Lit Literature member interviews

1. How did you come up with your username? Do you think you're more of a loyal imperial than Jello?

As with virtually all my various usernames, it was born primarily of frustration. I like names with meanings or that are at least complete sentences, and detest inserting random numbers in order to establish a name as unique - that's the sort of thing reserved for clones. Unfortunately, decent names are so rarely still available by the time I get around to registering somewhere (I was reading here for years before I actually joined). I don't recall what my original choices were, or the precise trigger for the sudden stroke of inspiration that produced my final name (I probably couldn't come up with something so fitting again if I tried). I do recall first attempting to input it without underscores, but the system rejected me. Only recently have I been able to convert it to the state it should have been in from the beginning.

With regard to our comparative devotion to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, that is not for me to decide. Only His Imperial Majesty the Emperor can truly gauge the depth of the love his servants bear for him, and reward them appropriately. Those who engage in internal power struggles and seek to advance themselves at the expense of their fellow Imperial servants bring only harm to the cause of the glorious institution that is the Galactic Empire. I do not, however, believe I am the honorable Grand Admiral's inferior in my love, devotion, and respect for His Imperial Majesty the Emperor - long may he reign!

2. Where are you originally from? Are you currently living there, or did you move elsewhere?

Originally, a quite small town where everything of importance was within easy walking distance, set squarely in rural southeastern Ontario (and by "rural," I mean you keep the windows closed to keep the ever-present smell of manure out). Its wonders were many: motorcycle-riding female ministers holding fashion shows in church, farmers riding their tractors down main street for lack of actual drivers' licenses, heavily accented British firefighters and German bakers, the ringing of the great bell at high noon, the infamous feral cat with more claws than strictly necessary according to evolution, trees landing on my home, drug dealers next door, and other astounding sights. Moved away a couple years back to another small town (by your standards, that is - still five times the size of the old one), and now I can see America from my house. Almost.

3. What do you do for a living?

Ask me again in about a month and maybe I can give you a decent answer. That's the short answer, anyways.

The long answer is that I'm still looking for the answer to that question, and have been since fall 2010. Financial advice and planning are my areas of specialty, but it seems the banks aren't interested in that. Or in aspiring tellers with no prior experience in being a teller. It's not a career path I'm particularly fond of or even enjoy, but it's the best option available to me at the moment. Applications in person are turned away with instructions to apply online - online applications never make it through to a human being. Volunteers without prior experience and supervisors to vouch for them are turned down flat. Eventually, I had to accept that conventional methods were not going to work - I'd have to wait for an opportunity to present itself.

That opportunity has now presented itself. The government has instituted a new work placement program, which I intend to take full advantage of. I started that process this morning, and will continue it with another meeting a week from now.

 

Thanks. They've set me up to participate in a workshop about online applications tomorrow. I am doing so with the intention to explain to them afterwards why it doesn't work.

 

You'd be correct. "We've decided to go with an internal candidate" is quite a common phrase. I almost got through with a contact once - was going to have an interview set up with the regional vice president of one of the Big Five banks. Alas, the branch manager fell ill and they didn't even bother putting up listings for the next six months, so nothing ever came of that. I've only ever once gotten far enough to be handed one of those personality quizzes, and that was for a job I ended up dropping out of the process for - as it turned out, it was entirely commission-based, which meant I'd have to pay them for the opportunity to earn them money (and to rent their offices and supplies), and pay penalties if I didn't make enough. Of course they were also the most persistent in trying to get me back.

 

It is immensely frustrating - I'm now trying to work out how to use the experience I have accrued but my self-perception is about a decade behind, in part I still see myself as lacking in that! That's the effect not being able to crack the job market in terms of getting a job had on me!

In the end, all you really need is an interview panel that actually have the balls to give a motivated individual, i.e. you, a chance, once you get it, take it, you may not get another.

 

Everybody who interviews me tells me I'm a fantastic interviewee. They just don't hire me.

