Updates at the Domus Publica

President Sharky · Post by **President Sharky** » 2004-12-01 07:11pm

I'm absolutely loving your work, in particular your fanfiction. I'm a sucker for indepth political drama as well as the political analysis presented in your excellent essays.

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2004-12-06 12:15am

A brief announcement is in order that there is a new short story, "Surely You Can't Be Serious," on the site. Also, the author is curious as to which of the as yet incomplete articles ("Sic Transit Gloria" and "A Billion Here, a Billion There...") you would like to see work done on first, or if there are other subjects that you would like to see addressed. As usual, any questions, comments, or criticism is welcome and encouraged.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-12-06 01:00am

"Sic Transit Gloria," first.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-06 01:28am

"A Billion Here, a Billion There..."

Honestly, though the phrase is probably fairly common, it does sound like you lifted it straight out of a Clancy novel.

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2004-12-06 01:33am

Reactions:
The life and times of a rounding error? Oh, this is gonna be good.
Herald and harbinger of headache? I do hope you didn't spend too much time with a thesaurus for that one.
I don't think I can describe the look on my face as the premise was revealed. Amused just doesn't cut it.
Operation Hammer Fall...I'm sure that's an allusion to something, but I can't remember what.
Right Bail. We have to keep Mothma from hearing about this. Heh.
"Ah, by last report, nothing. He's barricaded himself in his office and refuses to come out." -this is getting better? That shouldn't be possible!
And then, of course, "stranger things have happened." That was great.

And I agree, I'd like to see more of Sic Transit Gloria first.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-12-06 01:35am

I just want to rush him along to where I get to see the article about the return of the Emperor Palpatine and Operation Shadow Hand.

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2004-12-06 01:38am

phongn wrote:"A Billion Here, a Billion There..."

Honestly, though the phrase is probably fairly common, it does sound like you lifted it straight out of a Clancy novel.

It's from a line attributed to Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money" (or variations upon that general theme). Mothma recites the full line in "Surely You Can't Be Serious" when Mushayr comments that they didn't notice the rounding error.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-06 02:02am

Publius wrote:It's from a line attributed to Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money" (or variations upon that general theme). Mothma recites the full line in "Surely You Can't Be Serious" when Mushayr comments that they didn't notice the rounding error.

Oh, I figured that it isn't original to Clancy but some readers might have only been exposed to that quote via him. This might clarify it a bit.

And since I forgot to do any other commentary, I am greatly enjoying your short stories. Thanks for producing them for us (though perhaps you may wish to link to them in the fanfic forum)

EDIT: to clarify further, my original comment regarding that phrase was in response to your latest short story, not to the title of your document-in-progress.

Kazuaki Shimazaki · Post by **Kazuaki Shimazaki** » 2004-12-06 02:02am

Publius wrote:A brief announcement is in order that there is a new short story, "Surely You Can't Be Serious," on the site. Also, the author is curious as to which of the as yet incomplete articles ("Sic Transit Gloria" and "A Billion Here, a Billion There...") you would like to see work done on first, or if there are other subjects that you would like to see addressed. As usual, any questions, comments, or criticism is welcome and encouraged.

Oh, of course Sic Transit Gloria first.

And take your time. You've been making these webpages really fast. I've waited months and years for updates to other websites and I'm still eagerly waiting, so you don't have to rush. Quality is key, no matter what IP says

Moff X died to his medication and Moff Y was shot. LOL!

Honestly, I wonder how many years would we have to force-educate the people who write the C-canon so they would understand this is the kind of scale we are playing with?

Kazuaki Shimazaki · Post by **Kazuaki Shimazaki** » 2004-12-06 02:05am

phongn wrote:Oh, I figured that it isn't original to Clancy but some readers might have only been exposed to that quote via him. This might clarify it a bit.

Cardinal of the Kremlin?

And since I forgot to do any other commentary, I am greatly enjoying your short stories. Thanks for producing them for us (though perhaps you may wish to link to them in the fanfic forum)

Enjoyable as they are, I'd honestly prefer it if he got the Non-fiction articles suitable for universal use done first

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2004-12-06 03:36am

Great stuff as always.

