe, or between the character and him/herself, that brings trust into life" over "Action," a genre she "seriously dislike[s]." Her other writings have dealt with fantasy and occult subjects, including articles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has written a monthly review column on science fiction, under the title "Science Fiction", for The Monthly Aspectarian. Under the pen name 'Daniel R. Kerns', she has published two novels, Hero and Border Dispute.

Many of her works have been written in collaboration with Jean Lorrah, with whom Lichtenberg has a business partnership. A Star Trek fan, she has been actively involved in the Trekkie fan movement. In particular, she wrote the first Kraith Star Trek fan fiction. She is one of the Friends of Darkover and her early writing has been mentored by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Lichtenberg has a chemistry degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Lichtenberg's Sime-Gen series involves a distant future where human beings have evolved into two races, with a predator-prey relationship. New York Times critic Gerald Jonas described Sime-Gen collection as combining "qualities of both porn and the soaps ... because they deal obsessively with the physical union between the two races". The physical union between Sime and Gen, which is not actually sexual, provides the Sime with a life-giving substance known as selyn, produced only within a Gen's body.

The Sime-Gen series began with Lichtenberg's Operation High Time, a short story published in 1969. It followed with her first novel in 1974, House of Zeor. As Lichtenberg continued work on the Sime-Gen series in the 1970s, science fiction writers Marion Zimmer Bradley and Hal Clement provided encouragement and mentoring, teaching her more of the "craft and trade of writing". She also became involved with writing partner Jean Lorrah, who co-authored First Channel (1980) with Lichtenberg.

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