 

It's often advised but quite tricky to do: Remember you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you!

To pass an interview you still need the luck of the draw in your favour.

 

Ugh. I hate hearing feedback like that. Just once I like them to say "You were terrible in this interview, and I hate you. You're hired".

 

Yeah, I'd love to have J. Jonah Jameson for a boss too.

 

They had a great "style of the early 80s" Deadpool flashback issue with the classic Daily Bugle - JJ getting story pitches from everyone, Peter trying to push a story about Osborn Industries before realizing he's being completely ignored, and then saying "Hey, here's a story. I'm Spider-Man." (which, of course, they ignore).
Also, Jameson shouting at the comic reader, telling him/her to get a haircut.

 

4. How do you rank the Star Wars films. Can you explain your reasoning?

Empire Strikes Back, A New Hope, Revenge of the Sith, Return of the Jedi, Attack of the Clones, Phantom Menace.

ANH was a movie: it was ESB that elevated it to a saga. ESB built on everything ANH established, and demonstrated that this was a vast universe with a great deal more potential to be explored. It resurrected Vader and gave us Yoda, Death Squadron and the Executor, Piett and Veers, the Emperor, Lando Calrissian, a colorful sample of underworld figures from across the galaxy brought together in the Hunt for Han Solo, and "I am your father." It also gave us the Battle of Hoth, but I can't hold that against it too much. RotS I rank above RotJ only because I cannot bear the thought of RotJ being in the top half. RotS at least finally gave us the fall of Anakin Skywalker and the rise of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, though it may not have been as well told as I might've wished. RotJ, on the other hand, is a subpar conclusion to the saga and a disappointing followup to ESB at best. ESB was three steps forward, RotJ was two steps back.

The galaxy's finest legions, with access to the finest weapons and technology in the galaxy, are toppled by an army of furry dwarves armed with sticks and stones. An army of Wookiees would have been reasonable: their phonetically-backwards halfling cousins, less so. Endor is almost as bad. After building up the scale of the Empire and the Galactic Civil War, we are treated to the assumption that blowing up His Imperial Majesty the Emperor in the middle of nowhere is the end to all their problems. Had this occurred in the orbit of Imperial Center and had the rebels seized it in the chaotic aftermath and proceeded with their usual butchery of everyone integral to the government, I could've understood that. Then they would've assassinated the Empire's ruler and seized the center of the galaxy at the same time - that can be reasonably assumed as a major victory. Leaving Coruscant untouched simply raises the question of how they're going to survive the inevitable counterattack after losing a significant portion of their fleet on the edge of the galaxy with no support nearby to speak of.

In short, ESB took the saga to a new level of depth, while RotJ abandoned that in favor of an easy happy ending and three decades of stuffed Ewok royalties.

AotC comes out ahead of TPM for reasons I think are obvious. AotC had Obi-Wan Kenobi: Jedi Investigator and Christopher Lee. TPM gave us Jar Jar Binks and the Trade Federation. TPM could have been the start of an incredible tale, easily the equal of the original trilogy. In the end, it didn't even come close. TPM's plot was too unrelated to what followed to be an effective prequel - it was more of an Episode 0 than an Episode 1. The Neimoidians never had a chance against Peter Cushing, and their battle droids will never approach the iconic status of the Imperial stormtrooper. Christopher Lee could have been a dramatic and charismatic villain, but half of AotC was not nearly enough to make effective use of him prior to his disposal in favor of the simplistic and cartoonishly evil General Grievous. Having him serve as the prequels' Vader would have been a much more effective choice. AotC may have been mediocre, but TPM was a disappointment.