If I had to pick between Sic Transit Gloria and A Billion Here, a Billion There..., I think I'd have to pick Sic Transit Gloria.
But when it does come time for A Billion Here, a Billion There... to continue, my vote is for KDY to be next under the microscope.

Admiral Bravo · Post by **Admiral Bravo** » 2004-12-06 06:38pm

Sic Transit Gloria

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-12-06 07:06pm

Publius, your fiction is simply amazing. I have been reading the articles on your site for some time, but avoiding the fiction. After comments posted here I have read all your short stories, and can now say with confidence there would be a part of the EU I didn't hate if you were licensed. Bravo!

Kazuaki Shimazaki · Post by **Kazuaki Shimazaki** » 2004-12-06 07:44pm

Stark wrote:Publius, your fiction is simply amazing. I have been reading the articles on your site for some time, but avoiding the fiction. After comments posted here I have read all your short stories, and can now say with confidence there would be a part of the EU I didn't hate if you were licensed. Bravo!

Yes, we would love it, but the EU has been smeared with minimalism for so long that these stories will be quickly shunned by 99% of the casual reading community and at least half of TFN that I know of as inconsistent.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-12-06 08:58pm

Why? They never mention 'quadrillions of stormies' or 'thousands of ISDs', its all in office buildings! Obviously, it draws on a base of realistic magnitude, but the stories don't beat you over the head with it. EU readers would just cry because there were no uber characters or cheesy subplots or superweapons.

As an aside, I love the Lovecraftian way he describes the effects of the Force. Much better than the horribly dry 'he used a mind trick +2/+3 and criticalled' method of the EU.

Kazuaki Shimazaki · Post by **Kazuaki Shimazaki** » 2004-12-06 09:08pm

Stark wrote:Why? They never mention 'quadrillions of stormies' or 'thousands of ISDs', its all in office buildings!

Even worse. A story that happens all in office buildings won't hold much appeal to many of the casual readers. They'd say it doesn't have the "Star Wars feel". A reader higher up will see through this and realize what is really happening. Then he'd scream.

As an aside, I love the Lovecraftian way he describes the effects of the Force. Much better than the horribly dry 'he used a mind trick +2/+3 and criticalled' method of the EU.

That's because so far, the only Force user he's using is Palpy, who's supposed to be particularly subtle in its use most times - except for when he's using Force-lightening and Force-storms.

And is that above a reference to D20? Because I thought D6 involves making a few Easy to Moderate rolls in Control, Sense, and Alter

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-12-06 09:30pm

LOL I see your point; lame readers will wonder where the superweapons and uberisms are, and astute readers will cry 'Hey! This implies the existence of a galaxy spanning Empire of almost unimaginable industrial power!'. Funny, and true.

In regard to Palpy, I was really suggesting that it was far better to treat the Force as a mystical element than a skill, since it creates so much more atmosphere. It also keys into the understand method of storytelling he uses, allowing the reader to join the dots, which is ALSO the opposite of the EU style. And it let me use the word 'Lovecraftian' which makes me happy.

I enjoy the political aspects of the stories, and the fact that the end is known to us, along with many(most?) of the charactes, gives it the tone of tragic drama.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-06 09:41pm

Stark wrote:LOL I see your point; lame readers will wonder where the superweapons and uberisms are, and astute readers will cry 'Hey! This implies the existence of a galaxy spanning Empire of almost unimaginable industrial power!'. Funny, and true.

The more astute readers might, however, come to realize exactly how realistic that is. Unfortunately, the lame readers are the ones who make money for the book publishers.

I enjoy the political aspects of the stories, and the fact that the end is known to us, along with many(most?) of the charactes, gives it the tone of tragic drama.

I thought the Mon Mothma/Augustus Palpatine romance was an interesting take on things.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-12-07 07:19am

The Mothma/Palpy thing is just one examply of how Publius can create belief so easily; who has any problem imagining Mothma spending her entire career as a radical liberal, stirring up trouble? At the same time his stories don't actually RELY on this familiarity, and they stand on their own right.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-07 10:31am

Stark wrote:The Mothma/Palpy thing is just one examply of how Publius can create belief so easily; who has any problem imagining Mothma spending her entire career as a radical liberal, stirring up trouble? At the same time his stories don't actually RELY on this familiarity, and they stand on their own right.

She is a nutjob liberal, who else would ban entire classes of warships?