Tacitus Stories

After Pliny's mother and uncle died tragically following the eruption of the Vesuvius in 79 AD, he's been on his own. One day, as he is walking across the Forum, he bumps into the most famous author of the Roman Empire. It's Tacitus. Tacitus isn't someone you should argue with. He decides what goes down in history, with a single piece of writing, he could ruin your life. He loves the power he possesses and uses it in his advantage. He couldn't possibly be the kind of guy Pliny falls for, right? --------------------------------------------------------- He was walking across the Forum, head facing the cobble stones, when he bumped straight into someone. 'Mind your step,' he said angrily, not wanting to waste any more time. 'You're not supposed to talk to me like that,' an ice-cold voice said, sending shivers down his spine, 'do you have the slightest idea who you're talking to?' It was only at that moment I he looked up and his bright green eyes took him up and down. It was him. The most famous author that could kill your career with his pen.

Pliny sends another piece of paper flying across the room. He just doesn't seem to get the words quite right. It was only yesterday his crush asked him to write down the story of his uncle's death. No big deal, you would say, but the problem is that his crush did not ask him out of interest. He is working on his new book, about history. Pliny's uncle died in one of the most tragic disasters to ever occur on Earth and Tacitus has asked him for a more detailed description. It seems hard, almost impossible, for Pliny to ever tell Tacitus how he feels. It's why he wants to write the perfect letter, with cliffhanger, because then maybe Tacitus would reach out to him again

Nelda, an orphan of the "Mother Peoples," is raised by a mysterious outsider who has lived in the far southern forest of the province of Maternalia for the past 200 years. After a mysterious and deadly sickness begins to ravage the province, the attention of the Aquilan governor, a man about which there is far more than meets the eye, turns south to the precious sap of the godtrees that Nelda has learned is connected to the beating heart of the world. Soon Nelda will be locked in a struggle with the oldest enemy of mankind both for her survival and the survival of the world as she knows it. In the capital city of the Maternalian province, Quintus, the Aquilan governor's son, is growing tired of living in his father's shadow. Shortly after his mother falls sick with the quickly spreading "fire palsy," his father becomes obsessed with the power of his position and rumors of a cure that lies half a world away in the province's barbarian south. Soon Quintus will come face to face with a young barbarian girl who will change the course of his life and show him that life holds infinitely more value than he ever thought was possible.

En 2299, dans les vicinités d'Alpha du Centaure, un étrange objet fait son apparition. Un objet d'appartenance humaine, en l'occurrence. Bien que les voyages interstellaires ne soient une réalité que depuis peu, ce qu'il vient chercher ici dépasse la simple exploration. Il n'est pas non plus en quête de réponses pour autant. Son but avéré? Quelque chose qui résonne avec un désir de vengeance : celle des milliards d'humains morts dans le cataclysme de la Grande Faucheuse. En effet, l'Amirauté Spatiale de la toute récente Fédération terrienne des Secteurs Autonomes a des raisons de penser que le coupable se trouve quelque part dans ce système à trois étoiles. Sur une lune orbitant autours de Proxima du Centaure pour être précis. Mais ce que ce vaisseau d'un genre nouveau pourrait trouver là-bas, risque de s'avérer bien plus dangereux que ce à quoi s'attendaient déjà les responsables de cette opération de fortune. Mais Tacitus, l'officier supérieur dirigeant cette campagne préliminaire est parfaitement au fait du risque de la mission : et il est prêt à payer le prix de cette vindicte si nécessaire (et quel qu'il soit)...

A document purporting to be a new translation of four of Pliny the Younger’s letters to Tacitus, outlining the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and the subsequent banishment of both Plinies, with notes by the translator. This is a submission for the Spring 2013 Historical Fiction smackdown, round 4. The theme this round was ALTERNATE HISTORY, so a big chunk of the described events never happened. PLEASE do not assume that anything you read here is historically accurate – though much of it is, much of it is not! Words: 2830 Time period: Ancient Rome Video Selected: ‘Pompeii’