5. Who are your favorite Star Wars characters? Why?

His Imperial Majesty the Emperor ranks first, of course. Lord Darth Vader (when he's not being Anakin Skywalker), his faithful servant. Raith Sienar, who seriously deserves his own book. Ghost Prison Trachta, the best kind of Trachta. Soontir Fel, interstellar counterpart to Baron von Richthofen. Adalric Cessius Brandl. Laurita Tohm, whose untimely and needless demise we will forever mourn. Armand Isard, who is vastly superior to his daughter in all respects. Jahan Cross, the Imperial James Bond. Malcor Brashin. Roan Fel, the best emperor since His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, and his daughter Marasiah. Teren Rogriss. Kohl Seerdon, the only Grand Moff to ever take on Rogue Squadron in his personal shuttle. Shea Hublin, the Rebel Destroyer. Bloodletter. Tessala Corvae. Janek Sunber. Maarek Stele. You may, by now, have noticed a pattern. Most have served the Empire's cause well in one way or another, and many can be counted among its noblest, most virtuous, and capable servants. Also, the stars of some of the best comics we've ever been gifted with.

That is not to say, however, that I find the New and Old Republics entirely lacking in individuals of substance. Dif Scaur, who put more effort into trying to win the Vong War than a good portion of NR High Command put together. Fyor Rodan, the true Chief of State. Lando Calrissian, because he's Lando Calrissian. Kyle Katarn. Finis Valorum, whose dynasty we have not seen nearly enough of. Joram Kithe, the best thing to ever come out of Insider. Sagoro Autem. Ranulph Tarkin. Wynn Dorvan, who finally proved that the secretary is better-suited to running the galaxy than all the other elected Chiefs of State combined. Denjax Teppler, who was sadly neglected after three books. And who can forget Supreme Chancellor Blotus, a shining paragon of his species?

Even the Jedi had their better aspects. Tholme, for one, who had more personality and intelligence than most Jedi Council members. Not that that would be difficult. Dooku, as well, who is tragically underused, outside the poorly-named but otherwise fantastic novel that was Yoda: Dark Rendezvous.

Special credit must also go to Wullf Yularen, who is, in a roundabout way, the entire reason I'm here. The first Star Wars site I ever visited was an image-based analysis of various aspects of A New Hope (which I cannot find at the moment - others may have better luck than I), and the search for Yularen's rank and identity brought me to Technical Commentaries, which in turn eventually delivered me here.

 

Bonjour!
There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Every morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town

Did I nail it? I feel like I nailed it.

You're almost the Sarah Palin of Canada.

 

Why can't this have been the movie?

 

6. What places have you traveled to? Which one is your favorite?

I haven't been able to do nearly as much traveling as I would like. Never left the province, will probably never leave the country. I'm not particularly fond of tourists, or of the concept of being one, so there's that, as well. I'd also very much prefer not to wander off anywhere I'm not greatly familiar with the language, laws, and customs of. Of the places that I have been, I don't have any particular fond memories of any of them. Now, the list of places I'd like to go if I were able, that is a considerably longer one. Rome, of course. Venice, Florence, and Monteriggioni, too. Malta. Gibraltar. Madrid and Seville. Athens and Corfu. Constantinople. Monaco. Marseille and Paris. London. Zurich. Liechtenstein. Luxembourg. Dubai. Stockholm. Hong Kong and Macau. Tokyo. Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Cyprus. Crete. Andorra. Taiwan. Casablanca. Prague. Cairo and Alexandria. Zanzibar. Corsica. Rhodes. Jerusalem. Aden. Shanghai. Samarkand. Sevastopol. Sri Lanka. Baghdad. Damascus. Seoul. Vienna. Isfahan. Copenhagen. Generally-speaking, national capitals and places of great historical and architectural significance. I'd also like to visit various heritage sites and other ancient and medieval wonders around the world, but that would likely be a list too long for the system to contain within a single post.

