The Secret Pens: What is Sime~Gen?

What is Sime~Gen?

The Sime~Gen science fiction novels by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah were published from the mid-1970's to the mid-1980's.

Set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, they tell the story of a humanity split into two separate races: the energy-producing Gens and the tentacled, energy-feeding Simes. At first, Simes kill Gens to get their selyn or life energy. The two halves of humanity live in separate nations in a state of perpetual war. But then it is discovered that some Simes, called channels, are able to take selyn safely from a Gen and give it to another Sime. Some Gens, called Companions or Donors, can learn to give selyn safely to any Sime. Eventually there comes to be peace. Together, the eight published novels and two published short stories span several centuries from horse-and-buggy era to spaceflight.

Unfortunately, most of the books are out of print. However, you can buy House of Zeor, Ambrov Keon, and Zelerod's Doom bound together in a book called The Unity Trilogy which has been printed by Meisha Merlin Publishing Inc. (Click on the "order" link on the right to buy one.)

On their series page Meisha Merlin shows more Sime~Gen items to be published in the future. Alas the intended publishing dates listed are wrong, and they have been unable to set new dates as of yet, but here is what's planned:

To Kiss or to Kill (includes three new Sime~Gen works: an eponymous novel, a novella "Personal Recognizance", and a short story "Best of Fools".)
Fort Freedom (includes reprintings of First Channel and Channel's Destiny, and a new novel The Farris Channel)
Digen Farris ambrov Zeor (includes reprintings of Unto Zeor Forever, Mahogany Trinrose and renSime)

In the meantime, the original printings of the eight books are still readily available used. Try the following links: (The novels are shown in story chronological order, not the order they were published in)

Title:	Places to Try to Find Them:
First Channel	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central
Channel's Destiny	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central
House of Zeor	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central
Ambrov Keon	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central
Zelerod's Doom	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central
Unto Zeor, Forever	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central
Mahogany Trinrose	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central
RenSime	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central
The Unity Trilogy	eBay \| BookFinder \| Used Book Central Amazon.com \| Meisha Merlin Publishing Inc.

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Note: the books were originally referred to as the Sime Series, and were later called Sime/Gen. The use of the tilde ~ instead of the slash / is a subsequent (1996) development and is not reflected on the covers of any the original printings of the novels.