7. What are your favorite books, in and out of the EU?

First and foremost comes Alexandre Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo. Certainly the best book I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Someday, perhaps, we will get a proper and complete adaptation of it. Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga would have to be second. By far my favorite books, and the only series I have never been able to grow tired of - I can start it over the moment I finish it without hesitation, which I have never done for anything else. I give them the highest level of recommendation possible to anyone who hasn't read them yet. Then there's Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles, which had the highest entry barrier of anything I've ever read and the biggest payoff once I was past it. Took me four or five tries to get through the first book, after which I immediately acquired the rest of the series and read it without pause. And then the eight-book prequel series she wrote for it. Boris Akunin's Erast Fandorin mysteries are another favorite, and are probably the best in the mystery genre I've ever read, each book being a different kind of mystery, all set in Imperial Russia. Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin is another excellent French work: French authors, in general, are quite impressive. And, of course, who could forget George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire? Though with that, I have a good deal more interest in the background than I do most of the ongoing plots.

To a lesser degree, we also have authors like Jim Butcher (Dresden Files and Codex Alera) and Dan Abnett (Warhammer 40,000). They're not quite as high up on my list of favorites, but they're sufficiently readable and enjoyable as to keep me coming back for more and to prefer them to something entirely new.

My list of favored books from the Expanded Universe would be considerably shorter. Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, as previously mentioned. That no further books came from Sean Stewart is one of the EU's great losses. James Luceno's Cloak of Deception and Darth Plagueis would also be on there, of course. The original trilogy novelizations, which might actually be more entertaining than the films themselves. I, Jedi, the first and more or less only novel we've ever seen done from the first-person perspective, and something I'd very much like to see repeated in the future. The Black Fleet Crisis, which I derived more enjoyment from than the entirety of the NJO. Special mention goes to the Lando Calrissian Adventures: while sometimes bizarre, they were still vastly better than many other stories centered around the main cast from the films. It would also probably be doing them a disservice if I left out the Tales books: one of the greatest things the sequels could do for the EU would be to give us reason to produce collections of short stories again.

And it would be impossible to talk about favorite books without also raising the subject of my vast and beloved collection of role-playing game sourcebooks. I don't actually play them - I read them purely for information and their interesting concepts. GURPS is probably my favorite line: they have specific sourcebooks books for everything from dinosaurs to vikings, and rules for creating dinosaur-riding vikings if you so wish it. Or viking-riding dinosaurs. Their Infinite Worlds setting is of particular interest to me - the execution is a bit lacking, but the concept is something I'm extremely pleased by, and has great untapped potential. Then we have Fantasy Flight Games, the current holders of the license for Star Wars. I have found their books to be of the highest level of quality, and have the utmost faith in their ability to deliver a fantastic experience and expand the Expanded Universe with as much imagination as West End Games. In terms of the traditional fantasy game, I prefer Pathfinder to Dungeons and Dragons (Eberron was better than Forgotten Realms, but still lacking). It's just bizarre and over-the-top enough to make up for the usual failings of the genre, and vastly more colorful than anything D&D has ever been able to come up with.

That having been said, Birthright is the D&D setting most deserving of being resurrected and updated.

 

The Loyal Imperial

Your points about the Battle of Endor, specifically the ground portion, are well taken. I have been toying with writing an article for ETE on this very topic, but I haven't gotten all of thoughts on the matter put together yet. Heck, if Lucas earliest drafts for ROTJ were followed, it would of been a massive naval battle over the Imperial capital planet with TWO Death Stars. Now that would of been the epic conclusion to the Galactic Civil War!

--Adm. Nick

 

I believe I briefly mentioned this before, but my preferred ending to RotJ is the destruction of the second Death Star in the orbit of Coruscant, with the massive explosion and amount of debris overloading the planetary shield network, giving the rebels no choice but to take the planet well ahead of schedule if they want to truly claim legitimacy. Then you have the story setup of them possessing the capital of the galaxy, and the challenge of holding on to it and supporting it while establishing a galactic government and expanding outward through the Core.

 

Pathfinder is pretty great, so far. My Dark Elf Knife Master (I basically just worked one of my Elder Scrolls PCs into Pathfinder) is now level 6!